HEARST, CONDE NAST TO LAUNCH NEW MAGAZINES

Greenlight Given for 'Weekend' and 'Men’s Vogue'
By Nat Ives
AdAge.com

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In a show of confidence in what’s proved to be a challenging time for publishers, two major magazine companies have given the green light to titles that launched as tests this year.

Hearst Magazines said it will publish five issues of Weekend in 2006. Weekend, a lifestyle tome that published twice in 2005, is considered by some an imitation of Time Inc.’s wildly successful Real Simple, not least because both had Susan Wyland as founding editor in chief.

Weekend will have a rate base -- the paid circulation guaranteed to advertisers -- of 300,000 and a cover price of $3.99. (Despite any resemblance between Weekend and Real Simple, the similarities do not extend to rate bases; Real Simple, established in 2000, now has a rate base of 1.8 million.)

Men’s Vogue
Separately, Conde Nast Publications said it will proceed with its foray into a Vogue for George Clooney types everywhere. Men’s Vogue, whose single September issue sold an estimated 150,000 copies on the newsstand and contained 164 ad pages, will publish one spring issue next year, go bi-monthly next fall and print 10 issues during 2007. It will have a rate base of 300,000 and a cover price of $4.95.

William Li was named publisher; he had been associate publisher at Conde Nast sibling The New Yorker since April 2004. Mr. Li will report to Thomas A. Florio, who was named publishing director of Men’s Vogue in addition to his position as VP-publisher for Vogue.

Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue, continues as editorial director of Men’s Vogue. Jay Fielden, editor in chief of the September debut, will continue in that role; he had previously been arts editor at Vogue.