Controversial men's magazine Zoo Weekly has resigned from the ABC audit, with the title electing to no longer have its circulation figures independently audited.
The December 2014 audit saw it record the largest declines of any weekly magazine title, with the mag losing 27.92% of its circulation year-on-year. Its circulation sat at 29,035 after having recorded 40,282 just a year before.
Bauer denied any speculation that it's resigning from the audit due to the title's falling sales and controversial nature.
“It's a reflection of the men's magazine category, not a reflection of the magazine,” a spokesperson told AdNews.
The spokesperson was also quick to dismiss rumours that withdrawing from the audit meant the publication was a hop, skip and a jump from closure.
The title gained attention this week after a story, which was first written about in AdNews, gained widespread media attention for a call from a petition on change.org that asked Coles and Woolworths to ban the men's mag.
The petition, which was started on May 8, is calling on the supermarket giants to stop selling the magazine due to its sexualisation and objectification of women.
According to the latest release of the emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data, Zoo Weekly has a readership of 392,000.
See the rest of the figures from the latest release of the ABC numbers here.
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