IPC Media has axed Shoot, the 40-year-old children's football magazine, four months after relaunching it as a weekly.
The publisher turned Shoot from a monthly into a weekly to compete with BBC Magazines' Match of the Day, which launched in March.
Shoot, which retails at £1.80, will close at the end of the month, ending its near-40-year history as a football publication. The title launched in 1969 and was a weekly until 2000.
"It is with great regret that we have had to make this decision," said Paul Williams, the managing director of IPC Inspire.
"We are of course in consultation with the six permanent staff directly affected by the proposal, and every effort will be made to find alternative jobs if this becomes necessary."
IPC subsidiary IPC Inspire is in exclusive negotiations to sell the Shoot trademark to Pedigree Books, which publishes the Shoot Christmas annual and a range of Shoot seasonal activity books and annuals.
ABC circulation figures from the last six months of 2007 showed that the magazine sold 35,830 copies each month, a year-on-year rise of 7%.
Apart from Match of the Day, Shoot was competing against market leader Match and new challenger Kick!.
Match, owned by Bauer Consumer Media, formerly Emap, dominates the children's football magazine market, with a circulation of 113,049 in the second half of 2007, according to the most recent ABC figures, a year-on-year fall of 13%.
Match came under pressure from Kick!, published by the Attic Media Network and selling at £2.20, which grew its sale by 24% year on year to 62,290 in the same period.
Shoot, meanwhile, sold an average of 35,830 copies as a £3.10 monthly in the second half of 2007, up 7% year on year, before its recent switch to a weekly publication and £1.80 cover price.
(Good work, Tim!)
The publisher turned Shoot from a monthly into a weekly to compete with BBC Magazines' Match of the Day, which launched in March.
Shoot, which retails at £1.80, will close at the end of the month, ending its near-40-year history as a football publication. The title launched in 1969 and was a weekly until 2000.
"It is with great regret that we have had to make this decision," said Paul Williams, the managing director of IPC Inspire.
"We are of course in consultation with the six permanent staff directly affected by the proposal, and every effort will be made to find alternative jobs if this becomes necessary."
IPC subsidiary IPC Inspire is in exclusive negotiations to sell the Shoot trademark to Pedigree Books, which publishes the Shoot Christmas annual and a range of Shoot seasonal activity books and annuals.
ABC circulation figures from the last six months of 2007 showed that the magazine sold 35,830 copies each month, a year-on-year rise of 7%.
Apart from Match of the Day, Shoot was competing against market leader Match and new challenger Kick!.
Match, owned by Bauer Consumer Media, formerly Emap, dominates the children's football magazine market, with a circulation of 113,049 in the second half of 2007, according to the most recent ABC figures, a year-on-year fall of 13%.
Match came under pressure from Kick!, published by the Attic Media Network and selling at £2.20, which grew its sale by 24% year on year to 62,290 in the same period.
Shoot, meanwhile, sold an average of 35,830 copies as a £3.10 monthly in the second half of 2007, up 7% year on year, before its recent switch to a weekly publication and £1.80 cover price.
(Good work, Tim!)
- though I do feel a little bad, helping close such a mighty institution.
