Staff at the National Geographic Society’s Adventure magazine were alerted this morning to the news that the title — which just celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this year — would be shutting down. Advertising was down nearly 60 percent this quarter compared to last year, which was one of the biggest declines in the industry. “Given the current advertising environment and the opportunities we see in emerging digital platforms, we think the time is right to transition the Adventure brand,” said magazine-group president John Griffin in a statement. The brand will continue on in a “multi-platform” model in the form of their annual awards, “newsstand editions, books, e-magazines, mobile applications, and a robust Web site,” the company said in a statement. But the company also said that there will be seventeen layoffs associated with this shift — that’s the entire staff. “The official release from the company says that the brand will continue, but no one associated with the editorial content at the brand right now is going to be around,” said a source from the company. “I don’t think they quite know what to do.” The eliminated staffers have two weeks left on payroll. They’ll be accompanied out the door even by well-respected editor-in-chief John Rasmus, who launched the title in 1999 and had previously helmed Outside and Men’s Journal. Other titles at the company, like Traveler and even the flagship National Geographic, are also down in ad pages, but the company says they are in no danger of shuttering.
National Geographic Adventure to Stop Publishing [Media Decoder/NYT]
National Geographic Kills Print Edition of Adventure [Folio]
