BBC Family Life folds after a year

BBC Worldwide’s Family Life magazine has folded after less than a year.

The glossy title aimed at ABC1 parents, which launched in October 1997, has been falling short of its circulation target – thought to be 200,000 readers. It is believed to have achieved half its target sales.

Gillian Laskier, director of Family Group UK Region, says: “Although we had very positive feedback from our pre-launch research, this didn’t translate into the expected level of sales. BBC Family Life is an excellent magazine for its target market and readers have been very appreciative, but there simply aren’t enough people prepared to buy it on a regular basis.”

Damian Blackden, press director at Zenith Media, comments: “The domestic magazine sector is overcrowded, having seen circulation declines pretty much all round, so Family Life was always going to have a tough time, especially as it hasn’t had the level of on-air support that has helped some of the other BBC titles.”

BBC Family Life was a monthly publication aimed at parents of four to 14-year-olds.

Sixteen staff were employed on the title and the BBC says it hopes to find new jobs for them within the organisation.