NEW YORK – Time Inc., a major magazine publisher, said Tuesday it would stop publishing Teen People but keep the magazine's Web site operating.
The magazine, whose circulation has been slipping over the past few years, was launched in 1998. Ann Moore and John Huey, the chief executive and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., told employees in a memo that the company would continue to invest in Web site, "which shows promise and growth."
Ali Zelenko, a Time Inc. spokeswoman, cited a "challenging" advertising market in the company's decision to close down the magazine. She said the company was working to find other jobs within Time Inc. for as many of the roughly 50 employees of the magazine as possible.
Several other magazine publishers have titles aimed at teens, but print publications generally have had difficulty keeping younger readers as more kids go to the Internet for entertainment and information. Ealier this year publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media closed its Elle Girl magazine but also kept the Web site.
Teen People's circulation fell 0.7 percent in 2005, 2.7 percent in 2004, and 3 percent in 2003, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. In the first six months of the year, its advertising pages fell 14.4 percent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.
Time Inc. is a unit of Time Warner Inc., a major media conglomerate that also owns Warner Bros., HBO, CNN and several other cable networks, the No. 2 cable TV company and AOL.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox