Magazine launches & events 2001
Magazines by cover date with most recent at top. Alphabetic list on right. Other magazine launch pages |
Focus – closed then taken overDecember, monthly; National Magazine Company, London; £2.95; 124pp. Editor Nick Smith.Even Harry Potter on the cover couldn't save the magazine that had been bought earlier in the year by NatMags from Gruner + Jahr (which had retreated from UK). A science title that had never fitted into NatMags stable. Bought by Origin Publishing (BBC) Origin profile |
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Fable [later closed]November (no cover date), frequency unclear; Queercompany, London; £3.20.; 180pp + 4pp bound-in travel fold-out. Editor Jonathan Keane.'Queer life, story and style'. Targets gay men and women |
Woman's Journal closed as IPC axes titlesNovember 12: 74-year-old Woman's Journal, Your Life (launched April), Your Garden, Homes & Ideas closed and Complete Guide to Pregnancy folded back into Practical Parenting. Weekly Your Life had been relaunched in October as 'the weekly that thinks it's a glossy' with a £1.5m advertising campaign. August 17 press release had claimed it was 'well on target for a first ABC [sales figure] of 125,000 next February'IPC profile |
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Company price war with GlamourNovember; monthly; National Magazines, London; £1.50 – was £2.60Sales had fallen 14% since Glamour launched. A similar fall recorded at She. Nat Mags chief exec Terry Mansfield had not responded in August when Conde Nast ran double-page adverts in trade magazines – and even on the front-page of The Daily Telegraph – flaunting Glamour's success and claiming to have overtaken Cosmopolitan as the top-selling women's monthly on UK news-stands (ignoring overseas sales). Nat Mags profile |
Star closedOctober. 23; fortnightly; BBC Magazines, LondonTeenage title had an ABC figure of 130,000 but sales reported to have fallen in a tough teen market. Closed almost exactly a year after its launch. BBC profile |
Time Inc buys IPC MediaOctober 17. For £1.15 billion. IPC had paid the price for a lack of ambition since a venture capital funded management buy-out from Reed InternationalIPC profile |
 Code with Liv Tyler on the cover. 'For men of substance' |
Code [later closed]November 2001; monthly; Surcutus, Cornwall; £3;132pp. Editor Nigel Pengally.Targets men aged 25 to 38. Print run of 90,000. www.codemagazine.co.uk |
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The Net closedOctober; monthly; Haymarket, London; £2.75; 124pp. Editor Robert Jeffrey.The Net had led the sector in the last set of ABCs with a circulation over 51,000, but the collapse of the dotcom market and increased competition brought it down. Haymarket sold subscriber list and masthead usage rights to Future, who merged it with .Net. In return for swap deal on Total Football (later closed) Haymarket profile |
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Q TV show and radio stationSeptember. Emap Performance Network announced it was to launch a masthead TV show based on Q magazine. The show will be called QTV. And Radio Q will be broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week across north London, starting on October 6Emap profile |
Total Football closedSeptember; monthly; Future, Bath; £3.10; 116pp. Editor Gary Tipp.After celebrating an ABC sales figure of 81,490 for its first issue (1995), final figure for July to December 2000 was 24,954. Robert Price, publishing director of the entertainment division at Future, was quoted in Press Gazette: With the massive expansion of TV, internet and newspaper coverage of football over the past few years, we have witnessed a progressive slowdown in the general football magazine market for titles that are not related to a specific football club.' Haymarket took over assets of Total Football and merged title with FourFourTwo (see The Net above). The BBC closed Match of the Day after it lost the rights to screen premiership football highlights to ITV. At IPC, Goal was suspended in 1998 and merged with FourFourTwo by Haymarket Future profile |
Sleazenation 'animated' coverOctober; monthly; Swinstead Publishing, London; £3.20; 132pp. Editor Steve Slocombe.Cover sponsored by Absolut vodka, who also had 'animated' lenticular advert on back cover. Similar technology to Shine. |
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IceOctober; monthly; Ice Publications, London; £3; 148pp. Editor Jonathan Richards.Targets men aged 18 to 30. Initial print run of 200,000, aiming for settle-down sales of about 100,000. |
