New magazine Forever Sports has debuted as the fourth biggest selling men’s magazine.
Now publisher Haymarket has said it wants to make the title the UK’s largest men’s magazine.
Forever Sports was launched in partnership with Sports Direct in March. Priced £2 it had an average sale of 62,277.
Haymarket said there has been little promotional spending on the title so far, but that all that is about to change.
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It said: “Sales since launch, despite the lack of promotional spend; have shown huge growth issue on issue.
“To build on this growth, the brand is now entering a period of hard launch promotional investment, including a launch TV ad campaign, significant trade marketing investment as well as other tactical above the line activity worth in total nearly £1.25m, with the sole objective of getting the magazine into the hands its target audience and making this the UK’s largest men’s title.”
Elsewhere in the men’s market, total ABC figures have been flattered by the fact that digital edition sales are included in the main total for the first time.
Looking at print, only Esquire managed a marginal 0.1 per cent year on year increase.
Men’s Health remains the UK’s top selling men’s magazine with average monthly sales of 207,254 in the first half of this year.
| Title | 2014 sales | 2013 sales | change | Digital editions |
| Shortlist (free) | 535,505 | 534,494 | 0.2 | |
| Sport (free) | 304,160 | 305,684 | -0.5 | |
| Men's Health | 207,254 | 203,741 | 1.7 | 10,360 |
| GQ | 125,024 | 117,778 | 6.2 | 11,361 |
| FHM | 86,534 | 106,370 | -18.6 | 3,398 |
| Forever Sports Magazine | 62,277 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Esquire | 58,538 | 52,801 | 10.9 | 5,679 |
| Wired | 56,017 | 49,377 | 13.4 | 8,136 |
| Square Mile (free) | 51,918 | 48,957 | 6.0 | |
| Men's Fitness | 48,323 | 56,816 | -14.9 | |
| Zoo | 29,976 | 35,596 | -15.8 |
2,046 |
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