Men’s Magazine Market Gets A New Toy

Freestyle Publishing is to launch a new men’s title in February called Boy’s Toys. The title is being described as a men’s lifestyle magazine, looking at ‘gadgets and real-life situations’.

Freestyle denies that Boy’s Toys will be in direct competition with typical men’s titles such as FHM, Loaded and Maxim, claiming that it has taken a step away from this type of editorial in favour of a more mature, journalistic one.

Aimed at ABC1C2 men aged 23+, the title will aim to take an investigative journalistic approach to issues such as motoring, travel, gadgets, women and health and is due to launch on 3 February.

The launch announcement arrives in the wake of the closure of Stuff this week, which folded after it failed to see a growth in its copy sales, peaking at a circulation of around 60,000 (see Newsline). Head of marketing at Boy’s Toys, David Woods, found the closure of Stuff encouraging rather than demoralising however, as it eliminates any obvious competition from the areas on which the new title focuses.

Stuff‘s lack of success raises the question of how active the ‘lifestyle and gadget’ market is, but Woods told Newsline that the Boy’s Toys editorial will be a lot less ‘bitty’ than that of Stuff: more in-depth and lifestyle oriented. Contributors to the title include Chris Jones from the Evening Standard, and former deputy editor of Autocar, Gavin Conway.

Deluxe, another title which claimed to be ‘maturing’ the lads’ market, also closed recently also due to disappointing sales (see Wagadon’s Deluxe Closes After Eight Months). At the time, a staffer at Wagadon, the magazine’s publisher, said that the market was not open to a magazine which didn’t primarily focus on ‘babes’.

Boy’s Toys will initially be bi-monthly, perfect bound and have a pagination of 164. Its initial print run will be 150,000, and its launch will be accompanied by advertising covering poster sites at premier London Underground stations and sites in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

Boy’s Toys: 01202 735090