Pop magazine axed after one week

The publishers said they had 'no regrets'

Popworld Pulp magazine has closed after just one week because of poor sales.

The first issue of the music magazine, which was linked with Channel 4's Popworld show, had an initial print run of 130,000 copies but sold just 9,000.

Darren Styles of the Brooklands Group publishers said: "The magazine has bombed in a way nobody connected with it could ever have envisaged."

The magazine, priced £1.49, was aimed at 16-24 year olds and focused on indie, pop, rock, emo and R&B.

The magazine had been in development for more than a year and had been heavily trailed on TV, radio and the internet.

'Acid test'

Mr Styles said: "Every piece of research we did, every dummy we created and the concept in all its forms was fantastically received from first to last.

"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."

Management had targeted a long-term circulation of 40,000 and launch sales of around 60,000.

"But the data tells us we have achieved a little over 15% of that," Mr Styles said. "Which makes continuation impossible for us - however brutal a rush to judgement that may seem."

Ten of the magazine's 14 staff have been made redundant.

The move follows the closure of Smash Hits magazine in 2006 after 28 years. Its publishers said teenagers were increasingly turning to new platforms like the internet to satisfy their interest in music.