The Business of Magazines

[tigerrouge]

I suppose it's a bit like that US Vogue Best Dressed magazine, making a buck by recycling old shots.

I would love a covers publication to not only contain good-sized images, but also nuggets of information about the creation of those covers - whether that be artistic analysis, technical explanations, personal memories or historical context, I wouldn't care, just something that sheds a little more light on them.

 

[MissMagAddict]

^There's only a small introduction at the beginning. I agree with you... If they would have spent the time to create a book like that, then I would have probably bought it.

I enjoyed the Vogue Best Dressed issue though. It's nice to have it all together in one issue as a reference.

 

[tarsha]

MUSICAL CHAIRS: There is some reshuffling in the front row this fashion week. Allure’s Fashion Director Michael Carl is moving over to Vanity Fair as fashion market director just in time for the New York shows next week. Treena Lombardo, who left W, where she was market director, last June, is taking over his spot at Allure. Lombardo will officially start at Allure on Feb.14. Meanwhile, W’s senior accessories/jewelry editor Talya Cousins revealed her departure from the magazine. She is joining Open Sky, the free online shopping forum, as director of merchandising.

wwd.com

 

[MON]

I bet in that book, not a single Newsstand cover is included

 

[tentalicious]

Emmanuelle Alt, The New Editor of Vogue Paris, on Daria Werbowy, Celebrity Covers, and New Designers by Mark Holgate via Vogue.com

On How She Sees Vogue Paris—For Now
....
“I want to keep the quality, the photographers we work with—David [Sims], Mert and Marcus, Mario [Testino], and Bruce Weber. I don’t think there should be radical changes. The magazine should still be chic and sophisticated. It’s a bit like buying an apartment: Before you move in, you have all these plans of what you are going to do, but then you get there, and you realize it is better to spend time living in it, and transforming it over time. I’d like there to be more beauty trends; there was so much of that in Vogue back in the eighties. And how people are living; there are so many interesting, cool people here, and they should be in the magazine. More French girls, more French lifestyle. And I am going to keep shooting for the magazine—hopefully a story every issue. I do project myself in my pictures, even if I would never wear what I shoot. Actually, most of the time I definitely wouldn’t. I always want a relationship with reality: nothing too sexy, or provocative, or fashion victim. Even if I love to dream, I want the magazine to feature a girl who looks like she belongs in real life. We are French—we can show smoking, nudity. We have no boundaries, and it can be good to have them."

On Celebrity Covers
“We don’t have a systematic point of view on it. But here in France we are back in a much more glamorous time. French actresses were respected, but not so evidently in the fashion world. Now we have Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg. I’d be very happy to put an actress on the cover if she is the right girl.”

On the Need for New Designers in Paris
“No one has appeared, and you cross your fingers that someone will come through. It’s good that some people—like Bouchra Jarrar—are using the haute couture to get attention for themselves. You can’t create new talent just like that. America feels like it has become the place for young designers.”

On Her Kind of Model
“Daria is the girl I work with the most. She has a natural, strong beauty. You can put her in a white tee and she will make it look fantastic. I like Kate [Moss] too, because she cares about clothes. Most models don’t care what you put them in, they just play the game.”

*full article here

 

[blueorchid]

I do project myself in my pictures, even if I would never wear what I shoot. Actually, most of the time I definitely wouldn’t.

I'm sure...

 

[GlamorousBoy]

Germany: Burda Style Group to launch Cover

This one shot will focus on people, fashion and lifestyle and will be issued on April 16, 2011

Cover is developed by a small editorial team with experience of high-quality women's magazines, led by editor-in-chief Michaela Milke.

Target group of the magazine is women aged 30 and over, interested in people, fashion and lifestyle.

Cover is a personality magazine with a focus on sophisticated features and high-end fashion. In addition to interviews and portraits, we elaborate photo productions and background reports, said Michaela Milke.

The magazine will have 220 pages for a copy price of Euro 3 and a circulation of 250'000 copies.

source: burdamedia.de

 

[MissMagAddict]

source | nytimes.com

New Star in the Front Row by Cathy Horyn
With Emmanuelle Alt, French Vogue Charts a New Course.

For two reasons, the choice of Emmanuelle Alt as editor in chief of French Vogue, in January, was anticlimactic. First, there was all the weirdness of her predecessor's departure. Was Carine Roitfeld, who held the post for 10 years, fired or did she resign, as Condé Nast maintained? Second, the swift promotion of Ms. Alt from the No. 2 position of fashion director suggested that her bosses weren’t looking for much change. As she herself said, “They know my work by heart, and probably they felt like it was safe for them.”