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Elle GirlAutumn; quarterly; Emap, London; £2.20; 132pp. Editor Sarah Bailey.Fashion-based: 621 fashion finds. 'For girls who love to shop'. Free Elle Girl vest. Aiming for the12 to 17-year-old teen girl market with a £1m marketing budget. Second issue due out in January. Emap profile |
Cosmo Girl!October; monthly; National Magazine Co., London; £1.49; 148pp. Editor Celia Duncan.UK launch of US title from Oct/Nov 1999. 'For fun, fearless teens'. Free Eminem stickers. 85 favourite celebs; 176 fashion and beauty finds. Nat Mags profile |
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NME launched in RussiaOctober; weekly; IPCIPC profile |
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Hello attack on America issueBulk of issue given over to photographs of aftermath of terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11.Hello profile |
Freekick [later closed]September; monthly; Freekick Ltd, London; £2.50; 100pp. Editor Chris Nawrat.'No fans – no football'. |
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Spruce [later closed]Autumn/Winter; quarterly; Wallpaper Magazines, London; £5/$10; 348pp + patterns for trousers and skirt. Editorial Director: Tyler Brule.Second spin-off from Wallpaper stable. (Though sports fashion title Line had failed – rumours of return as a sponsored magazine). Advertising-heavy; with his and her covers. Men's magazines case study IPC profile |
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Kingsize closedAfter only launching in AprilEmap profile |
MCN SportJuly; monthly; Emap Automotive, Peterborough; £3.50; 148pp. Managing Editor Rob McDonnell.Spin-off from Motorcycle News Emap profile |
Upstreet [later closed]July-August; monthly; Westmag Ltd, London; £2.80; 132pp. Editor Romain-Dominique Ibanez.'What becomes a legend most'. |
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"Blue Peter magazineJuly (June 27); monthly; BBC Worldwide, London; £1.25. Editor Claire Yude.150,00 print run in an attempt to cash in on the BBC's 43-year-old, flagship children's TV programme going weekly. |
Bare closedJuly; monthly; John Brown, London.Closure came as no surprise after company sold other titles to IFG. Aim was to concentrate on contract titles. Women's glossies profiled |
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Sky closedJuly; monthly; Emap, London; £2.70; 132pp. Editor Michael Hogan.Sales had fallen from a high of 200,000 to 65,000. Had tried to adapt to boom in men's mag sales (last cover: the sex issue), but only succeeded in losing fashion advertisers. Emap profile Men's magazines case study |
Later closedJuly; monthly; IPC Ignite, London; £3.10; 172pp. Editor Phil Hilton.IPC had hoped to sell 100,00 copies to 'older' men and spent £2.5m on the launch. Latest ABC was 70,267 (down 22%), with reports of 30,000 for most recent issues. Mike Soutar quoted in Press Gazette: 'One school of thought says that when men are 14 they want to be 21 and when they're 40 they want to be 21.' IPC profile Men's magazines case study |
Escape Routes closedJuly; monthly; Emap Elan, LondonThe travel/holiday market is difficult, as the BBC had found with Holidays in the early 1990s. Emap profile |
Mondo closedMay/Jun; monthly; Cabal, London; £3; 164pp. Editor: Push.The magazine 'for the sharper man' had never really taken off since a November 2000 launch and made just five issues. |
Emap sells US armEmap drew a line on its disastrous purchase of US company Petersen by selling it for £366m to Primedia. Had paid £1bn for the company in 1999. Carried on with FHM in US and announced £10m investment in expanding FHM from 15 to 20 countries, including Russia in September.Emap profile |
Viz, Bizarre and Fortean Times sold to IFGJohn Brown Publishing sells its consumer titles to concentrate on contract publishing (Guardian May 26, p27). Buyer for £6.4m is I Feel Good, a small publisher founded by ex-Loaded editor James Brown in 2000 and backed by multimillionaire publisher Felix Dennis. |
Shine 'animated' coverJune; monthly; Attic Futura, London; £2.60; 132pp. Editor Lucy Bulmer. 'Life just got better'.'Animated' version of cover which flicks between two images stuck on to actual cover – known as lenticular technology. Novelty idea was not new (Ice Station Zebra had postcards of film scenes done in a similar way back in 1968), but innovative magazine marketing. Redwood title Venture had stuck hologram on cover in 1985 and New Scientist had integrated cover hologram in 1987. Magazines have used red and green lens glasses to show 3D images for decades – they were used on men's pin-up magazines in the 1950s. |
