Masthead Online’s 2009 tally of
magazine launches and closures has found a net loss of 20 titles – the
first year in a decade with more stops than starts.

Of the 37 closures, at least seven continue to publish online, including Chart, Knuckles, Brave Words & Blood and Unlimited.

Trade magazines also went online-only, including CLB Media’s Green Business, Logging Management, Mill Product News and Specialty Wood Journal

Masthead also listed online-only magazine launches, although it did not include them in their official tally. These include Rogers, Fusion Publishing and Spacing – which expanded the number of city blogs it publishes by two last year.

MastheadOnline reports:

“Experts say during a recession consumers tend to stay close to home. Following the money, there were three launches in 2009 of magazines that focus on building or decorating the home (Holmes magazine, Montréal Home, Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine).”

The Masthead 2009 Tally:

2009 Tally by the numbers:

Total launches: 17
Total closures: 37
Consumer launches: 14
Consumer closures: 17
Trade launches: 4
Trade closures: 20
Custom launches: 2

# of French-language launches: 1
# of launches a luxury focus: 1
# of launches with a frequency of 10x/year of more: 1
# of launches with a quarterly frequency: 5
# of launches with primarily paid circulation models: 6
# of launches that did not survive their first year: 4
# of closures that survived ten years or longer: 3
# of closures that survived less than five years: 7

Past Tally Round-up

Year     Total Launches     Total Closures
2009       17                          37
2008       74                          29
2007       75                          28
2006       82                          24
2005       93                          33
2004      139                         34
2003      101                         47
2002       83                          50
2001       69                          43
2000       81                          60
1999      122                         64

2009 Tally

2009 Starts
Total starts = 17*

Consumer

• Canadian Poker Player/poker/HeadsUp Entertainment
• Girlworks/teenage girls/Girlworks Media Inc.
• H Magazine/Hamilton
• Holmes magazine/home improvement/Dauphin Media Group
• Island Times/Vancouver Island/ Jolene Aarbo
• Men’s Fashion/mens fashion/St. Joseph Media
• Montréal Home/interior design/ Montréal Home Magazine Inc.
• Pitou Mag/Québec dog owners/Family Communications Inc.
• Quilter’s Connection/quilting/ Ray and Fran Helgeson
• Railfan/railways/Morgan Turney
• Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine/sustainable architecture and building/Janam Publications

Total consumer starts = 11

Trade

• Blend/paint, coatings/Rogers
• Front Shop/pharmaceuticals/Fulcrum Publications Inc.
• Topcoat/paint, coatings/Rogers
• Mingle Magazine/Halifax business/Apeeling Orange Design Communications

Total trade starts = 4

Custom

• Mercedes Magazine/Mercedes/Spafax
• Bombardier magazine/Bombardier/Spafax

Total custom starts = 2

Online

• Canadiangreentech.ca/ Canada’s green technology industry/Perry Hoffman
• Woodbusiness.ca/logging, bioenergy, paper, lumber/CLB Media
• Moneysense.ca/personal finance/Rogers
• Nursing B.C./nursing in B.C./ College of Registered Nurses of BC
• Reportoncleantech.com/clean technology/ Fusion Publishing
• Reportonmining.com/mining/Fusion Publishing
• Reportonoilandgas.com/oil and gas industry/Fusion Publishing
• Spacing Atlantic/Atlantic urban spaces/Matthew Blackett
• Spacing Ottawa/Ottawa urban spaces/Matthew Blackett
• Sparksheet.com/media, marketing/Spafax
• Yonge Street/Toronto/Issue Media Group

Total online starts = 11

*Number does not include online starts

2009 Stops

Total stops = 37

Consumer

• Ascent/yoga
• Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles/heavy metal/Tim Henderson (continuing online)
• Calgary Inc./Calgary/Redpoint Media
• Canadian Home & Country/home and country/Transcontinental
• Cannabis Culture/marijuana/Marc Emery
• Centre of the City/Toronto/Metroland
• Chart/music/Chart Communications (continuing online)
• Desi Life/South Asian/TorStar
• Guelph Life/Guelph/Metroland
• Legacy Magazine/Alberta arts & heritage/Barbara Dacks
• Live It!/Metroland
• Locus Suspectus/contemporary arts/Jolene Pozniak
• Rex Magazine/Guelph/Metroland
• Suburban Life/urban lifestyle/Metroland
• Today’s Vancouver Woman/Vancouver women/ Rebecca Ephraim
• Unlimited/business and work culture/Venture (continuing online)
• Wedding Essentials for Same-Sex Couples/wedding tips for same-sex couples/ Brandon and Christine Jones

Total consumer stops = 17

Trade

• Advanced Manufacturing/manufacturing/CLB Media
• Apple/preventative medicine/Brian Cole
• Architectural Openings/Canadian architecture/Bob Rodkin
• Bois & Cie/woodworking/Éditions C. R. Inc.
• Canadian Lawyer Associates/law/CLB Media
• Energy Management/energy efficient products and technologies/CLB Media
• Coatings/coatings/Rogers Media
• Edge Forest Business Magazine/forest products/David Holehouse
• Grafika (combined with Infopresse)/marketing/Editions Infopresse Inc.
• Green Business/environmental business/CLB Media (continuing online)
• Le Quebec Industriel/Quebec Industrial/Rogers Media
• Les Papetières du Québec/pulp and Paper/Business Information Group
• Logging Management/logging/CLB Media
• Mill Product News/mills/CLB Media
• Mining.com Magazine/mining/InfoMine
• Newpharmacist/Pharmacien Le Jour/pharmaceuticals/Apotex Inc.
• Network Cabling/networking and cabling/CLB Media
• Orbit Magazine: OISE’s Magazine for Schools/schools/Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Specialty Wood Journal/wood/CLB Media
• Workplace/human resources/CLB Media

Total trade stops= 20