Men's magazines IV: the weeklies

IPC and Emap gear up

In 1969, IPC had become part of by Reed Group Ltd, a newsprint, paints and wallpaper combine. However, Reed's corporate strategy led it to evolve into today's Reed-Elsevier, a global online group focused on business information and academic journals. As part of this strategy, Reed sold IPC to a group of venture capitalists in 1998, which in turn sold the company on to US group Time Warner in 2001. This three-year period was one of consolidation, with a focus on profits in the run-up to the sale. Nuts was IPC's first big launch since the takeover by Time Warner.

Emap started out as a local newspaper publisher (East Midlands Allied Press). It built up a consumer specialist and business magazine portfolio and gradually shifted the emphasis to consumer magazines and radio from the 1980s. As the publisher of FHM, it was top dog in the men's monthly sector. Furthermore, it built up expertise in the women's weekly sector with Heat and Closer (2002). The former struggled until it was repositioned as a women’s celebrity weekly. Circulation rocketed and it won a string of awards. Emap described Closer as its most successful launch.

Given the success of the men's monthlies and the experience of IPC and Emap in women's weeklies, ears pricked up when rumours of development projects for a men's weekly emerged in 2003. Emap's "Project Tyson" seemed to be first off the block, but IPC said the concept for Nuts had been under development as Project Tribal since autumn 2002.

Editor Phil Hilton, who had run IPC's Later, had rejoined IPC from Emap in March 2003. Later, IPC’s attempt to graduate lads from Loaded to a more mature read, had failed to catch on. Launched in 1999, it closed in June 2001 when sales were reported at below 50,000. The closure occurred during a month of carnage for new titles as Mondo and Nova also bit the dust. Hilton was up against another former IPC editor, Paul Merrill, who was lured from the women's weekly Chat in December to launch Zoo Weekly.

In an article in Press Gazette, IPC editorial director Mike Soutar said the men's monthlies were too laddish, putting off some potential buyers (this had been the reasoning behind launches such as Word, from start-up companies). Furthermore, the daily tabloids had lost male readers because 'newspaper strategies over the past 10 years have been to aggressively recruit female readers'.

At stake for the two companies was the possibility of a new market in men's weeklies. In the same way that Loaded and FHM built a market for men's monthlies with copy sales to rival – and even beat – those of women's monthlies, such as Cosmopolitan, could IPC and Emap create titles for men in the mould of Woman, Now and Take a Break? The top women's weeklies had combined copy sales of almost five million; six of them each sold 500,000 a week, with H Bauer's Take a Break having the magic formula to sel1 1.2m copies – double its nearest rival. The top women's weeklies (December 2003 ABC figures) were:

• Take a Break (H Bauer)........1,225,116
• That's Life (H Bauer) ............592,036
• Now (IPC Media) .................590,544
• Chat (IPC Media) .................575,585
• Woman (IPC Media) .............571,482
• Heat (Emap) .........................565,484
• OK! (Northern & Shell) ........489,882

Nuts – 'first men's weekly'

The next week's issue (23 January) was sold for 60p, half the aimed-for regular price.

Emap's Zoo Weekly

Breakdown of Zoo first issue

Building a new market

Merrill brought his sense of the bizarre with him from Chat, given the photograph of a woman's enormous tumour and a condom in the soup stories. The use of far more model shots – many topless – was a clear differentiator, which Nuts editor Phil Hilton had avoided, wanting to produce a magazine that could be read openly on a train and left lying around at home. 

By March, IPC was claiming the biggest-selling crown. Both titles continued to juggle with all aspects of the titles, including regular half-price offers and Zoo switched publication date to Tuesday (from Wenesday).

Circulation news for the monthlies was not so good. Emap's FHM sold 573,000 a month, down 4.6% on the previous six months, while IPC's Loaded tumbled 10% to 235,000. Dennis closed Jack, which was originally launched by Loaded's founder editor James Brown.

On 12 August, H Bauer, the German publisher behind Take a Break and Bella released Cut. It took a different approach from IPC and Emap on the day that official circulation figures showed the existing titles averaged half-a-million sales a week in their first six months. The new title took 'the best' from newspapers and magazines (including Emap's Zoo). This strategy had been used by Dennis with The Week and the Guardian for several years with its Editor supplement. The first issue culled from 54 papers and 185 mags for a mix of news, humour, gadgets, quizzes, sport, cars and, of course, women, although the flesh count was refreshingly low.

Emap's Zoo responded with a 'new look', 108 pages and a price cut to 50p. Sports coverage was increased with two sections dedicated to football. IPC stuck to the high ground with a 16-page 'Babe vault' section (total pagination 92 + 16). However, the low-key launch of Cut did not go well with a Guardian report suggesting that fewer than 70,000 copies of the 700,000 distributed were sold. This was despite a launch price of just 50p. It closed after a handful of issues.

Another publisher hoped to emulate the success of Zoo and Nuts. OK! and Daily Express owner Richard Desmond was planning his own weekly, KO! in 2004. However, this never came off. Back on the women's side of the fence, Emap was gearing up to launch glossy fashion weekly Grazia. It was on the women's weekly area that the big publishers were concentrating.

Meanwhile, the men's monthlies lost sales and The Face closed in 2004.

Decline sets in

Emap completed its withdrawal from the US with the closure of the US edition of FHM and sold off its French arm (including the licence for FHM). However, its strategic problems were huge and the company cut its self up and sold the parts off at the end of 2007.

However, Dennis Publishing and a couple of entrepreneurs had some ideas up their sleeve.

A free way forward

Even in France, the idea was only two years old. Yet Francis Jaluzot, who had also launched Parisienne freesheet 20 Minutes, was already showing a profit.

Sport saw a first ABC figure over 300,000 and pulled in advertising.

The free model also inspired Dennis, which launched Monkey – a pure digital title – in November 2006. The digital edition for 16 to 30-year-olds sent by email each Wednesday. It released a first ABCe figure of 209,612 copies.

And a year later, Mike Soutar (former editor of Smash Hits!, FHM and US Maxim) put two and two together to lead the launch of ShortList, a weekly that put Sport's distribution model together with flesh-light men's content under former Later and Nuts editor Phil Hilton.Some 500,000 copies were handed out in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Open Goal followed the free distribution model in November, with the magazine handed out to football fans at their grounds. Publisher Rich Media focused on the game with a cheeky editorial style.

Meanwhile, brand extension was the name of the game for both IPC and Emap with versions of their titles cropping up in online and mobile phone formats. IPC went furthest with NutsTV, a Freeview channel, in July 2007. This was a joint enterprise with Turner Broadcasting System (both companies being owned by Time Warner).