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‘Premiere’ Shuts Book on Print Edition

Hachette Filippachi Media U.S. president and CEO has announced that publication of the American edition of Premiere magazine will cease with the April issue.

The publisher will continue to distribute the magazine online, on mobile devices and via branded events, according to MediaPost.

Editor in chief Peter Herbst will leave Hachette, to be succeeded by Paul Turcotte, vp and publisher of the Entertainment Group.

Premiere is thriving online, but its print edition saw ad pages tumble 24.7 percent in 2006 and ad revenue fall 20.9 percent. In the last FAS-FAX report on consumer magazine readership of the second half of 2006, Premiere’s average newsstand sales dropped 25.6 percent, compared to the second half of 2005.

The shuttering of the magazine comes in the midst of an ongoing realignment of Hachette Filipacchi that saw the merger of Hachette with Lagardère Active Media in October 2006.

The reorganization put a single executive - Didier Quillot - in charge of both companies.

In December, Hachette shut down Shock magazine; it closed Elle Girl earlier in the year. Both entities live on as web properties.