Lads’ mags are enjoying renewed popularity on digital devices. Is it possible the iPad could do for lads’ mags what the Kindle did for Fifty Shades of Grey and take the stigma out of saucy content, asks Dr Brooke Magnanti.
The lads' mag is moribund, they say. After the dizzying heights of 90s Britain
when everyone from Mariella Frostrup to Danniella Westbrook graced the pages of
Loaded, the fall has been harsh and unrelenting, taking no prisoners.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures
for the magazines show the circulation of printed copies of Nuts
down from just over 100,000 in the second half of 2011, to 80,186 by the end of
2012 - a decrease of 29.7 per cent in only a year. Other lads' mags show similar
trends, with the once-mighty FHM down 18.5 per cent to about 115,000 and
Zoo down 19.3 per cent to 44,068.
To those who dislike the content of lads' mags this may look like an encouraging
trend. But as criticism of the ABC audits points out, this doesn't incorporate
statistics about digital versions. Even that is not an accurate reflection of
the market - while ABC does collect data on things like PDF-based digital
versions, they don't include the growing iPad and mobile app markets.
