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HFM Folds Shock Magazine, Retains Web Property

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Dec 22, 2006 

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Sarah Novotny  |

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HFM Folds Shock Magazine, Retains Web Property

After only six months, media publisher Hachette Filipacchi has chosen to pull the plug on photo tabloid magazine Shock citing poor sales. Meanwhile, the magazine’s online counterpart, ShockU.com, has done surprisingly well and will remain in operation.

Shock is the US version of the French magazine Choc (which will still remain in print), and focuses on user-contributed photos with very little advertising. “We wanted to test the magazine’s concept in the U.S.; however, after six months in the marketplace, Shock’s performance at newsstands has not produced trends that indicate that we will get the returns that we are looking for,” said Hachette Filipacchi Media president Jack Kliger in a statement.

The print publication has had its share of troubles. Michael Yon, a Pulitzer-nominated Military blogger and photographer who spent 2005 embedded with a US infantry unit in Iraq, accused Shock of stealing one of his photos, which features an American soldier holding an Iraqi child.

The photo was voted Time Magazine’s top photo of the week in May 2005. When it appeared on the cover of Shock, it quickly became one of the magazine’s signature photos. Yon launched a successful online boycott of Hachette publications that banned Shock from the shelves of Rite Aid and Eckerd drug stores.

However, Shock will continue to live online where it has resonated with the magazine’s intended audience. “The web site has shown real energy and connection with this young demographic and the 41 page-views-per-visitor-session is one of the highest for web sites at Hachette,” added Kliger.

The website will re-launch in the Spring. Meanwhile, the final edition of the print magazine will hit stores in February.

Tags: Hachette_Filipacchi_media

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