LONDON (Reuters) - Dennis Publishing is closing its monthly magazine Jack just over a year after acquiring the title amid intense competition on newsstands, the privately-owned publisher of "lad mag" Maxim says.
Jack was conceived as a more sophisticated alternative to mainstream magazines like FHM, though it still featured its fair share of scantily-clad women. It was created by James Brown, the magazine entrepreneur who kick-started the lad mag category with Loaded in 1994.
Brown told the Observer newspaper when Jack was launched in 2001: "The eye level doesn’t always go to the crotch. We need to get some cerebral stimulation." The magazine had a smaller format and often boasted faux-retro pin-up covers.
Brown sold Jack and his I Feel Good publishing company -- named after his funky namesake’s famous song -- to Dennis Publishing for 5.2 million pounds in 2003.
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The men’s magazine category is intensely competitive, as publishers continuously seek new ways to extract money from the magic formula of girls, gadgets and sport.
Emap and Time Warner’s IPC faced off earlier this year when they launched their respective weekly titles Zoo and Nuts. Both have sold well according to unofficial industry estimates, but their success may have come at the expense of monthly magazines like Maxim, Loaded and FHM.
