Tribute to the (sydney) and (melbourne) magazines – now expired !

Fairfax Media the owners of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers last year announced that they would cut 1900 jobs as they restructured amid plunging circulation and advertising revenue.

As part of those cuts, Fairfax Media closed its monthly glossy newspaper-inserted titles the (sydney) magazine and the (melbourne) magazine as part of those cuts which saw 20 people cut from the News and Life Media unit.

The closures were part of the latest cost reduction package going on at Fairfax, as it seeks to implement its digital first strategy, and stem ongoing losses.

The (sydney) and (melbourne) magazines were originally launched as a means of attracting luxury brands into the portfolio that were otherwise sceptical about newspaper advertising.

The closure of these two high-profile monthly insert magazines, finishing with the November 2013 issues, was a surprise given they have attracted lucrative advertising.

But the magazines had noticably thinned in recent years

Fairfax Media’s MD of Australian publishing media Allen Williams said “It’s no secret to anyone in the media business that magazines have been an increasingly challenged platform. The Sydney/Melbourne titles have been great magazines, but it makes commercial sense to make these changes.”

The November 2013 editions of the Sydney and Melbourne titles were the last.

the sydney magazine miranda otto nov 2013

the nov 2013 last issue of the (sydney) magazine featured Miranda Otto

While the closure of the titles sees Fairfax Media pull back from the newspaper-inserted magazine sector, it will continue with major titles such as Saturday’s Good Weekend magazine and Financial Review Magazine.

The closures and redundancies come just over a year after the publisher revealed the Fairfax of the Future plan which saw hundreds of staff laid off and the closure of printing presses.