NME owner Time Inc. announced this morning that the music publication’s physical magazine will be discontinued and the final edition will be released this Friday (9 March).
Paul Cheal, group managing director of Time Inc. UK said, “NME is one of the most iconic brands in British media and our move to free print has helped to propel the brand to its biggest ever audience on NME.COM. The print re-invention has helped us to attract a range of cover stars that the previous paid-for magazine could only have dreamed of.”
“At the same time, we have also faced increasing production costs and a very tough print advertising market. Unfortunately we have now reached a point where the free weekly magazine is no longer financially viable.”
NME plan to focus their efforts on the digital website. “It is in the digital space where effort and investment will focus to secure a strong future for this famous brand,” Cheal added.
“Our global digital audience has almost doubled over the past two years. With these new developments, we are giving consumers even more of what they want from us. By making the digital platforms our core focus we can accelerate the amazing growth we’ve seen and reach more people than ever before on the devices they’re most naturally using,” Keither Walker, digital director of NME, said.
Special issues, such as NME Gold, will continue to be published in print. Its digital expansion will include the launch of two online radio stations, NME 1 and NME 2.
NME released its first issue as the New Musical Express in 1952 and remained in print for 66 years, featuring cover stars such as Jeremy Corbyn, Noel Gallagher, Amy Winehouse and The Libertines. The free issue was launched in September 2015 with Rihanna on the cover.
(via Music Business Worldwide)
