Bauer title aims at Glamour market

Glamour and Real: soon to be joined by new arrival in women's sector

H Bauer is to shake up the women's magazine sector next year with a cut-price rival to Glamour.

The publisher is gearing up for the launch of Project Young, expected to be a monthly offering targeting young women and mimicking Glamour's cut-price, A5-sized format.

Details of the launch are currently under wraps, but the publisher has been talking to retailers about the project, which is being overseen by publishing director Kathy Day and is to launch in February, according to industry sources.

It is expected to target women in their early 20s or late teens, and ape the budget format currently creating waves in the women's sector.

News of a new budget launch will create further ripples in the women's monthly sector, which got one of the biggest shake-ups in his history in the latest set of ABCs when Condé Nast's Glamour knocked NatMags' Cosmopolitan off the top slot for the first time in 30 years with a circulation of 520,193.

Glamour has taken the publishing world by storm since it launched in 2001 and its success has caused publishing houses to look closely at their pricing and sizing strategy.

NatMags cut the price of its young women's title, Company, to mirror that of Glamour and the title reaped the rewards in the latest ABC report adding almost 40% to its circulation base over the year and almost 20% compared to last period, to 312,157.

Price has now become a key strategy in this market and press directors are predicting the introduction of a new category - the value sector - as price-cutting continues.

Carat press director Tim Kirkman said: "Titles with low cover prices are the only ones which have been doing well in recent times, and are bringing about a whole change in the structure of publishing houses.

"Publishers are looking closely at their business models to accommodate a lower price title."

Bauer's most recent high-profile women's launch was Real, a fortnightly which has not been a tremendous success for the company. It reached sales of 172,087 in the latest set of ABCs, way below its predicted 350,000.

H Bauer was unavailable for comment as Media Week went to press.

This article was first published on Media Week