Spy goes under for the last time

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 1998 by Neil Cassidy

The reincarnated Spy has been deincarnated. Again. Less than two months after New York City-based Sussex Publishers announced an increase in the satirical title's frequency from six to nine times a year in hopes of boosting readership and ad pages, management capitulated to bottom-line pressure and made the March issue of Spy its last. Sussex president/CEO John Colman says he regrets that editor in chief Bruno Maddox couldn't give the increased schedule a shot, but, "the view I came to was that, notwithstanding a really commendable product and great work by Bruno and his team, there just wasn't the [advertiser and consumer] acceptance that we need to make it financially viable." Spy's paid circulation had dropped from 163,000 in the first half of 19% to 150,000 through june 30, 1997, according to the ABC. The last two 66-page issues included just 18 pages of ads. The shutdown will cost eight Spy staffers their jobs, including Maddox, who didn't return a phone call.

Sussex, which gave Spy a second life by purchasing the title in June 1994 and reducing its frequency from 10 to six times a year, is now free to develop Psychology Today and Mother Earth News. "While we mourn Spy, there's a sense of optimism," says group publisher Lawrence Rose. "We're stronger for our decision."