As pointed out by Frank via Twitter, State Magazine has announced that it will no longer exist in printed form due to a downturn in advertising revenue.
The tenth issue of the music magazine will instead be available digitally only, while all the company’s focus will switch to the website from now on.
State Magazine had begun life as a paid-for printed monthly, with a strong web-presence backing it up. After a few months the business model shifted to a free, printed monthly magazine with the website becoming more central to its operations; now the site will take over altogether.
It is perhaps not so surprising to see State Magazine cease as a print operation. The high quality of the publication never diminished after it dropped its cover price and this must have been a significant drain on resources. The limited amount of advertising revenue doing the rounds in the current climate would simply have pushed it over the edge.
The financial situation in general is likely to impact upon the Irish media market just as much as it has internationally; State Magazine appears to be the first victim and it’s a safe prediction to say it won’t be the last.