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Nova closed (again)June; monthly; IPC Media, London; £2.80; 164pp. Editor Jeremy Langmead (Deborah Bee launched).The second coming after 25 years of the ground-breaking 1960s magazine shut down after a year (launch March 2000). Final ABC sales 75,142. Deborah Bee had resigned after 2 issues; content seen as edgy and not mainstream (similar comments made about Frank). Guardian article (3/5/01, p5) said IPC was attempting to trim loss-making titles ahead of a stock market flotation in 2002 (see Woman's Realm below). IPC said Nova had not been performing well enough and it wanted to concentrate on Marie Claire. Tough women's monthly market had seen several comings and goings: Red (launch 98), Frank (97, closed), Passion (97 closed), Scene (97, closed), Aura (2000, closed), Eve (2000), Bare (2000), Glamour (2001), In Style (2001). Emap's Red had forced heavy reliance on cover gifts. Original Nova launched in 1965 by Daily Mirror's magazine division with Dennis Hackett as editor and david Hillman as designer; closed in 1975 with falling sales. Women's glossies profiled |
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Two Wheels OnlyJune (available in Apr); monthly; Two Media Ltd, Leatherhead; £3.40 with video of Daytona Bike Week sponsored by Harley Davidson; 196pp. Editor Alex Hearn. 'Motorcycling just got a whole lot better'. July issue due out May 25! |
PS closedMay/June; 6 times a year; Dennis, London; £2.50; 132pp. Editor Rachel Shattock.Magazine/web catalogue format ('smart shopping, easy living') failed to catch on since March 2000 launch. Women's glossies profiled |
Economist colour redesignMay 12-18; weekly; The Economist Newspaper Ltd (part of Pearson), London; £2.70; 148pp. Editor Bill Emmott.First full redesign since 1987 introduced colour ('used in a cool, restrained way') on all editorial pages; more navigational information (including spread for contents); new type faces (Officina and a redrawn Ecotype); a new, standalone cartoon. www.economist.com and www.economistgroup.com |
Business 2.0 closedMay; monthly; Future Publishing, London; £3; 132pp. Editor Marcus Austin'The voice of the new economy'. European editions (UK, Germany, Italy) closed within a year of launch. Options being explored for US version included sale. Followed closure of European edition of US internet business magazine Industry Standard. Parallels with closure of UK version of Wired a couple of years before. Future closed several smaller titles in spring 2001 after being hit by fall in advertising after a year of expansion: revenues had halved in six months. Entire German division Future Verlag closed. www.thefuturenetwork.plc.uk has a tediously slow splash page |
Match of the Day closedMay; monthly; BBC Worldwide, London; £2.50; 84pp +2 (gatefold cover). Editor: Tim Glynne-JonesVictim of a decline in football magazine sales and the loss of Premiership coverage to commercial television (hence the demise of the Saturday night programme that gave the magazine its name). Total sales for football titles fell by 20% between the second half of 1999 and 2000 to 318,000. Fall can be ascribed to competition from papers and web sites. Official titles for teams such as Liverpool and Manchester United had also taken some of the market from general titles (though these had also halved in sales over 3 years). MoTD sales had fallen to 54,000 from a high of 90,000 two years earlier |
 The Face set out its stall on cocaine with a brilliant cover. Art director was Craig Tilford |
The Face cocaine issue24-page special with May issueThe editor for this anti-drugs special was Kevin Braddock. Jenny was the cover model; Lee Jenkins took the photo; and Reverend Baker at Metro Imaging did the image manipulation. Heat on cocaine The Face profile |
Web ActiveMay; monthly; VNU, London; £0.75.; 84pp. Editor Jonathan Parkyn.Targets men aged 25 to 38. Print run of 90,000 |
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KingsizeApril; monthly; Emap Metro Ltd, London; £3/$7.50; 132pp. Editor Ben Mitchell.'Bigger. Louder. Faster. Whatever...' May issue out May 25. Emap profile |
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Your Life30 April; weekly; IPC Media, London; 75p (introductory price); 76pp. Editor Mary Frances (see Woman's Realm)'Your Life – Live It Up'. Target ABC1s aged 35-60. Better production values than Woman's Realm with heavier cover (though still varnished rather than laminated). Launch supported by a celebrity-based, £2m five-week marketing campaign featuring 1960s model Twiggy with press and radio advertising and point-of-sale material. IPC Media profile www.ipcmedia.com |
