Practical Fishkeeping magazine sold to Warner Group Publications Ltd
Monday the 18th of February 2019 saw an announcement that Britain’s biggest fishkeeping magazine, and its B2B sister title, Pet Product Marketing, had been sold.
“I would like to inform you, we have today finalised the sale of Practical Fishkeeping and Pet Product Marketing magazines, and their companion websites, to Warners Group Publications Ltd.” Said Rob Munro-Hall, Group Managing Director of Bauer Media.
“Both titles are a good fit for Warners, who already publish Your Cat and Your Dog, along with other specialist interest magazines. The acquisition of these titles will give Warners a strong position in the pets market.”
Practical Fishkeeping, or PFK as it’s known by its regular readers, celebrated its 50th birthday in 2016, and had seen off much competition over the years, to survive as the only freshwater tropical fish magazine on sale on British news stands.
PFK was sold previously as part of the Emap portfolio to Bauer Media, and managed to out last much larger Emap/Bauer titles such as More, FHM and Max Power, which all closed their print publications due to a shift in audience and advertiser behaviour.
A new beginning
Several industry sources told FKN that the sale of PFK and PPM to Warner was a good thing, and that really specialist titles were Warner’s thing, so the future could be bright for PFK, and it may gets the attention that it deserves.
“Bauer is confident that both brands will prosper at Warners, and the titles will transfer on March 1. Issues on-sale from the 1st March will fall under Warners ownership.” Closed Munro-Hall.
Here’s to the next 50 years!