Vogue editors do not come along every day, except in China and India, where Western fashion magazines are new. Anna Wintour (American Vogue) and Franca Sozzani (Italian Vogue) have each held their jobs for 22 years; Alexandra Shulman, the chief of British Vogue, a little less. If anything, the cult of the editor has exploded in the last decade, with books, documentaries and fan sites like I Want to be a Roitfeld, which is dedicated not just to Ms. Roitfeld but also to offspring. Recently the site branched out to include Ms. Alt.

At the same time, in a series of posts on Vogue.it, Ms. Sozzani has been critical of this cult, suggesting, among other things, that people have their priorities confused. Without referring to anyone specifically, she said this week in an interview: “They think it’s sitting in the front row and looking around with a tough eye as if you’re the one to decide about the life of people. This attitude is completely wrong. It’s what you do for the magazine that matters.”

Then she added, “Honestly, I don’t think a stylist has a vision for a magazine.”

Ms. Roitfeld was a freelance stylist before she became editor of French Vogue, where she continued to style shoots. She was also the model for Tom Ford’s louche glamour at Gucci, down to her black bra and stilettos. Insiders doubted that she could run a magazine, but within a few years, with the help of the art director Fabien Baron and Ms. Alt (not to mention a bunch of great photographers and models, who seemed to have interned at the same disco), French Vogue felt coolly revitalized.

“It’s one of the best female fashion magazines in the world,” the photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino said. “It’s as simple as that, and people couldn’t cope with it.” The magazine was also profitable under Ms. Roitfeld, said Jonathan Newhouse, chief executive of Condé Nast International, with a 40 percent jump in circulation over her tenure.

Ms. Roitfeld’s undoing as editor in chief was triggered, people in Paris speculated, by her December issue, which was devoted to all things Ford, not least sex. For one spread, he photographed a pair of elders groping each other in a smear of lipstick and neck wrinkles. Mr. Ford declared he was tired of youth culture.

Maybe so, but the issue as a whole suggested a lack of adult supervision at the top. In a post that appeared in January, Ms. Sozzani questioned the point of fashion shoots that make people look vulgar, specifically condemning a shoot (in the December issue of French Vogue, as it happens) that showed little girls in seductive clothes and makeup.

Certainly the Vogues face a world in which assumptions seem to be changing daily. But for that reason, Ms. Sozzani said, editors have to be absolutely in control of their magazines. “Everybody can create a magazine, just as everything can be on the runway,” she said. “But there has to be a concept. And it’s true that we’re in an image. But you cannot have the image without the vision.”

What happened to Ms. Roitfeld was this: she offered to resign, according to several individuals close to the matter. She was frequently absent from the office, on shoots, and when the issue of her management came to a head, she offered to resign. She may have been bluffing, hoping she would be asked to stay, but her resignation was accepted.

When asked if being away from the office was a contributing factor, Ms. Roitfeld said last month over a drink at the Ritz hotel in Paris: “Maybe, maybe.

Everybody has an opinion. Before, it wasn’t a problem, and anyway the magazine was doing very well. It’s difficult to work with a big team. Maybe it’s good I go back to my roots.” She said that her bosses received complaints from advertisers over the Ford issue. “I was killed for that,” she said. “You know, it’s difficult to try to do something new each month.”

Asked if she regretted resigning, Ms. Roitfeld said no. “I’m very sad, but in a way I’m very happy, too. I don’t want to get old in this golden cage. I’m very punk in a way.”

Her friendship with Ms. Alt did not survive, however. Both women said they were no longer speaking. Neither would reveal the reasons.

A few days later at the Café de Flore, Ms. Alt, as candid as she is unfazed, said: “I don’t look back and see clouds anywhere. Carine is someone who needs to be free. She’s the rebel of the class. She hates authority. She dealt with it for years but. ...”

Ms. Alt, 43, the daughter of a Parisian model who worked for Lanvin and Nina Ricci and a professional writer of children’s songs, is every inch a fashion editor. Starting from the bottom, as a summer intern at French Elle, she arrived at Vogue in 2000, three weeks before Ms. Roitfeld. She is tall, lanky, with dark brown hair. Her style twin would surely be Daria Werbowy.

Indeed, for a shoot in the September 2008 issue, she styled Ms. Werbowy in the attitude Alt: skin-tight pants, snug jackets by Balmain and Chanel, plain T-shirts, Zanotti booties and flying hair. And she is as famous in fashion circles for not wearing skirts as Ms. Roitfeld is for showing leg. Her antenna is aimed at the street.

She said: “I think the street now takes its influence from the Internet and music — more than what designers do. I would love to recreate this impact in the magazine.” There is also an opportunity, Mr. Mondino suggested, to relate more content to iPad technology.