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Woman's Realm closed>24 April last issue; weekly; IPC Connect, London; 66p; 60pp. Editor Mary Frances. Launched in 1958Merged with Woman's Weekly. Included double-page spread promoting 'merger' with 3 coupons worth 32p off next 3 issues of Woman's Weekly, which itself carried reader gifts: Morse audio book; picture frame and handcream. Both titles had seen 15% circulation falls in a year. Strategy was for older readers to go with the merger while younger ones gravitated to new launch Your Life. Interestingly, April 10 issue masthead had the 'm' covered over, making it look like a spoiler for the launch of Real. IPC Media profile |
Observer Food Monthly (Observer supplement)22 April; free monthly with Observer Sunday paper; 66pp; oversized A4 (326x270mm); newsprint. Editor Nigel Slater Observer's owners the Guardian Media Group, continued to invest in the title with this second monthly magazine, Sport being the first in 2000. An example of newspaper coverage competing with magazines. Observer profile |
Celebrity BodiesSpring; quarterly; Emap Esprit, London; £1.65; 92pp. Editor Alison HallEmap profile |
Real3-16 April; fortnightly; H. Bauer Publishing 2001, London; £1.50; 140pp. Editor Janice Turner900,000 launch print run. Printed gravure in Germany. Laminated cover. Near monthly production values. Bauer profile |
CD:UKApril; monthly; Attic Futura, London; £1.50; 68pp + 3 A2 posters; free denim bag. Editor Jo UpcraftSpin-off from Saturday morning Carlton TV series. target 160,000 -180,000 sales. See FT Creative Business, 6/3/01, p2. Attic Futura profile |
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GlamourApril; monthly; Conde Nast, London; £1.50; 312pp. Editor Jo Elvin (who launched B)A handbag-sized A5 lifestyle/fashion glossy for women. Print run 647,000. Founded in US 1937, Conde Nast's biggest seller (A4 size) with 2.2m circulation. Handbag size credited to Italian version launched in 1994. Article by MD Nicholas Coleridge in Guardian Media, 5/3/01, p2. £4m marketing campaign. Debut ABC of 451,486 – just 690 copies behind Cosmopolitan. Conde Nast profile |
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Web User22 March-4 April; fortnightly; IPC Country & Leisure Media, London; 99p trial; 92pp. Editor: Jim Lennox'The no-nonsense guide to the best of the net'. Recommended by the Plain English Campaign. Ran into copycat problems with VNU's Computer Active and reached agreement to redesign. |
Ampersand [later closed]March/April; Ampersand Magazine Ltd, London; £3.95; 164pp.Editor: Andrew Harvey Never got to second issue. www.amperasandmagazine.com |
F1 [later closed]March; monthly; European Press, London; £3.50; 260pp.Editor: Niki Lauda (left after first issue) Title licensed from F1 administrators. www.f1magazine.net |
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Enter (CD-Rom) [later closed]March (on sale: no cover date); monthly; Pure Communications; £3.50 (£1 launch price); CD-Rom (PC/Mac). Editor Sam Delaney (ex-Later)'The magazine that moves' was the latest attempt at an interactive CD-Rom magazine (IPC's Unzip, Dennis's Blender and a children's title from Egmont all launched in the early 1990s). Men's lifestyle, age 18-35. Lead feature 'Girls on film: Britain's sexiest women – walking, talking and cavorting'. First launched in Ireland in 2000. Target sales 150,000. See Press Gazette feature, 9/3/01, p14. www.entermag.co.uk |
In StyleMarch; monthly; Time Life, London; £2.70; 200pp + 6pp gatefold cover (+36pp hair supplement). Editor Dee Nolan.Celebrity lifestyle, beauty and fashion. High production values, including silver ink on cover and for some advertising. Some editorial looked too familiar, particularly towards the back. No website, but pages on AOL. IPC Media profile |
Subject [later closed]March; monthly; Stable Publications, London; £2.80; 180pp. Editor: Ross CotttinghamMen's lifestyle magazine, but aiming at 'well-rounded human beings', with 'some mucking around', but without women on the cover. www.subject-magazine.com |
Mad About Boys [later closed]February; monthly; Planet Three Publishing Network, London; £1.50.; 32pp (stapled, self-cover). Editor Zia Allaway.Targets young teens; blow-up heart picture frame as cover gift. www.madaboutboys.com www.planet3.co.uk |
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Spectator website launched(January) The weekly, right-wing, political magazine on which the site is based was founded in 1727, making it the longest continually published magazine in the world. Former editors include Nigel Lawson, who went on to become Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher.www.spectator.co.uk |
It's Fate25 January- 7 Feb; IPC Connect, London; 55p; 56ppEditor: Keith Kendrick Mystic magazine; spin-off from weekly Chat |