Animal Planet magazine to close

THE Scottish Magazine of the Year at awards held last year by the Professional Publishers Association has been earmarked for closure.

Animal Planet is closing imminently, as part of a strategic review of magazines being undertaken at publishers, DC Thomson.

The review – still ongoing – is being undertaken by the publisher’s chief executive of newspaper and magazine publishing, Ellis Watson.

It is understood there will be no job losses following the decision and that the review is recommending new websites for sister titles, The Scots Magazine, The People’s Friend and The Official Jacqueline Wilson Mag.

But two posts are at risk of redundancy, in London: fashion shoot photographers for the fashion and beauty teen mag, Shout.

The latest audited average sales figures for Animal Planet – which had been launched not long before its PPA success -revealed that between June and December last year, its sales were down 30 per cent, from 15,124 to 10,586. Its last issue, its 22nd, is its August edition.

Pictured: The triumphant Animal Planet team at last year’s PPA Scottish Magazine of the Year awards. Pic: Mike Wilkinson.