Men’s magazine Shortlist axed by publisher amid declining revenues

Shortlist has become the latest magazine to be axed after its publisher confirmed that they would no longer be publishing the free print edition due to declining revenues.

The men's magazine claimed to be the biggest of its kind in the UK with a circulation of around 500,000,  distributed in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle as well as in Scotland.

Its publisher, Shortlist Media Group, has been renamed as the Stylist Group, as it re-focuses on its women's publication Stylist.

The magazine’s editor, Joseph Mackertich, said he was “very sad but very proud” in the wake of the closure.

There will continue to be an online presence but around 20 staff are expected to be made redundant following the news. 

Shortlist is the latest free print magazine to close its doors, following in the footsteps of music magazine NME, which ceased to exist earlier this year. Other traditional so-called lads mags such as Nuts, Zoo, FHM and Loaded have all already shut down their operations. 

It comes on the back of the news that magazine Esquire is set to make some drastic changes themselves, with paid-for men’s magazines also struggling.

The publication's owner Hearst announced earlier this week that Esquire would be reducing its number of editions a year from 12 to six as they become bi-monthly, while also increasing its cover price to £6.