The National Magazine Company is planning to launch a new wedding magazine, Cosmopolitan Bride, as a spin-off from Cosmo. The move will result in the closure of Bride & Groom which will be merged into the new magazine.
Bride & Groom was acquired as part of the Aim Publications portfolio last year. NatMags is expected to announce a new editor in the next few weeks and there are believed to be six or seven candidates on the shortlist.
James Buchanan, managing director of NatMags Specialist Media (Aim Publications), said NatMags would recruit a number of journalists once an editor was in place. Carole Hamilton, editor-in-chief of the wedding titles, would become editorial director.
Buchanan claimed there would be no job losses as staff on Bride & Groom would move across to work on the new launch. But he stressed it would be up to the new editor to decide on the editorial team.
Insiders said the move did not come as a surprise to staff as NatMags had been planning to launch into the bridal sector for some time. The move follows the acquisition of Aim Publications, publisher of the market leader You & Your Wedding, which has a circulation of 62,552. Cosmopolitan Bride will have a print run of 80,000 and Buchanan said he was hoping for settle-down sales of 40,000. It will be published on alternate months from September.
The launch follows an earlier attempt by Emap to launch a bridal title off the back of New Woman. Insiders at Emap said the launch was a success but there are believed to be no immediate plans to increase the frequency.
And Eve Pollard saw similar potential with the launch of Wedding Day – later sold to Crimson Publishing.
Cosmopolitan publisher Jan Adcock previously told Press Gazette that there was also potential to feature celebrity weddings in the new magazine, which insiders claim could put the title in competition with Hello! and OK!
"We would have to come up with something very Cosmo and very unique," she said. "We could look at celebrity weddings, even the recent EastEnders wedding caused a big stir. They are a highly emotive and passionate thing and all those things lend themselves very nicely to Cosmo."
The launch follows previous spin-off titles including Cosmo Hair and Cosmo Real Life Stories. Cosmo Hair recently increased its frequency to bi-monthly and reported a last ABC of 71,719.
Adcock said there were no plans to launch a celebrity-based spin-off to rival In Style.
By Ruth Addicott
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