What isn’t known is whether the centimeters, when broken out, add up to editor in chief. Ms. Alt’s great strength, say those who work with her, like the photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, may be that young women, with careers and families (Ms. Alt has a daughter, 6, and a son, 13) identify with her style. “It’s believable,” Ms. van Lamsweerde said, adding, “I always say to her, ‘I want everything you’re wearing.’ ”

Personally, Ms. Van Lamsweerde said, she doesn’t care to see a more well-rounded French Vogue. “Do we really need another magazine about the latest architectural feat, the latest book? To me, what’s needed is a real fashion magazine, with the best taste and incredible photography.”

Ms. Alt, who plans to attend the New York shows for the first time in years, likened the changes she wants to make to “opening a few more windows.” She wants a more feminine attitude. “I don’t mean girlie,” she said, “but less tough. And I think you can make very strong fashion pictures without shocking or being borderline.” French Vogue may display a nostalgic love for cigarettes and nude Bardot blondes, “but it’s not because everything is possible that you can do everything,” she said.

She seems aware that to be a great editor is to be more than a daring stylist. She has told photographers that she will only style one shoot per issue. And she has given up her outside styling jobs, with Balmain and Isabel Marant, which she was permitted to do when she first came to Vogue. In an internal Condé Nast memo in January, Mr. Newhouse reminded editors about the company policy against taking on outside jobs without permission.

“I completely understand that in life you have to make choices,” Ms. Alt said. “It’s not even a discussion. I’m going to be exclusive to French Vogue.”

 

[LANZO_358]

Germany: Burda Style Group to launch Cover

This one shot will focus on people, fashion and lifestyle and will be issued on April 16, 2011

Cover is developed by a small editorial team with experience of high-quality women's magazines, led by editor-in-chief Michaela Milke.

Target group of the magazine is women aged 30 and over, interested in people, fashion and lifestyle.

Cover is a personality magazine with a focus on sophisticated features and high-end fashion. In addition to interviews and portraits, we elaborate photo productions and background reports, said Michaela Milke.

The magazine will have 220 pages for a copy price of Euro 3 and a circulation of 250'000 copies.

source: burdamedia.de

Re: Cover, isn't there a Danish mag by that name already? Is that allowed?

 

[kasper!]

Sally Singer Talks T

by John Koblin

NEW YORK — “There’s just really, really amazing text,” said Sally Singer. “Amazing text.”

Last Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the editor of T: The New York Times Style Magazine was sitting at the bar of El Quijote, a Spanish restaurant in her home at the Chelsea Hotel, talking about her second issue of T — the women’s fashion issue. While working through a small bottle of cava, she was fixated on one of the stories inside, which has absolutely nothing to do with fashion. It is an excerpt from Sigrid Nunez’s new book, “Sempre Susan,” about the author’s relationship with Susan Sontag and her son David Reiff.

“For me, it’s what I want from The New York Times on a weekend,” said Singer, 45, her voice picking up. “I want a good, sexy, neurotic story about New York literary life in the Seventies. I want the New York Review of Book parties. I want a little Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. You have that literary dream of New York. It’s got it all.”

It’s striking for an editor of a fashion-heavy luxury magazine to assign a piece like this, but then again, it’s not surprising. Elsewhere in her women’s fashion issue, which comes out Feb. 27, there’s an article by Times movie critic A.O. Scott that’s ostensibly about actor Tahar Rahim, but is also largely about changes in French cinema. In Singer’s debut issue of T, back in December and meant to mark the holidays, there was a book excerpt about autism; a mini-feature on Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the downtown mosque, and another little piece on Julian Assange.

But isn’t this T? Why so serious?

“I want to make sure that the reader who reads the front page [of the Times] doesn’t think of T as this strange dispatch from ‘Project Style’ that they can toss away with everything else,” said Singer.

WWD

*Read full article here

 

[tentalicious]

If anyone's interested...?

Vogue Italia web-site celebrates its first birthday with an exclusive gift for its readers.
....
Page after page, readers will be taken on a journey through the history of the magazine: from the first issue dating back to November 1965 to the first issue under the direction of Editor-in-Chief, Franca Sozzani on July-August 1988.

To enjoy these two very exclusive issues of Vogue Italia, available on-line only until March, 31st 2011, simply log here and register your details by inserting name, surname and e-mail address. They will send you a message to the e-mail address you have provided at the time of registration containing a password which is the access key to the two historic issues.

*full article here

[via vogue.it]

 

[tigerrouge]

Another set of UK magazine ABCs are out, I spent time on Friday trying to format some of the information, but tfs was having none of it, and it was a jumble of numbers. So first, I'll post a few stories about that Hearst takeover of Lagardère (mediaweek.co.uk

Condé Nast not threatened by Hearst's Lagardère takeover

Condé Nast has said that it is not anticipating "any negative effect" from the takeover of Lagardère's international portfolio of 102 titles by Hearst Corporation.

