After 10 years, a number of controversial covers and a debut that sent established mens’ magazines such as FHM and Loaded into frenzy, IPC Media’s Nuts magazine is set to close down after a radical sales decline of 33.5 per cent last year. First launched in January 2004 in a blaze of publicity, the development begs the question, ‘has the era of lads’ mags come to an end?
At the height of its popularity in 2005, with its slogan ‘When You Really Need Something Fun’, Nuts had an average weekly circulation of more than 300,000 and accounted for over 50 per cent of all men’s magazines sold in the UK. Paul Williams, managing director of IPC’s Inspire division, said: “After 10 years at the top of its market, we have taken the difficult decision to propose the closure of Nuts and exit the young men’s lifestyle sector. IPC will provide impacted staff with all the support they need during the consultation process.”
MEC Opinion
With Nuts Magazines circulation falling dramatically in recent years, to just over 50,000, what we must ask ourselves is why?
The first and most probable reason for the drastic decline is the magazine’s style simply fell out of flavour. Fit is the new fashionable and with titles such as Men’s Health gaining increasing prominence, alongside the decline of the ‘Lads Mag’ market these trends are seemingly working alongside one another. Nuts provided a diet of ‘girls, gadgets, footy and laughs’, something which men are becoming increasingly disillusioned with.
However, with the ever increasing versatility of the internet and magazines such as Nuts being forced to compete, is it any wonder the magazine’s popularity plummeted? According to IPC’s most recent figures, Nuts has very much failed to make the transition to a digital future, with just 8,776 digital monthly sales according to the most recent figures. Consequently the ever increasing presence of, and ease of access to, content of this nature on the internet can very likely be held responsible for Nuts’ downfall.
