It was a language with “issues”. Once synonymous with apartheid and racism, Afrikaans has moved on to become a booming business. With no fewer than 20 Afrikaans titles in the magazine market – some five percent of all magazines on sale in South Africa – local is making lekker money. A new Afrikaans gossip magazine Mense is on the way, while recently launched Christian publication Leef and the Afrikaans version of teen magazine Seventeen boast a growing readership.
“Afrikaans has grappled with its fair share of issues but it has finally been freed of its baggage,” says Izelle Venter, the new editor of Insig magazine which is trying to shed its old-school intellectual image.
“We are writing for white Afrikaans people who have decided to stay in South Africa, we are writing for a generation carrying a heavy load on their shoulders, but also a generation for whom things are going really well. We should embrace that in our magazines, we should make people feel good.”
Readers must be feeling good, judging by the successes of old and new titles. Sarie (ABC 141,733 Jul – Dec 2005) is the best-selling woman’s magazine in South Africa and Rooi Rose (122,296) takes second place, far ahead of their closest English rivals Cosmopolitan, True Love (ABCs 115,099 and 115,009) and Glamour (106,684).
But Patricia Scholtemeyer, chief executive of market leader Media24 Magazines, says it has little to do with language.
“We set out a few years ago to make Sarie the most beautiful women’s magazine in South Africa. It is by far the most beautifully photographed magazine. We spend a lot of money on stylists.
“We work very closely with television. We understand what makes the reader tick as far as television is concerned. We make sure we have the right television star on the cover, and we’ve got very good columnists. If you take the total, it’s an incredibly well-thought out package.”
Media24 is home to no fewer than 12 Afrikaans titles, including the biggest South African magazine Huisgenoot (ABC 352,389 Jul – Dec 2005) and its cousin You (225,976), the English version that was launched in 1997.
Scholtemeyer declines to divulge the secret of Huisgenoot‘s success but acknowledges the role of a high-income market.
“The Afrikaans market hasn’t grown but it remains a lucrative market. It’s more commercially viable. Afrikaans people have money – but having said that, there’s quite a few Zulu products doing well,” she adds.
Media24 controls more than 60 percent of the country’s magazine circulation and dominates the Afrikaans market with Huisgenoot, Sarie, TVPlus, Landbouweekblad, Weg, Finweek, Dit, Tuis, Baba en Kleuter, Insig, Visi and Leef, a new Christian magazine launched last October.
Six months into existence, Leef already sells more than 50,000 copies per month and recently won an Admag award from the advertising industry for best religious magazine. Its editor Christine Ferreira at the time said it reiterated the need for “a magazine that stands unapologetically for strong Christian values”.
Carpe Dieme media’s Finesse was the first magazine for Christian women to hit the shelves eight years ago and currently enjoys a circulation of more than 92,100 per month, while the only religious men’s magazine Maksiman by the same publishers launched in 2001 sell nearly 20,000 copies per month.
“Finesse is different from any other magazine on the market. And we’re not copy cats. We were the first to launch a lifestyle magazine for Christian women and no other media has succeeded in reaching that niche,” says editor Vanessa Schoeman.
But Scholtemeyer says: “Finesse has moved on into a different environment. It is not as heavily spiritual or Christian anymore, it is now a general interest women’s magazine. Leef has moved into that gap.”
Another publication that spotted a gap is Afrikaans travel title Weg, recently awarded Magazine of the Year and Editor of the Year by the ADMag advertising community.
“I just think there was a huge gap in the market and we basically stumbled into it by sheer luck,” says editor Bun Booyens whose fast-growing circulation figures stand at around 77,000.
“If you communicate properly in any of our 11 languages, you are bound to succeed.
“I think there is a growing market for quality Afrikaans magazines, people will buy a magazine because it’s a good magazine, not because it’s Afrikaans.”
“Consider new titles such as Tuis, Leef and Finesse, all three of them built up a circulation in a short time, something that would take an English magazine years to do.”
Booysen believes the fact that the Afrikaans market falls into a high-income category does not guarantee success.
“They are LSM 7-10 but this also holds true for the English market. The fact that people have money does not mean that they will spend it on anything, value for money is incredibly important for both Afrikaans and English readers,” says Booyens.
Caxton publishes two Afrikaans magazines – both with circulation figures hovering around 100,000 – and another is on the way. Rooi Rose, which is in constant competition with Media24’s Sarie, attributes its popularity not only to being “very glamorous”, but also understanding the “sensitivities” of the Afrikaans market.
Caxton’s Vrouekeur sells more than 99,000 copies every week, similar to People’s 108,361 copies – and now an Afrikaans version called Mense will be on sale from June.
“We just saw a gap in the market and realised there isn’t an Afrikaans skinner magazine,” says People editor Andrea Caknis, who will also lead the new Mense team.
“People does not have a lot of local content but we plan to have around 20 percent local content in Mense.”
The People editorial team has been increased from 18 to 28 to make room for the Afrikaans publication which will have a print run of 80,000 for its first edition.
“I’m hoping to sell at least 60,000 a week,” says Caknis.
Caxton has another Afrikaans magazine up its sleeve – Ramsay, Son and Parker, the publishers of leading motoring magazine Car, have purchased Wiel and will launch a new-look La’t Wiel in September.
Meanwhile the country’s only teen magazine to publish 11 times a year, Seventeen (38,301), launched in November 2003, will have its third Afrikaans edition Sewentien on sale in June.
“The decision to publish a third Afrikaans edition was based on the phenomenal sales success of the December 2005 Afrikaans issue which sold 12,000 out of 15,000 copies printed,” publishers 8 Ink Media said.
“This issue will again be a direct translation of the English edition and will offer readers a dynamic mix of fashion, beauty, celebrities and guys.”
But despite the staggering success of titles such as Huisgenoot, Sarie and Rooi Rose, and the surprising number of new Afrikaans titles with their growing readerships, some of the older titles are struggling to survive.
De Kat, the country’s first Afrikaans glossy, turns 21 in June, but a declining readership forced it to make some changes when it was taken over by African Sky Publishing in 2002. The former monthly has since become a quarterly magazine in a bigger format. And this year it will for the first time be translated into English in a special December edition.
Meanwhile Insig‘s new editor Izelle Venter is hoping to up its 10,874 circulation with a fresh approach, much to the irritation of its loyal readers.
“It needs to be a viable entity, it needs to be commercial. In its 20 years of existence it has never made money,” explains Venter.
“Insig has intellectual baggage and it has alienated its market. It was too intellectual, too academic. People would say, ‘It’s the best Afrikaans magazine’ but would they read it? No, because they do not have the energy for such a heavy read.”
Publisher Hannerie Visser says research showed that readers wanted escapism.
“Whilst consumers are spoilt for choice, they have become far more astute and discerning … although readers want the latest news and views, their magazine must also allow them to indulge and escape – a mitigating factor for purchase,” says Visser.
Venter launched a new-look Insig in April with a local soapie star on the cover, a far cry from the Afrikaner intellectuals who used to appear on its covers.
“I was castigated for that by the old readers but we are trying to attract new readers. Our old readers are complaining but at least they are talking about the magazine again,” says Venter.
“I just want it to be a bit more cheerful. Why can’t we have some fun? In the end we’re not changing the world, we’re only making magazines.”