Lagardère and Hearst announced yesterday (31 January) that they had completed their month-long discussion, with Hearst making a "binding offer" of €651m for the international titles operated under Lagardere’s overseas publishing subsidiary, Hachette Filipacchi.

The offer included a licensing deal for Lagardère’s flagship title Elle magazine. In the UK, Hachette Filipacchi's titles will be housed alongside those of the Hearst-owned National Magazine Company.

This will consolidate fashion competitors Elle and Harper’s Bazaar in the same publishing house, which will then be pitched against other premium fashion brands, including Condé Nast's Vogue.

Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Condé Nast, said: "We are not anticipating any negative effect on Condé Nast from the takeover. Bazaar and Elle have always been the numbers two and three players in the eyes of the fashion world, and so they will remain.

Coleridge continued: "They are nice titles, but they sure ain't Vogue, and I can't see any reader or advertiser quitting Vogue simply because of a coalition of the runners-up, owned by our friends at Hearst."

A Hachette Filipacchi source said: "It’s a really good thing as it gives us a strong, broad, complimentary portfolio which is hard to achieve with mergers and acquisitions. There are also no big conflicts. Elle and Harpers’ Bazaar are different propositions.

"Elle is a lot bigger in terms of circulation and Harpers is more niche – in a good way. It will make it easier for advertisers to work with us, as they will be able to work with Elle and Harpers with one less buying point."

Vanessa Clifford, head of press at Mindshare, said: "From an advertiser's perspective, I wouldn’t say it’s more attractive than before to have Elle and Harpers grouped under the same publishing house – both titles have been in existence a long time. Could they trade them better together? Possibly.

"Certainly it gives [NatMag] broader credentials in that market and provides an easier flow of conversation between advertisers and the publisher, but I don’t think this will be at the detriment of Vogue, because Vogue, Elle and Harper’s have always existed – it’s not like one brand has come in from the wilderness."

The future acquisition of Lagardère's international portfolio by Hearst would also give Hearst the biggest international presence of a consumer magazine publisher.

Clifford does not see this as a threat to Condé Nast however.

She said: "Ultimately, they are very different publishers. Both have really strong established brands. The consumer doesn’t really care who owns the magazines. They only care if any acquisitions affects the content of the brands."

Vogue leads the circulation race among the fashion glossies, with an average net circulation of 210,561 for the six months to June 2010, compared to Elle's figure of 195,625 and Harper's Bazaar 118,553, according to the latest ABC figures.

 

[tigerrouge]

I also read that Cosmopolitan has launched in Mongolia and in the Middle East as an English-language magazine... anyhow, on with the takeover talk (mediaweek.co.uk

Hearst sets eyes firmly east with Lagardère deal

The decision by the owner of Cosmopolitan to buy the rights for Elle reflects the shifting sands of the magazine marketplace…

As British magazines focus on ABC figures today, senior executives in the industry’s most glamorous New York tower block are busy stitching together the international portfolios of Lagardère and Hearst.

The pending €651 million deal for 102 titles will make Hearst the largest publisher in the world by number of print editions. The publisher of Cosmo can already claim to be the most international, with more than 200 magazines distributed in 100+ countries.

Despite almost three months having passed since discussions between Hearst and Lagardère first began, the logistics of aligning and re-drawing long-standing partnerships means any deal is not expected to be finalised until the end of the second quarter.

A complicated network of joint ventures, licensing partnerships and distribution deals, means the deal’s tentacles stretch far beyond the two publishing houses to include the likes of IDG, Sanoma, Rodale, Pacific Magazines and Inter Media Group.

On this side of the Atlantic, the immediate benefits of combining the portfolios of Hearst-owned NatMags (Cosmopolitan, Harpers Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Country Living) with those of Lagardère’s Hachette Filipacchi (Red, Elle, Psychologies, Inside Soap) are not immediately clear, but then the real deal has little to do with the UK.

When I quizzed Duncan Edwards, president and chief executive of Hearst Magazines International after the deal was confirmed, there was little tangible evidence that UK operations had been much of a consideration at all. "Clearly there are some synergies available on costs from bringing two companies together," was the nearest he came to detailing benefits for the UK.

Far more relevant, especially in the week China was officially declared the world’s second largest economy, Edwards talked about the deal paving the way for “additional exposure in China”.

Hearst has clearly looked at the evolving magazine business and made a judgement call: Asia is the place to be to make money from print.

The amount of advertising spend to be wringed out of ink-on-paper is undeniably drying up in much of Western Europe and North America.

ZenithOptimedia figures confirm that magazine spend peaked an entire 10 years ago in the UK, at $2.7bn, today they are almost half that, with forecasts for 2010 around $1.4bn.

