Leaner, stronger, deader

Figures from UBM courtesy of Press Gazette

United Business Media increased profits in the first six months of the year despite a 14% drop in revenue at its magazine division…

The company said its print magazines business provided [just] 4.4% of UBM’s overall operating profit as it saw revenue in the division drop 13.9% year-on-year…

Operating profit at its magazine division rose 12.1% to £3.7m. UBM said the improved profitability came, in-part, from a cyclical improvement in ad revenues, but more significantly from its strategy [of]… closing, merging and reducing the publication frequency of weaker titles.

UBM closed 31 titles and merged or reduced the frequency of others throughout 2009…

David Levin, chief executive of UBM, said: “In the first half we launched one new print title and closed four others.”

Hat tip to John for this story

Data Error

It seems like weeks since we’ve had a closure announcement from Centaur, but just when you’ve nearly forgotten about them up pops this in Media Week (sic)

Centaur Media, the embattled trade publisher, is set to close its standalone IT and marketing magazine, Data Strategy, after six years.

You know you’ve got problems when you attract an adjective like ‘embattled’.

Stubbed Out

Smoke, the small London literary magazine is having a “rethink” and refunding subscriptions.

Private Frazer thinks Smoke won’t be getting in our eyes for the foreseeable future.

The Dead Zone

Future is to axe PC Zone magazine  on 2 September 2010.

Future said the closure comes in the wake of a strategic review of its PC games portfolio. At its last ABC, PC Zone was selling only about 11,000 copies a month.

Which makes one wonder why it got a mention on the BBC news website

Don’t panic! (12/07/10)

The latest Bellwether survey reveals that marketing budgets were revised down in Q2 amid uncertainty regarding the economic outlook, with around 20% of companies reporting a downward revision against 15% that reported an increase. Business confidence has also dipped with positive sentiment the lowest for a year.

The clue’s in the name

Launched two weeks ago and a perfect example of “are you sure that’s wise sir”, ladies and genetlemen we give you Eulogy magazine “The world’s first magazine to celebrate life and death”. A great attitude – we can celebrate the launch now and the closure in three months’ time.

Knacker’s Yard

PING! An email drops into Private Frazer’s inbox claiming that Horse + Pony magazine is heading for the last round-up. So far there’s neither a confirmation nor a denial from Bourne Publishing Group, but watch this space.

Any information gladly received.