Emap To Relaunch First Magazine
Emap’s First magazine is to go fortnightly this month before relaunching as a glossy in September.
The new-look title will be more upmarket and aspirational, and is likely to be more celebrity-focused, according to reports. In the women’s sector, many of the celebrity-focused titles were the only ones to record an increase in circulation at the last ABCs, for July to December 2006, with titles like Heat and Hello! seeing an upturn (see ABC Results Jul-Dec 2006:Take A Break Leads Women’s Weekly Market).
First‘s revamp is being overseen by a special project editorial team including new editor Jane Ennis, the Grazia launch editor-in-chief, Fiona McIntosh, and David Davies, the managing director of Emap Elan.
“Everything about First is changing – other than the name,” said Davies. “It’s an all-new magazine – the proposition, the audience, the format, the price, the team, everything.
“First will be a new kind of magazine – a smart weekly glossy for upmarket, grown-up women who feel they are unfulfilled by the existing monthlies and weeklies aimed at them.”
The weekly launched in May last year aimed at thirty-something women, promising to bring them the real-life stories behind the headlines. However, sales were disappointing, with a circulation of 106,961 in the second half of 2006, much less than the target of 150,000.
Thursday sees the release of the consumer magazines ABC figures for the first half of 2007, with the women’s weekly sector one of the main areas of focus for advertisers and media owners.
On Friday, MediaGuardian reported that after an error on the ABC’s website, data was available, showing newcomer Look (see NewsLine Feature: Look, Another Women’s Weekly) to be performing well.
Last week IPC launched a new online women’s lifestyle portal called goodtoknow.co.uk, which will act as the central portal of IPC Connect’s weekly titles Pick Me Up, Woman’s Weekly, Now and Woman’s Own (see IPC Unveils Women’s Online Lifestyle Portal).
Emap recently announced that its fortnightly title More will become a weekly magazine from September, in a move reportedly intended to counter the threat of readers defecting to IPC’s new challenger, Look (see Emap Puts More Into Women’s Weekly Market).
Meanwhile, in May, H Bauer’s women’s weekly In The Know closed after less than a year on the newsstand following poor sales (see In The Know Folds After Less Than A Year).
NewsLine will have full coverage and in-depth analysis of the major sectors following the ABC concurrent release for the first six months of 2007 on Thursday.
Emap: 01733 568 900 www.emap.co.uk