Meanwhile, magazine ad spend in China has almost trebled during the same period, from $166m to $450m, and strong growth is expected to continue. With one out of every five people in the world living in China, (some 1.3bn), its untapped potential is clear.

The intrepid Hearst - which has set the bar in terms of international expansion ever since its sea-faring founder William Hearst first caught a steam train some 100 years ago - already publishes dozens of editions of Cosmopolitan, Esquire and other magazines in Asia.

The publisher has established a mix of licensing agreements with local publishers as well as joint ventures with ACP and JoongAng.

By acquiring Lagardère's international portfolio, Hearst stands to inherit Hachette Filipcacchi Hong Kong and a number of Asian partnerships with the likes of Shanghai Translation Publishing house and China Sports Publications, if it so chooses.

Meanwhile, Lagardère's jewel in its crown, Elle, can benefit from being rolled out to Hearst partners already printing Cosmopolitan. Fashion and beauty advertisers wanting to reach women in burgeoning Asia could well benefit from a multimarket, multi-title sell that could bundle Cosmo and Harpers Bazaar space in with Elle and Red.

So when Nicholas Coleridge, UK managing director of Condé Nast, told us Harpers Bazaar and Elle are “nice titles, but they sure ain't Vogue”, perhaps he was missing the bigger (Asian) picture?

 

[tigerrouge]

Now for some analysis of the new ABCs by Media Guardian:

Glamour's circulation falls nearly 5%

Women's lifestyle and fashion magazine still remains ahead of rival Good Housekeeping

Women's lifestyle and fashion market leader Glamour shed nearly 5% of its circulation in the second half of 2010, falling to 500,591.

The Condé Nast monthly fell 4.9% compared to the first six months of 2010 and 2.9% year on year, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published today.

However, Glamour remains ahead of its nearest paid-for rival, NatMags's Good Housekeeping, which reported a 5% circulation increase on the period to 443,750. This was a 3.2% year-on-year increase.

In second place was John Brown's free magazine John Lewis Edition which distributed 485,139, a period-on-period increase of 0.2% under the editorship of former Marie Claire editor Marie O'Riordan. John Lewis Edition launched in the autumn of 2009, so no year-on-year comparison figures are available.

The John Lewis title was followed in third place by another free magazine, ASOS, the online retailer's monthly, which distributed 451,369 on average, up 0.3% on the period and 0.3% year on year.

Also faring well in the sector was IPC Media's monthly Woman & Home, which reported a 4.5% increase on the period with 385,000 copies. This represents a 4.7% year-on-year increase.

Gains were also reported from Hachette Filipacchi's monthly Elle (UK), which rose by 2.5% in the period to report a 200,531 circulation. This represented a 2.6% year-on-year increase.

There was also better news for Hachette monthly stablemates Red and Psychologies. Red's circulation was 231,028, a 0.4% increase on the period and a 2% year-on-year increase.

Psychologies increased its circulation on the period by 0.9% to 120,119. There was a year-on-year drop of 8.2% however.

Hachette's UK titles were among more than 100 sold by French owner Lagardére to NatMags parent company Hearst last month for £560m.

IPC Media's Marie Claire was one of the major losers in the lifestyle and fashion sector with a 5.3% circulation drop on the period to 265,042, a year on year decline of 6.4%.

NatMags' mid-market monthly title Prima also fell, dropping 7.1% on the period to 268,421, a 6.9% fall year on year.

However NatMags disputed the figure offered by ABC which it claims does not reflect Prima's "true performance" over the July–December 2010 period.

According to NatMags, Prima's UK newsstand copies of the September issue were excluded because a cover mount of an old Best magazine was included as part of the package which ABC claimed should have been sold as a multipack. As a result UK newsstand copies were not counted for September.

"Prima continues to be one of the UK's best performing magazines with circulation for the July – December period showing a healthy sale of 297,000 copies, representing a 3% increase year on year and a 2.8% increase period on period," the company said.

Bauer Consumer Media's celebrity and fashion-led weekly Grazia was another faller, shedding 1.9% over the period and 2.3% year on year with an average circulation of 224,421.

Condé Nast's monthly Easy Living also fell, reporting a 5.9% decline on both the previous period and year on year to 160,061 monthly copies on average.

Among the society-oriented woman's magazines, NatMags's monthly Harper's Bazaar increased circulation by 1% on the period to 119,712, an 8.2% year-on-year increase.

Condé Nast's Tatler and Vanity Fair also maintained steady figures. Vanity Fair's circulation was 102,471, less than 100 copies fewer than in the previous six months or the second half of 2009.

