Essential Publishing has closed women's magazine Real just weeks after swapping it from fortnightly to monthly.
Real made the change to monthly in January, retailing at £1.60, and undercutting its monthly rivals by at least 60p. It's last ABC figure, for the six months to June last year, was 143,849 – a drop of around 60,000 year-on-year.
Real was set to target a wider, more mature audience, and according to its editor Dave Claridge, and was being aimed at 25 to 45-year-olds who were seeking a sophisticated and aspirational title, without the bulkyness of the heavyweight monthly magazines.
The new relaunched monthly real had an extra 32 pages, improved paper quality and the re-introduction of an interiors section.
Press Gazette understands that staff were told this afternoon that the magazine was to close – but they have yet to be told about possible redundancies.
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