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Good Homes magazine is victim of property downturn
30 April 2009
BBC Magazines has announced the closure of Good Homes after its circulation has followed the plunging property market.
BBC Magazines managing director Peter Phippen said the monthly title, which had an ABC of 97,000 in the second half of 2008, was loss-making. The July issue is expected to be its last.
Phippen said: "I am very sorry to announce that after much deliberation we are proposing to close BBC Good Homes magazine.
"As the last set of ABC figures showed, the declining housing market has had a particularly adverse effect on this title and we cannot see how this might change in the near future. With a remit to deliver profit back to the BBC, we feel it is not tenable to publish this title at a loss.
"We have given this news to the Good Homes team and we are doing all we can to help them find other roles within, or outside, BBC Worldwide."
Good Homes was launched in May 1998 and reached a circulation peak of 151,763 a year later.
The title held its ABC figure at about 130,000 from 2004 until last year, when it dropped to 117,466.
In the latest set of figures, covering the second half of 2008, the magazine's ABC fell 23 per cent year on year to 97,725.
BBC Magazines is a division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the corporation. Profits from Worldwide are reinvested in core BBC content.
A BBC spokeswoman said 17 staff were affected by today's announcement: "They have all been told in person today, but there will be more detailed one-to-one meetings next week, which will mark the start of the official four-week consultation period."
