More proof of the internet's ever-increasing grip on the attention of Britain's youth is likely to be revealed in the coming week. The Times reports that the teenage lifestyle magazine market is in "serious decline", predicting that next week's release of the latest official circulation figures will reveal a significant fall in sales. According to one magazine spokeswoman, it could amount to an overall 30% drop. This follows the release of an Ofcom communications market report which revealed that 15 to 24-year-olds were reading fewer magazines (and newspapers) in favour of the net. The evidence of decline could not be more stark.
Two days ago Emap Elan suspended publication of its celebrity gossip mag, Sneak. The company's managing director, Dawn Bebe, said that Sneak was "no longer a viable proposition" because teenagers were now getting their showbiz news on the net. The suspension follows Emap's closure six months ago of Smash Hits. Another of its mags, Bliss, is expected to show a significant fall in sales, though its music title, Kerrang!, is thought to be doing very well. Circulation falls are also expected by Hachette Filipacchi's market-leading Sugar and National Magazine's title CosmoGirl.
In a recent survey of the impact of falling sales on advertising volume, Media Week acknowledged that the web was gaining ground. Teenagers prefer social networking sites, such as MySpace and Bebo. A spokeswoman for Hachette tried to gloss the situation, saying that "the figures really don't reflect the full picture." Though it would be easy to see the future as "bleak", the company is starting to exploit the Sugar brand online and via mobile phones. She also suggested that teenagers were turning to adult celebrity gossip titles such as Closer and Heat.
In an interesting comment on her reading habits, 14-year-old Marisa Vine writes in today's Times that cost is a major factor in her choice of media. "I like Sneak and other celebrity gossip magazines but they cost too much." She adds: "The internet is a quicker way to find information. Best of all, I don't have to spend any money." So there it is. A story of falling sales, predicted loss of advertising revenue, closures and competition from the "free" internet. The printed word goes on losing ground and the emerging generation are surely pointing to the fact that by the time they reach the age when they might be expected to become readers of newspapers, they will have become so used to a screen-based life that they will prefer the net to ink on paper.
.jpg?w=600)
