BRW print copy axed by Fairfax Sean Aylmer. Photo: Lucas Jarvis Fairfax Media will scrap the print edition of BRW magazine at the end of next month, with the 30-year-old business publication surviving as a free online site, while some of its premium content, including the Rich 200 list, will appear in Fairfax titles like The Australian Financial Review. The announcement on Friday came a week after Fairfax announced plans to cut 45 staff through the closure of the (sydney) magazine in The Sydney Morning Herald, the (melbourne) magazine in The Age, and the merger of business reporting across these mastheads and the AFR. In an email to Fairfax staff, group director of business media Sean Aylmer said the BRW brand remains a valued part of the company's portfolio and has considerable strength in the market. "We are committed to operating all our business media titles to their full potential and leveraging the power of the AFR masthead," he said. The Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA) said BRW recorded 38,550 average net paid print sales for the period ending March this year. A September audit by the AMAA showed the BRW website had 8634 average daily unique browsers and more than 585,000 page impressions. BRW staff will be able to apply for the voluntary redundancies Fairfax is seeking from 25 business media staff. The cuts and changes reflect a tough year for the magazine market. Advertising across the sector dropped as much as 20 per cent last financial year, leading to a number of magazine closures including Bauer Media's Grazia, Madison and Burke's Backyard. June-quarter sales audits showed all of the audited weekly magazine titles reporting a fall in sales, but Fusion Media's Steve Allen said the declines appear to have "bottomed out" with weekly and monthly titles posting a lesser rate of decline for the June quarter.