THE equation was simple. Put together women, jokes, beer, football and a hefty dose of irreverence, and you will hook men's eyeballs.

This was the magic formula for men's magazines, spearheaded by the category called 'lad's mags'.

Positioned between more staid fashion magazines and soft porn rags, the lad mag was unstoppable in the 1990s.

But now it seems the spell has been broken.

On 24 Oct, SPH Magazines announced that Maxim would cease circulation. Its December issue would be its last.

Earlier in July, NewMan also underwent an 'indefinite suspension'.

And the financial health of Viscion Media, the magazine publisher behind newcomer Playeur, has also come into question as it faces several court cases for allegedly not paying wages and bills. Some of the cases have been settled.

While upstarts like SNAG have come and gone with nary a whimper.

SPH Magazines CEO Loh Yew Seng said the idea that babes on the cover sell men's magazines was the 'conventional wisdom in the past' and things have changed.

Compared to women's magazines, men's magazines are relatively new.

And the first stage, he said, was the lad's magazine, featuring very visual, very risque content.

Then the industry evolved. It seems the lads have grown up. What men now want is content that is close to their hearts, he said.

A reader's involvement in a lad's magazine is very shallow. 'You look at the pictures, you throw the magazine away,' he said.

But a content-driven magazine is much more engaging. And the numbers, he said, prove it.

Take Men's Health, which features articles related to fitness, nutrition and fashion. It has a readership of 70,000, according to the recent Nielsen Media Index, overtaking lad's magazines in the men's magazines segment, a category they used to dominate.

Compare this to Maxim's readership of 23,000.

And Men's Health doesn't have a woman on the cover - it's always a man.

SPH Magazines will be focusing on other such 'niche' magazines. In fact, in a recent revamp of car magazine Torque, they consciously decided to leave the babe out of the cover. 'The perception of what's inside is a lot stronger,' said Mr Loh.

And this trend is not limited to Singapore.

Britain's Sky News Online, quoting the Audit Bureau of Circulations' (ABC) industry sales statistics, found that Maxim's average monthly sale plummeted by 44.5 per cent to 43,542 in the first half of 2008 and 59.6 per cent year-on-year.

Another lad's mag, Loaded, fell 20.8 per cent year-on-year and FHM fell 10 per cent. And reports of sagging sales go back as early as the turn of the decade.

Ms Zita Ong, managing director of publishing at MediaCorp, said its two men's magazines, FHM and Arena, are both doing well.

But she agreed that the market has evolved.

'Ten years ago, it would have been unheard of for a man to go to a spa or to get a manicure or pedicure. Today, it is not uncommon,' she said.

'Similarly, with men's magazines, offerings have evolved and diversified to encompass not only lad's magazines, but also lifestyle and niche/hobby titles, like motoring magazines.'

But this doesn't mean that men have suddenly lost interest in babes.

Mr Dylan Tan, 34, a former editor of Maxim, FHM and Playeur, and head of an upcoming men's magazine called VIP, said: 'Boys will always be boys.'

What's different are the avenues available, especially online. With gadgets like iPhones, accessing the Internet on the go has never been easier.

Getting online content free

He gave the example of Monkey magazine, a free lad publication that's available for free online. 'People are used to getting what they want online and for free,' he said.

He added that it is very easy to outgrow a lad's magazine, since it caters to a much younger crowd, which is why the more successful men's magazines nowadays are those which stay away from the laddish slant.

But he added: 'FHM still does very well with that because there will always be 18-year-old boys who want their kicks.'

Mr Holman Chin, general manager of Viscion Media, said he hadn't expected Maxim to close down, which means his magazine Playeur and MediaCorp's FHM are the only lad's mag players left.

He also insisted that Playeur is in no danger of shutting down.

He said the pure lad's magazine is on the decline and that advertisers now want to reach out to an older crowd with more disposable income.

As for the Internet threat, he said Playeur finds models that 'you won't find online' and uses seductive, but not 'blatant' poses for the girls.

'There's still a universal appreciation of female form even in print,' he said.

But are men still willing to pay for it?

A 23-year-old NSF, who wanted to go only by the name Valentino, said he found lad's magazines 'garbage'.

Instead, he would rather read Men's Health for the gym training tips.

'If I wanted to look at pictures of girls, I can just look online for free or see them in real life in clubs,' he said.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 2, 2008.