Tatler, whose editor Catherine Ostler stepped down at the end of last year, increased circulation slightly 87,258. This was a 0.9% increase on the period and a 1.1% increase year-on-year.

 

[tigerrouge]

And on the men's side of things... (guardian.co.uk/media

Stuff powers on with six-month rise of nearly 9%

Haymarket gadget mag scores success, as Wired and Esquire also enjoy circulation increases

Gadget magazine Stuff provided a note of cheer in the men's magazine sector with sales up almost 9% in the second half of last year, while titles including Wired, Esquire and fitness titles all enjoyed circulation increases.

Stuff, which is part of Michael Heseltine's Haymarket empire, reported an 8.9% circulation increase in the last six months of 2010 compared to the previous period. But the title reported a year-on-year fall of 2.9% to 92,959, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures out today.

Natmag Rodale's Men's Health continued its reign as the biggest men's paid for consumer magazine with sales up very slightly, by 0.1%, period on period to 245,923. Sales fell year on year by 1.9%.

Condé Nast will be pleased with the performance of GQ, which managed to hold sales steady at 120,087, as will National Magazine Company with Esquire, up 0.4% year on year and 2.1% period on period to 59,382.

Wired, another Condé Nast title, was also 0.1% up period on period and up 3.7% year on year. Wired's circulation came in at 50,044, although 10,000 copies are classified as "modified free distribution".

Men's Health rival Men's Fitness, owned by Dennis Publishing, produced a double sales uplift, with circulation up 1.1% period-on-period and up 1.2% year on year to 68,843.

The market leader's nearest paid-for competitor, Bauer Media's FHM, saw its circulation fall by 23.3% year on year to 177,261. However the precipitous falls appear to be slowing, with the period-on-period decline more than halving to 8%.

Loaded, sold by IPC to Vitality Publishing in October, reported falls of 30.6% year on year and 7.7% period on period to 49,448.

IPC's weekly Nuts, the third biggest paid-for title in the sector, reported a 19.6% year-on-year fall to 142,212. Period-on-period this was a 3.3% decline.

Bauer's rival weekly Zoo appears to be faring relatively worse, with sales down 32.8% year on -year to 68,810, a 14.3% period-on-period fall.

The sector's two free titles, Shortlist and Sport, remained the two biggest men's magazines, with distribution of 521,713 and 306,540 respectively.

 

[tigerrouge]

A general look at the results across all sectors (brandrepublic.com via mediaweek.co.uk

MAGAZINE ABCs: Winners and losers in the circulation wars

A round-up of the leading consumer magazine publishers' performance in the February 2011 ABCs, tracking the winners and losers in the circulation wars over the six months from July to December 2010.

Bauer Consumer Media

Total average circulation per issue: 3,569,610, down 8.6% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: It’s not really worth opening a bottle at Bauer Media after a disappointing ABC audit where only three magazines (Mojo, More and Practical Classics & Car Restorer) posted a period-on-period circulation rise, with only five magazines recording the same success year on year, most notably Classic Bike and Model Rail, up 5.1% and 5.2% yr/yr respectively.

Could do better: Trouble at the top for Bauer’s flagship celebrity read Heat, which posted an alarming drop of 11.3% period on period and 19.3% year on year to 370,132 copies. Meanwhile, the landslide in men’s magazines continues - is a 32.8% drop year on year for Zoo really the basis for a sustainable business?

Paul Keenan, chief executive of Bauer Media, says: "Bauer Media’s portfolio of world-class, influential and trusted magazines continue to be purchased in their millions. They sit at the core of the business and underpin our commitment to deepen our relationships with audiences in a multiplatform world, further extending and enriching client conversations with their customers."

BBC Magazines

Total average circulation per issue: 3,110,197, up 0.5% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: Peter Phippen, managing director of BBC Magazines, claimed the company is one of the best-performing magazine publishers at his breakfast briefing this week. So is his boast justified? An overall period-on-period circulation rise of 5.5%, year-on-year rises for all the specialist Bristol titles, and a 33.4% yr/yr rise for "star of the show" Lonely Planet indicate yes.

Could do better: All About Animals fell 18.0% prd/prd and 25.8% yr/yr, while the biggest losers in the children’s and teen market are Top of the Pops magazine and Toybox, which posted yr/yr declines of 12.4% and 17.5% respectively.

Peter Phippen, managing director of BBC Magazines, says: "BBC Magazines has delivered another strong set of ABC results, showing growth for the second successive period and, of the UK’s top five publishers, we are the only company to have shown year-on-year growth. The market has proved challenging over the past six months, but once again BBC Magazines’ brands have shown resilience and, in many cases, fantastic growth, with the whole portfolio up 5.5% period on period."

