Jobs axed with American FHM
Wednesday December 13, 2006MediaGuardian.co.uk
Around 40 Emap staff will lose their jobs as a result of the closure of the US edition of FHM.
Paul Keenan, the chief executive of Emap Consumer Media, blamed deteriorating US trading conditions for making the title unprofitable, and said there was no prospect of an upturn in its fortunes.
A total of 47 staff will be affected, but a small number will remain to manage the US FHM website, which will continue to operate.
"Trading conditions in the US market have deteriorated over the past 12 months and we do not expect an improvement in the near term. In these circumstances, we do not anticipate that the title would be able to trade on a profitable basis going forward," Mr Keenan said.
"This decision does not affect FHM UK or any of the 30 other editions currently published around the world.
"FHM US was launched in 1999 and, despite the best efforts of a very resourceful and determined team led by executive publisher Dana Fields, editor-in-chief Scott Gramling and general manager Andrew Ormson, the magazine has battled to establish a profitable presence in a hugely challenging and competitive market.
"With conditions in the US worsening, we have decided to suspend publication to focus resources elsewhere on faster-growth platforms."
FHM was Emap's last US magazine following the sale of its ill-fated Petersen division in America.
The US title sells around 1.25m copies a month. However, the US mainstream men's market - including Maxim and Stuff - has suffered a steep decline in ad volumes over recent months.
In the 12 months to October 2006, the three men's titles lost 11% of ad volume, the equivalent of 300 pages a month.
The March edition of the US FHM will be its last when it goes on sale in the new year.
FHM's US edition is also the biggest-selling of any of the 30 versions of the title around the world.
The UK version of the magazine remains the market leader in this country, but its circulation of 420,688 in the first half of 2006 was 24.9% down on the second half of last year.
SUMMARY: The US FHM has been axed because of its decrease in sales, which is expected to carry on if they do not take it off the shelves. As a result, 47 workers are made redundant. Overall, the US has seen a sharp fall in all men's magazines whereas FHM is still the largest selling on in the UK. Adittionally, the men's magazines have lost advertsiers to cover the costs of making the magazine, which will ultimately create very little profit for the organisation.
MY COMMENT: I think its sad how this has happened in the US. FHM was at first very successful and although its fetishises women's bodies, creates fallic objects (cars) and voyerism its always been assoiciated in society. But on the other hand, if the organisation is not making any profit out of it and other men's magazines are seeing the same thing in the market it shows a change in values of society and the best thing to do would be to take it off the shelves.
Wednesday December 13, 2006MediaGuardian.co.uk
Around 40 Emap staff will lose their jobs as a result of the closure of the US edition of FHM.
Paul Keenan, the chief executive of Emap Consumer Media, blamed deteriorating US trading conditions for making the title unprofitable, and said there was no prospect of an upturn in its fortunes.
A total of 47 staff will be affected, but a small number will remain to manage the US FHM website, which will continue to operate.
"Trading conditions in the US market have deteriorated over the past 12 months and we do not expect an improvement in the near term. In these circumstances, we do not anticipate that the title would be able to trade on a profitable basis going forward," Mr Keenan said.
"This decision does not affect FHM UK or any of the 30 other editions currently published around the world.
"FHM US was launched in 1999 and, despite the best efforts of a very resourceful and determined team led by executive publisher Dana Fields, editor-in-chief Scott Gramling and general manager Andrew Ormson, the magazine has battled to establish a profitable presence in a hugely challenging and competitive market.
"With conditions in the US worsening, we have decided to suspend publication to focus resources elsewhere on faster-growth platforms."
FHM was Emap's last US magazine following the sale of its ill-fated Petersen division in America.
The US title sells around 1.25m copies a month. However, the US mainstream men's market - including Maxim and Stuff - has suffered a steep decline in ad volumes over recent months.
In the 12 months to October 2006, the three men's titles lost 11% of ad volume, the equivalent of 300 pages a month.
The March edition of the US FHM will be its last when it goes on sale in the new year.
FHM's US edition is also the biggest-selling of any of the 30 versions of the title around the world.
The UK version of the magazine remains the market leader in this country, but its circulation of 420,688 in the first half of 2006 was 24.9% down on the second half of last year.
SUMMARY: The US FHM has been axed because of its decrease in sales, which is expected to carry on if they do not take it off the shelves. As a result, 47 workers are made redundant. Overall, the US has seen a sharp fall in all men's magazines whereas FHM is still the largest selling on in the UK. Adittionally, the men's magazines have lost advertsiers to cover the costs of making the magazine, which will ultimately create very little profit for the organisation.
MY COMMENT: I think its sad how this has happened in the US. FHM was at first very successful and although its fetishises women's bodies, creates fallic objects (cars) and voyerism its always been assoiciated in society. But on the other hand, if the organisation is not making any profit out of it and other men's magazines are seeing the same thing in the market it shows a change in values of society and the best thing to do would be to take it off the shelves.
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