Nuts weekly lad's magazine
There is a lot riding on this, and not just the £8m cost.
Nuts is IPC's first big launch since it was taken over
by US group Time Warner in 2001. Emap in the meantime has built up
expertise in the women's weekly sector with Heat (which had
looked shaky at the start) and Closer. Nuts was clearly
timed to beat Emap's Zoo on to the shelves – Emap executives
described it as a spoiler. However, IPC said the concept had been
under development as Project Tribal since autumn 2002.
Breakdown of Zoo launch issue.
In an article in Press Gazette, IPC editorial director Mike
Soutar said the men's monthlies were too laddish, putting off some
potential buyers (this had been the reasoning behind launches such
as Word, from start-up companies). Furthermore, the daily
tabloid had lost male readers because 'newspaper strategies over
the past 10 years have been to aggressively recruit female readers'.
A million free copies of Nuts were given away at large branches
of WH Smith and sent out with copies of media trade magazines. This
was a risky strategy, given Emap's success in having taken the concept
of the lad's magazine from IPC's Loaded and gone one better
with FHM.
At stake for the two companies is the potential for a new market
in men's weeklies. In the same way that Loaded and FHM
built a market for men's monthlies with copy sales to rival -
and – beat those of women's monthlies, such as Cosmopolitan
, can IPC and Emap now create titles for men in the mould of
Woman , Now and Take a Break? The top 10 women's
weeklies have combined copy sales of almost five million; six of
them sell more than 500,000 a week, with H Bauer's Take a Break
having the magic formula to sel1 1.2m copies – more than double its
nearest rival. The top women's weeklies (December 2003 ABC figures)
are:
- Take a Break (H Bauer)......1,225,116
- That's Life (H Bauer) ...........592,036
- Now (IPC Media) ................590,544
- Chat (IPC Media) ................575,585
- Woman (IPC Media) ............571,482
- Heat (Emap) ........................565,484
- OK! (Northern & Shell) .......489,882
Emap and IPC say they are looking for sales of 150,000 or 200,000
a week. The first issue of Loaded sold 60,000 copies, it now
sells about 260,000, having been eclipsed by FHM at about
600,000 a month. The weeklies may effect monthly sales, although
Soutar's comments suggest this will not be the case.
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Nuts – key facts and data
Editor Phil Hilton, who had run IPC's Later editor,
had rejoined IPC from Emap in March 2003. He was up against
another former IPC editor, Paul Merrill, who was lured from
the successful women's weekly Chat in December to launch
Zoo Weekly.
The 100 page magazine was printed by Polestar with repro by
Graphics London. The sections were made up as follows:
- cover; welcome spread promising weird photos,
football, hardware, women, cars, TV guide, sport action,
real-life, true stories and more women; contents spread
(total: 5 pages)
- true stories (pages 6-16): 11 pages as spreads;
- skier's 60mph crash
- Vinnie Jones 'chair rage'
- John Travolta's 'airport home'
- bikini shoot with Big Brother and Sun
page 3 girls
- giant Indonesian python
- tallest and smallest basketball players (page)
- news (pages 18-28): 10 pages
- air cops
- Shereen Guerin photos; spy planes
- gadgets
- nuts but true; posh girls on US TV
- cars
- Little Britain comedy series
- top tens (pages 30-31): 2 pages
- features (pages 32-51) 19 pages:
- special forces 4
- online laughs: 2
- vrooom! 4
- supergun fires round corners 2
- croc attack 3
- Nell McAndrew: 4
- must-see TV (pages 53-76) Fri to Thurs: 24 pages,
starting with terrestrial spreads (listings on left, features
on right).
- 10-second reviews (pages 78-79): 2 pages
- sport: (pages 80-95) 16 pages:
- big match preview: Villa v Arsenal
- F1 driver Alex Zanardi crash
- sport on TV
- Beckham mania (4 pages)
- action sport: Shearer penalty refused
- action sport: all the goals
- Rusedski drugs test; commentary box
- joke race from readers (facing inside back cover)
- 7 adverts: Blockbuster p17; Dixons p22; Head &
Shoulders p29; HMV p47; Virgin Megastores p52; Virgin Mobile
(IBC) and Hugo Boss (back cover)
- house adverts: 3 pages
- spread highlighting Jan 22 features (pages 96-97):
Kelly Brook and Premiership stars and their cars;
- masthead on page 77 between TV and sport
Layouts used roadworks-style graphics to highlight elements:
- 'amazing real-life photos' (on skier article)
- 'great-looking women' (bikini shoot)
- 'biggest news exclusives' (air cops)
- 'curious facts and amusing lists' (top tens)
- 'unbelievable action photos' (special forces)
- 'we've got the funniest pictures' (online laughs)
- 'the hottest motors' (vrooom!)
- 'eye-popping graphics' (supergun)
- 'gritty, real-life stories' (croc attack)
- 'the world's sexiest women' (McAndrew)
- 'great TV for men'
- 'the best of the action' (sport)
- 'best sports coverage'
- 'latest sport quotes'
Verdict: slick, rather than inspiring. Some stories
already done to death in tabloids and other press (snake, croc
attack, air cops). In terms of a package, nearest comparison
is probably Heat with TV listings, higher price at £1.45,
though more pages, up to 132. Similar production vales. However,
celebrity stories are not part of the Nuts package,
unless you count the Beckham or babe features. Easy to get
into, quick read with few words and lots of pictures
Breakdown of Zoo launch issue
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