Hachette Folds Elle Girl Mag; Keeps Web Site Alive
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Stephanie D. Smith[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]APRIL 04, 2006 -
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hachette Filipacchi Media will cease publication of Elle Girl as a magazine effective with its June/July issue and instead invest in Ellegirl.com and its wireless properties. The announcement was made late Tuesday night.
"It is always unfortunate to have to close a magazine; but today the teen market is increasingly fragmented. To effectively reach these girls, we must invest in the media where they spend most of their time and where we see our greatest growth potential," said Hachette CEO Jack Kliger.
Carol Smith, senior vp, Elle group publishing director and Marta Wohrle, vp, director of digital media, will oversee ElleGirl.com, which will be redesigned immediately with expanded content and a beefed up staff in partnership with teen marketing firm Alloy.
At press time, the fate of editor Christina Kelly and vp, publisher Deb Burns is unclear. Another 60 employees will be affected by the move. "Every effort is being made to position as many people as possible," said a spokesperson for the company.
Elle Girl launched in 2001 under founding editor Brandon Holley in a category dominated by Hearst Magazines' Seventeen and Cosmo Girl, as well as Time Inc.'s Teen People. (Teen Vogue launched soon after Elle Girl.) Last August, however, Holley joined Condé Nast's Jane as editor in chief, leaving Kelly, then executive editor at Elle Girl, to take over as editor.)
Elle Girl seemed to have generated a strong circulation, as well as a solid number of ad pages. For the second half of 2005, paid circulation for the teen title grew 17.9 percent to 601,149, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Newsstand sales grew an impressive 21.7 percent. Ad pages for Elle Girl through March rose 15.35 percent to 152 pages, as the title expanded its frequency from bimonthly to ten times a year in 2006.
But Hachette has recently refocused its strategy towards the Internet, and has aggressively expanded its offerings, specifically in publishing Web-only versions for some of its automotive and consumer electronic enthusiast titles such as Road & Track Speed and Road & Track Road Gear. Hachette has also made aggressive efforts to make all of its titles available in digital format this year.
A spokesperson said that Smith plans to publish two editions of Elle Girl as specials next year from the same staff that publishes spinoff Elle Accessories.
[/FONT]from mediaweek.com
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Stephanie D. Smith[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]APRIL 04, 2006 -
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hachette Filipacchi Media will cease publication of Elle Girl as a magazine effective with its June/July issue and instead invest in Ellegirl.com and its wireless properties. The announcement was made late Tuesday night.
"It is always unfortunate to have to close a magazine; but today the teen market is increasingly fragmented. To effectively reach these girls, we must invest in the media where they spend most of their time and where we see our greatest growth potential," said Hachette CEO Jack Kliger.
Carol Smith, senior vp, Elle group publishing director and Marta Wohrle, vp, director of digital media, will oversee ElleGirl.com, which will be redesigned immediately with expanded content and a beefed up staff in partnership with teen marketing firm Alloy.
At press time, the fate of editor Christina Kelly and vp, publisher Deb Burns is unclear. Another 60 employees will be affected by the move. "Every effort is being made to position as many people as possible," said a spokesperson for the company.
Elle Girl launched in 2001 under founding editor Brandon Holley in a category dominated by Hearst Magazines' Seventeen and Cosmo Girl, as well as Time Inc.'s Teen People. (Teen Vogue launched soon after Elle Girl.) Last August, however, Holley joined Condé Nast's Jane as editor in chief, leaving Kelly, then executive editor at Elle Girl, to take over as editor.)
Elle Girl seemed to have generated a strong circulation, as well as a solid number of ad pages. For the second half of 2005, paid circulation for the teen title grew 17.9 percent to 601,149, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Newsstand sales grew an impressive 21.7 percent. Ad pages for Elle Girl through March rose 15.35 percent to 152 pages, as the title expanded its frequency from bimonthly to ten times a year in 2006.
But Hachette has recently refocused its strategy towards the Internet, and has aggressively expanded its offerings, specifically in publishing Web-only versions for some of its automotive and consumer electronic enthusiast titles such as Road & Track Speed and Road & Track Road Gear. Hachette has also made aggressive efforts to make all of its titles available in digital format this year.
A spokesperson said that Smith plans to publish two editions of Elle Girl as specials next year from the same staff that publishes spinoff Elle Accessories.
[/FONT]from mediaweek.com
