Stuff

About Stuff

Overview

Stuff is a British consumer electronics magazine published by Kelsey Media, covering gadgets, technology news, reviews and buying guides. First published in Britain in November 1996 by Dennis Publishing, it has spent nearly three decades documenting the consumer technology revolution, from the first mobile phones and portable music players to smartphones, wearables and smart-home devices. Its official online home is stuff.tv, which carries technology news and in-depth expert reviews spanning smartphones, headphones, gadgets, games and more.

The magazine is published monthly, and its audited circulation stood at 29,142 in 2020. Its ISSN is 1364-9639. Over its history the brand has expanded into one of the world's most widely licensed gadget titles, with editions published across Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.

Launch by Dennis Publishing

Stuff was first published in Britain in November 1996 by Dennis Publishing as a bimonthly title. It followed the success of magazines such as FHM and Loaded in being pitched toward a young, male audience, with a focus on consumer goods and electronics. Its original strapline was “what’s hot and where to get it”, and it described itself as a one-stop guide to anything a man might want to buy, and where to get it.

The launch was commercially promising at first: the title predicted a circulation of 50,000, which it accomplished, and its ABC debut recorded 61,358 copies. In response to growing reader and advertiser demand, Dennis increased the frequency to ten issues a year, with publisher Bridget Marrison noting that Stuff was unique in bridging the gap between broader lifestyle magazines and more specialist titles. But the growth the magazine needed did not materialise; its ABC figures peaked at around 60,000, and with copy sales failing to come up to expectations, Dennis decided to close the title just two years after launch.

Haymarket years and refocus on technology

The brand took a more lifestyle-orientated direction in 1998, before publishing group Haymarket bought the title in January 1999 and refocused the magazine on consumer electronics. Under Haymarket, Stuff became a dedicated gadget magazine, reviewing the latest consumer electronics and previewing possible future technology, and it was this identity that turned it into one of the world's best-known technology titles.

Haymarket also launched a US edition of the magazine in 1999, extending the brand across the Atlantic. The magazine's remit under Haymarket was deliberately broad: whether readers were Apple or Android fans, the magazine catered to everyone, and it championed emerging trends from 3D printing and the Internet of Things to new social media platforms.

Global expansion

Under Haymarket's ownership the Stuff brand grew into a global franchise. Editions were published across the UK, the US, Turkey, Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Spain, Romania, Lithuania, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Singapore, the Middle East, Mexico, Korea, Poland, Portugal and Vietnam, among other territories.

At its peak the brand claimed a global circulation of 1.36 million copies across 25 editions, and it was described as the world's best-selling gadget monthly magazine for over a decade. The magazine's formula, reviews of the planet's best gadgets, tech and apps, translated readily across markets, and its monthly projects helped readers get more from their existing gadgets with new skills, tricks and hacks.

Editorial content

Stuff carries reviews of consumer electronics, previews of forthcoming technology, and features on the trends shaping the tech world. Its pages have covered the championing of 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and behind-the-scenes looks at new platforms and their makers, always with the magazine's characteristic enthusiasm for the pure, unfiltered joy of tech and gadgets.

The magazine's reviews span smartphones, laptops, audio, wearables, gaming, photography and smart-home kit, while its features investigate and uncover new trends in tech. The editorial promise is to be first to tread where other technology magazines do not, combining buying advice with the entertainment value of beautifully presented gadget journalism.

Sale to Kelsey Media

In May 2018 Haymarket Media Group sold Stuff to Kelsey Media, the independent Kent-based publisher. The sale followed an attempt to sell the brand to Future plc, which already owned the competing title T3; that deal fell through due to regulatory concerns, and Kelsey Media stepped in instead.

Haymarket Media Group CEO Kevin Costello said at the time that Stuff was a truly iconic brand, trusted by its tech-loving followers to entertain, educate and inspire, and that it had been a big part of the Haymarket story. He added that Haymarket's strategic focus had shifted and that Stuff needed a new home where the brand could achieve its potential. Kelsey Media, founded more than 25 years earlier and one of the fastest-growing media businesses in the UK with a portfolio of more than 60 multi-media brands, was presented as exactly that home.

The Kelsey Media era

Under Kelsey Media, Stuff has continued as a monthly print magazine alongside its digital operation at stuff.tv. The brand's online presence carries the latest technology news and in-depth expert reviews, from smartphones and headphones to games and smart-home devices, extending the magazine's reach between print issues.

The current editor is Dan Grabham, and the magazine continues to serve its audience of tech enthusiasts with the mix of reviews, news and features that has defined it since the Haymarket years. The Kelsey era has kept the brand independent of the large publishing groups that dominate British technology media.

The Stuff website

The brand's digital home, stuff.tv, carries the latest technology news and in-depth expert reviews, spanning smartphones, headphones and gadgets through to games, audio, wearables and smart-home devices. The site extends the magazine's buying-guide mission between print issues, offering reviews and buying advice in the same enthusiast tone as the monthly magazine.

The website has allowed the Stuff brand to reach readers far beyond the print edition's circulation, and it serves as the public face of the title for a generation of tech buyers who research purchases online. Its reviews follow the magazine's long-standing approach: hands-on assessment of the latest consumer electronics, written for people who love technology.

Place in technology publishing

Stuff's longevity is remarkable in a sector where many gadget titles have come and gone. Launched in the era of the first mainstream mobile phones and still publishing in the age of AI and foldable devices, it has documented every major consumer technology trend of the past three decades.

Its journey from a Dennis Publishing men's lifestyle launch to a Haymarket-owned global gadget brand to an independent Kelsey Media title mirrors the broader history of British magazine publishing. Through each change of ownership, the core proposition has endured: a magazine about the joy of gadgets, written for people who love technology.

Nearly three decades after its November 1996 launch, Stuff remains one of the most recognisable names in consumer technology media. Its strapline may have evolved and its owners changed, but its founding promise, to show readers what's hot and where to get it, continues to define what the brand does every month in print and every day online.

For readers who want to explore the brand further, the magazine's reviews, news and buying guides are all available through its official website, where the current issue's highlights sit alongside the latest stories from the world of gadgets and consumer technology.