Essential Publishing is to enter the women’s monthly market by making its lifestyle title one of the cheapest on the newsstand. Formerly fortnightly magazine Real will retail at £1.60, at least 60p cheaper than other monthlies, whose average price ranges from £2 to £3.
Real will target a wider, more mature audience than most mainstream monthlies. The magazine is aimed at 25- to 45-year-olds seeking a sophisicated and aspirational title, without the bulkiest of the heavyweight monthly mags, according to its editor Dave Claridge.
Claridge said: ‘Real is for those who don’t have time for the heavier monthlies but who want a good value monthly they need to fit into their hectic lifestyle.’The new format will see the addition of 32 pages, an improved paper quality and the re-introduction of an interiors section. There will also be more features on fashion, beauty, lifestyle and real life.
Claridge said the price and 30 per cent pagination increase to over 130 pages meant the title was ‘the best value by a long chalk”. The decision to go monthly was following through from reader research, a redesign last year and the realisation that its resources were best suited to working on a monthly frequency.
Related
Claridge said: ‘There are very few fortnightly magazines and we always felt we didn’t sit comfortably in either the weeklies or monthlies market. But having initially thought this as our unique proposition, we found our strength in terms of resources and where we were in the market was in the monthlies.’ Sally Windsor has joined the title as deputy editor, moving across from stablemate Full House.
Content from our partners
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
