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April 18, 2007updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Popworld Pulp bombs after just two issues

By Press Gazette

Popworld Pulp, the Brooklands Group launch into the weekly music market, has closed after just two issues.

The offshoot of the Channel 4 TV programme closed today after over a year in the planning.

In a statement Brooklands blamed poor sales of only about 9,000 in its first two weeks of publication.

It said: “The unpalatable truth, however, is that despite an extensive marketing campaign and a substantial news-trade distribution investment that saw 130,000 copies in stores in week one, sales have undershot by so significant a margin as to render the project unviable.”

Darren Styles, chief executive of Brooklands Group said: “To be perfectly frank the magazine has bombed in a way nobody connected with it could ever have envisaged.The industry wanted it, the news-trade wanted it, the market was there according to every group we asked – but come the acid test the readers were absent. We had targeted a settle-down circulation of about 40,000 copies weekly, and hoped to achieve a launch sale of around 60,000 to see us on our way. But the data tells us we have achieved a little over 15% of that, which makes continuation impossible for us – however brutal a rush to judgement that may seem."

The swift closure is strikingly similar to that of So London last month, which was axed after three issues.

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