OK! Magazine has put an end to its weekly print edition after a 17-year run on magazine stands.
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The magazine will continue to publish special issues for different occasions and its website since the magazine’s site is run by a different company as reported by Page Six. According to the outlet, it is the first of major titles in the celebrity weekly publication market to shut down its print.
OK! Magazine ends weekly publication, becoming first celeb title to tumble https://t.co/JN4BecqZXd pic.twitter.com/Z7BgKRaZDq
— Page Six (@PageSix) April 30, 2022
OK! Magazine was launched in the United States in 2005 by British businessman and pornographer Richard Desmond after the British version showed promising results due to high sales. His publishing company, Northern & Shell launched the weekly magazine to compete with People Magazine.
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Additionally, its claim to fame skyrocketed after launching an exclusive interview with Jamie Lynn Spears when she announced her pregnancy at 16 during her time as a Nickelodeon star. The magazine’s then-editor Rob Schuter defended the magazine’s decision for the cover and interview.
“I think what we’ve done successfully in this story is point out that Jamie Lynn is an exceptional situation where she’s a young girl but she’s already made a handsome living. She’s not worried about paying her electricity bill. I think we talk to her about going back to work and what that would be like. I don’t think we pretend for one minute that this story is anything but what it is and I hope what we’ve done is reflected the reality of the story in a fair way. We didn’t go down there to slap this girl on the wrist and tell her off.
I think it’s a very sensitive subject. I can totally understand why people have concerns about it. I can tell you too it’s nothing Jamie Lynn hasn’t had to deal with herself on a daily basis. This young girl has made some very hard choices … She can only talk about her own circumstances but she certainly is not a spokesperson for teen pregnancy.”
In 2007, at age 16, and while she was a cast member on the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101, Jamie Lynn announced to OK! magazine that she was pregnant. Jamie Lynn gave birth to daughter Maddie Briann Aldridge the following year.https://t.co/IJ9kwYmpCA pic.twitter.com/7u7dCPWE5J
— Net4News (@net4news) July 10, 2021
It also competed with Star and Life & Style for the top celebrity weekly magazine. The publication was later sold to America Media Inc in 2011 which also acquired Life & Style, US Weekly, In Touch, and Closer. OK! and the other publications were later sold to a360 in 2020. However low sales and readership contributed to the downfall of the market in addition to the COVID lockdown of that same year. Empire Media acquired the website within that year, the company that also owns Radar Online and Grazia Magazine( United States Edition).
There have been no further reports if the company will end the British edition of their print edition but a statement has yet to be released by America Media Inc.