Robin Parker, Media Week, 02 February 2006, 2:23pm

Smash Hits magazine to close

Teenage pop music magazine Smash Hits is to close after falling circulations and dwindling advertising revenue made it unprofitable.

The move marks the demise of a third long-standing Emap brand in two years following the demise of The Face and Just Seventeen.
Launched in 1978, the title reached a peak audience of 1m in 1989 but by last August's ABCs, its circulation had dipped to 120,000, selling 20,000 less copies than its BBC rival Top of the Pops.
Sales in the teenage entertainment market have dropped by 31% in the past three years and advertising revenues were down 25% last year as the core audience increasingly shunned the title for older-oriented celebrity magazines and new media.
Emap is keeping the Smash Hits brand on as a digital music TV channel, a digital radio station, online and as a mobile phone service, but its last print edition will appear on 13 February.
Marcus Rich, managing director of Emap Metro, said:
"This is an audience very much open to change and new technology and teenagers now get their pop news and videos online. Our teenage digital platforms are well established but they aren't as advanced as, for example, the men's market, so we'll be developing them over the course of this year."