Nuts to close after sales slump

Weekly ‘lads’ magazine Nuts looks set to close after a decline in sales.

Its publishers, IPC Media, have stated that the magazine has entered a 30-day consultation regarding the potential closure. The company has opened the magazine up to potential buyers.

The magazine was launched in 2004, followed closely by its biggest rival, Zoo. Its target audience was men aged 16 to 30 who were “disillusioned” with the tabloid press. It offered “girls, gadgets, footy and laughs”, and its marketing slogan was “When You Really Need Something Funny”.

The magazine has been particularly criticised in the past for its portrayal of women, declared by many to be sexist. Its peak circulation was in 2005, when it hit 306,802 readers per week. In 2013 however, that figure was just 53,342. Furthermore, the magazine receives only 8,776 digital monthly sales – clearly Nuts has failed to make the transition to a digital future.

Along with arch-rival Zoo, the weekly magazine transformed the men’s magazine market when it was started a decade ago. However, with Zoo receiving only 29,521 readers per week last year, the craze of this type of magazine looks like it is coming to an end.

Last year, both Nuts and Zoo stopped being sold at Co-op stores. The supermarket chain requested that they were given modesty bags to shield the pictures of naked women in the magazines from the shoppers. The retailer removed both Nuts and Zoo from its shelves after both publishers refused this request.

One reason given for the long-term decline of both weeklies was that readers who wanted to look at topless or naked women could do so online – where the pictures were far more risqué and, most importantly, free.