Condé Nast

Total average circulation per issue: 1,566,536, down 1.8% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: Tatler, which recently departed editor Catherine Ostler handed over with a 1.1% year-on-year circulation increase to its name. Both Tatler and sister monthly Vogue have increased subscriptions take-up, rising 21% and 10% respectively year on year, while the iPad launches for Vogue and Wired are swelling readership among Condé Nast’s well-heeled customers.

Could do better: Wired continues to rely heavily on discounted and bulk copies, with only 80% of its headline circulation of 50,044 coming from paid-for sales.

Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Condé Nast, says: "We are delighted by the resilience of our high-end glossy monthlies. Our titles continue to dominate their sectors and our quality journalism has been rewarded with loyalty from our sophisticated readers. Subscriptions across the portfolio have risen by 9% in the UK. Commercially, after double-digit growth in advertising pages last year, we’re seeing a continuing bounce in 2011."

Dennis Publishing

Total average circulation per issue: 788,137, up 0.7% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: Classic car magazine Octane, which rose 4.7% period on period and 4.8% year on year. Fitness titles Men’s Fitness and Fitness & Health were both up 1.1% prd/prd, while evergreen performer The Week posted its twenty-fifth consecutive ABC increase with a 2.2% lift over the last six months.

Could do better: The appetite for specialist computer titles seems to be waning, with Micro Mart down 14.4% year on year, Computer Shopper down 12.3% yr/yr and MacUser down 10.9% yr/yr. However, chief executive James Tye says MacUser’s dip in print has been "more than compensated for" by the title’s 2,800 bi-weekly iPad sales, which account for 31% of the title's total circulation revenue.

James Tye, chief executive of Dennis Publishing, says: "Once again, Dennis has put in a strong performance at ABC time. The Week posts its twenty-fifth consecutive increase with its highest-ever circulation of 180,502, and our car and fitness titles showed growth in what is still a tough market. Digital SLR Photography is also proving to be a gem, bucking the market with a 13.6% yr/yr rise. My only disappointment is that we can’t talk about our iPad sales on our ABC certificates. MacUser, for example, now takes almost a third of its sales through the app store."

H Bauer

Total average circulation per issue: 2,969,968, down 1.9% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: Total TV Guide, which has triumphed in a crowded market by rising 11.3% period on period and 9.6% year on year.

Could do better: H Bauer seems to have misjudged the nation’s appetite for home cooking, going by the 26.6% year-on-year slide for Eat In, which launched to great fanfare in March 2009. The fate of Spirit & Destiny magazine is also looking uncertain, following the title’s 10.1% year-on-year drop.

David Goodchild, managing director of H Bauer, says: "In H Bauer’s markets, we’ve seen savvy readers becoming more selective in their magazine purchasing, choosing to buy those magazines that deliver the best experience in quality and value. We are confident that our ability to engage and entertain readers will ensure continued brand loyalty in the months ahead."

Hachette Filipacchi

Total average circulation per issue: 887,009, up 0.1% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: Women’s monthly Red, which posted its highest-ever ABC at 231,028, up 2.0% year on year, and jewel-in-the-crown Elle, which climbed 2.6% yr/yr and 2.5% prd/prd to deliver a circulation of 200,531.

Could do better: All About Soap is the black sheep of the Hachette herd, denting otherwise impressive results by losing 4.1% of its readership over the last six months and 4.9% over the last year. Although, of course, it is in better shape than troubled teen magazine Sugar, which Hachette took the difficult decision to close last month after realising teenagers spend all their time on the web and mobiles.

Kevin Hand, chairman of Hachette Filipacchi UK, says: "A printed magazine and a healthy paid-for circulation remain at the very heart of most successful magazine brands. So it is with great delight that we announce such a strong set of ABC figures, with volume increases and share gains across the portfolio, as well as highest-ever circulation figures for Red and Elle Decoration. Meanwhile, our digital business continues to exceed expectation with record levels of organic traffic and page views for Digital Spy, Elleuk.com and Sugarscape.com, while our most recent launch, Redonline.co.uk, looks set to be a runaway success."

IPC Media

Total average circulation per issue: 6,562,956, up 1.1% year on year

Crack open the champagne for: The women’s lifestyle, homes and TV titles, which, says returning chief executive Sylvia Auton, have benefited from the "reversion to more traditional pursuits" brought by the recession. All seven homes magazines are up year on year, three out of four TV titles increased circulation period on period, and Essentials posted an impressive 9.5% rise over the last six months.

Could do better: With Loaded out of the frame, all eyes are on its weekly men’s stablemate Nuts, which is still posting double-digit decline year on year, down 19.6% over the last 12 months. Golf Monthly, NME, Now, Pick Me Up and Rugby World complete the publisher’s blacklist of year-on-year fallers.

