Media Week has some news that FHM, Zoo and Arena publisher Emap is considering a launch of a free magazine for men following in the footsteps of Sport. Could this be the talked of Grazia for men we've all heard about?
Buoyed by the success of the independent free weekly title Sport, which distributes around 320,000 in London, Emap is considering going down the free route and I think this could be a real winner as far as men are concerned.
They have little history paying for weekly magazines, but will still read just about anything you put in front of them. You can see this anecdoctally simply by looking at the numbers of men reading Lite and thelondonpaper on the tube. Back in February I was quite convinced that talk of Emap's plans to launch a Grazia was doomed to failure, but the free idea is something else and it could open up a new front in the tired men's market.Emap could get away with successfully giving away a title in this way and at the same time pursuing an upmarket thirtysomething Grazia strategy offering a mixture of sport, grooming, fashion and entertainment.I'm still convinced that if Emap tried to put this on the newsstand it would die on its feet, but as a freebie it is a different prospect entirely. This could be very strong indeed.Media Week reports that senior members of the media owner's male lifestyle team are meeting agencies this month to gauge their perceptions. I can see them being very receptive.I imagine IPC Media (publisher of Zoo rival Nuts) is looking at this also and if not, why not?
Gordon Macmillan
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