BREAKING NEWS: US HOUSE & GARDEN TO FOLD

WWD reported an hour ago that US Condé Nast is to fold the US edition of House & Garden and the accompanying website with the December issue. This follows the closure of Jane and its website earlier in the year.

Prior to Jane folding, industry tactics dictated that the prnt version would fold, whilst the on-line one would continue, Hachette's Elle Girl & Time's TeenPeople for example. Although the clue there is in the demographic - H&G's somewhat silver readership does not, at least for the next few years, represent a guaranteed on-line revenue stream. And whilst Glamour.com & style.com have a fully functioning and rather good web presence, it's hard to not to suspect that the other CN titles' websites are there to drive print subscription sales, and build reader loyalty, rather than produce independent revenue streams.

The closure of H&G has been long rumoured, but this announcement came out of the blue, although it is thought to have been precipitated by the departure of publisher Joe Lagani last month.