Sugarscape.com
Sugar was a British magazine for teenage girls published by Hachette Filipacchi. Its content focused on boys, fashion, celebrities, real-life stories about teenagers and other similar matters. The editor, when it closed in 2011, was Annabel Brog. The brand lived on until 2016 through the website sugarscape.com. Aimed at females 16–24, it was edited by Kate Lucey.
Content
Sugar dealt with the concerns of teenage girls. The magazine featured an advice column that answers questions sent in by readers, typically dealing with relationships, body image and health issues.Sugar ran a nationwide model competition every year, giving one lucky teen the opportunity to win a modelling contract.
On the cover of the main magazine was a female celebrity. Also with the magazine came a free LAD mag, which contained posters and gossip about boys.
In 2007, Sugar established a website, "Sugarscape", which contained celebrity gossip and exclusive competitions and was seen as a brand extension to the magazine.
History
Sugar magazine was launched in October 1994, published by Attic Futura. The first edition, November 1994, was an immediate success, reaching a circulation of 205,000 exceeding its initial circulation target by 55,000. It soon overtook its main rival, Just Seventeen. Like competing titles at the time, Sugar used explicit sexual editorial to attract readership. This was controversial and contributed to the establishment of the Teenage Magazine Arbitration Panel in 1996. Sales peaked in 1997, after which demand for teen mags generally, Sugar included, began to go into decline due to the rising influence of digital media. In 2002, Attic Futura was bought by Hachette. Sugar finally lost its number one market lead position in 2006 to rival magazine Bliss.In January 2011, Hachette announced its intention to close Sugar magazine in March 2011 as part of a proposed sale of the group's magazine titles to Hearst Corporation, due to the decline of subscribers over the previous five years from 250,099 to 113,320 according to ABC. The website, however, would be retained.
In December 2016, Sugarscape.com announced it was closing down. The domain now redirects to Cosmopolitan magazine.