FHM Appoints New Editor As Competition Hots Up
Emap has promoted FHM features editor Ross Brown to take over from departing editor David Davies at the helm of its market leading men’s lifestyle magazine.
Brown takes over as editor at a difficult time for FHM, which has been hard hit by the multimillion launch of weekly rivals, Nuts and Zoo, which entered the sector earlier this year with combined copy sales of almost half a million.
The latest ABC results for the six months to June 2004 show that FHM saw its circulation decline by 4.5% to below the crucial 600,000 mark. However, the title recently unveiled a radical new look and a three month marketing campaign designed to win back readers (see Emap Unveils New Look FHM To Boost Readership Figures).
Brown is a longstanding member of the FHM team, having joined the magazine on the picture desk in 1998. He moved on to the role of staff writer and then report editor, before becoming features editor in October 2001. More recently he has been responsible for helping to develop a new look for the magazine.
Commenting on the appointment, FHM Worldwide’s managing director, David Pullan, said: “Filling David’s shoes was always going to be difficult, but after interviews with a strong shortlist of internal and external candidates, Ross emerged as the clear choice. He demonstrated the creative leadership skills that will drive FHM forward into another decade of dominance.”
Brown takes up the new role at the end of this month, replacing Davies who steps down after three years editing the magazine to become acting managing director of Emap Elan. Davis said: “The arrival of the weeklies earlier this year has transformed a relatively calm men’s market into a seething battleground, with magazines seemingly launching and imploding by the hour.”
He added: “This is certainly no time for hysterics; FHM will continue to do what it does best – supremely relevant editorial and brilliant promotions, plus maintaining our outstanding relationship with Britain’s 18 to 34 year-old men.”
FHM is not the only monthly men’s magazine to be suffering in the slip stream of Nuts and Zoo. IPC’s Loaded appears to be bearing the brunt of reader cannibalisation with circulation declining by 10.2% year on year to 235,140 and Dennis Publishing’s Maxim slipped by 9.6% during the same period to 227,017 (see ABC Results Jan-Jun 2004: Men’s Weeklies Make Their Mark).
Emap: 01733 568 900 www.emap.co.uk
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