Media24, the Naspers owned publisher and distributor of magazines, newspapers and online products across Africa, is set to unleash at least four new titles into the local women’s magazine space before the end of the year. The news has left publishers and editors at competitor groups reeling.
The debut of Shop!, scheduled for August 2005, is already common knowledge in the sector. To be edited by former Shape editor Heather Parker, the title will sell at a cover price of R22.95 with an initial print order of 27,000. According to a Media24 release it is a ‘new kind of media” combining magazines, catalogues and the internet, and is wholly ‘dedicated to shopping”.
Less well known is the impending launch of Real Simple out of Media24 subsidiary 8ink Media. Publisher Samantha Sneddon says the title is ‘technically still under non- disclosure”, so she is unwilling at this point to reveal more. eMedia understands from a source close to the idea that the magazine will be a ‘Martha Stewart clone”, meaning perhaps that it will seek a niche through a ‘simple lifestyle” formula.
Also still under wraps is the launch, set for September, of a new Afrikaans women’s publication. Caroline Sedgwick of Media24 Women’s Magazines says the title is ‘by no means competition to Sarie”, which is also owned by the group. ‘Michelle van Breda [editor of Sarie] is involved,” says Sedgwick. The name and niche are being kept secret, as is the identity of an editor who has ‘just been appointed”.
In April it was announced that another Media24 subsidiary, specialist parenting magazine publishers Alchemy Publishing, are to launch Your Child. To be published quarterly, the title will be aimed at parents of children between 4 and 12 years old. Your Child will be edited by experienced parenting niche journalist Kate Sidley and will hit the streets in September.
eMedia notes that in 2004, according to Nielsen Media Research, Media24 took more than 50 percent of advertising spend (over R650-million) in the consumer magazine market. Second was Ramsay, Son & Parker, publishers amongst others of Car and Getaway, at just over nine percent (R122-million). The Naspers division is similarly dominant in circulation terms, with the Media24 website claiming that the magazines under its control make up ‘more than 60% of the country’s total circulation”.
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