Sylvia Auton, chief executive of IPC, says: "IPC continues its commitment to a strategy of investment in developing compelling and entertaining content. This set of ABCs shows that commitment is paying off in a number of key sectors. Despite a range of challenging circumstances, we have delivered outstanding performances on our pillar brands."

NatMags and Natmag Rodale

Total average circulation per issue: Natmags: 3,112,939, down 2.4% year on year. Natmag Rodale: 355,443, down 1.3% year on year.

Crack open the champagne for: Good Housekeeping, which climbed 5.0% period on period and 3.2% year on year to 443,750 copies - its highest recorded circulation since July to December 2007.

Could do better: Prima and Prima Baby are in the wars, dropping 7.1% and 18.3% period on period respectively, as is Zest, which fell 11.0% over the last six months. However, NatMags is refusing to accept Prima’s ABC certificate of 268,421 copies, following a spat with the body over multipacking rules, and is instead trading on what it claims is the "true and correct" circulation of 297,000, up 2.8% prd/prd.

Arnaud de Puyfontaine, chief executive of NatMag, says: "Yet again, strong performances from NatMag titles. Our weekly titles, in particular, have again bucked the downward trend, while our women’s lifestyle titles have shown considerable growth. We are proud of our brands and continue to offer our advertisers an open and transparent view of our position in the market. The strength of our brands also allows us to take advantage of cross-platform innovations and new revenue streams, and provides us with a firm foundation for the future health of the company."

 

[tarsha]

Condé Nast Worldwide News

See who celebrated the opening of the most glamorous news kiosk in the world

CONDÉ NAST hosted the editors and publishers of some of its glossy international titles last night as the new Worldwide News store opened its doors inside Vogue House in London.

The shiny, yellow-floored space is the new must-go destination to pick up all of the international editions of Condé Nast titles that you can't live without. The latest issue of Vogue? Of course. The latest issues of Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Greek, German and Brazilian Vogue? Also not a problem. You can also pick up international editions of GQ, Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveller and Glamour.

"Our magazines are visually exciting products - featuring stunning works by the finest photographers - but most kiosks do not display them to full advantage," said Condé Nast International chairman Jonathan Newhouse. "I thought a beautiful, modern newsagent could do so and at the same time reinforce the power of the magazine brands and the wide geographic range of our offering. And it was important to display them together with video screens, iPads and books. It was a little dream I had for a long time."
"A reader entering the shop experiences a sense of pleasure and excitement - the colours, the array of covers and the flags," Newhouse continued. "And that's what we are about - giving pleasure to our readers, who then buy our magazines or experience the brands through websites and published material on electronic tablets. We love our readers."

Vogue's Alexandra Shulman and Stephen Quinn, GQ's Dylan Jones, Condé Nast Traveller's Sarah Miller and Simon Leadsford, Glamour editor Jo Elvin, Vogue Germany editor Christianne Arp, Condé Nast Brides publisher Camilla Newman, Halpern PR's Jenny Halpern, Condé Nast managing director Nicholas Coleridge, Ozwald Boateng, Viscount Linley, Arki Busson, Rachel Johnson, Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos all popped in to celebrate the most glamorous news kiosk in the world.

The Condé Nast International Worldwide News store is located at 20 St George Street, London.

vogue.co.uk
vogue.fr

 

[Flashbang]

MIXT(E)-ING IT UP: Mixt(e) magazine is making a comeback. Shuttered in 2009 by Mondadori France 13 years after its launch, the Paris-based fashion title will be relaunched independently as a biannual edition in September. Co-founders Tiziana Humler, Christian Ravera and Guy Guglieri took over the magazine’s ownership following its closure and now hold the positions of director, editorial director and creative director, respectively. Nathalie Fraser has been named Mixt(e)’s editor, Joanna Schlenzka fashion director and Marie Colmant contributing editor. Patrick Hanzo will be publisher and oversee marketing, communications and distribution.

Fraser, who joined Mixt(e) in 2005 and held the title of deputy editor at the time of the monthly’s closure, said the magazine would bring more of studied approach to talents — both bygone and fresh — shifting from the “fast-forward” nature of the old version to more of a “pause button” on fashion, she said. The text will be in French and English, with interviews printed in their original language, followed by a translation. A blog-style, online platform will open in the run-up to the relaunch.

Schlenzka, a former senior fashion editor at Dazed & Confused, who has since worked for Another Magazine, Russian Vogue and Vogue China, said the fashion approach will mix an edgier London voice with polished Paris chic and use a mix of new and established photographers.

wwd.com

 

[mikel]

^now that is some exciting news!

 

[dr4732]

^now that is some exciting news!

It is . And i love Marie Colmant so i'm glad she's part of the relaunch. Thanks Flashbang for posting the news.