The Kliger Conundrum

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, August, 2001 by Joe Hagan

KLIGER'S FIRST LAUNCH

Hachette has high hopes for Elle Girl, the first launch under Kilger and one that follows on the heels of similar spinoffs, Teen Vogue and CosmoGirl!. But is Hachette late to the party? The demographic boom let of teens, which has boosted the popularity of all the teen magazines, appears to have peaked. Overall circulation for the traditional players like Seventeen, YM and Teen have barely budged in the last year, while their newsstand sales have fallen.

Kliger, however, is not concerned. He points out that Elle also came late to its category and ended up "changing the game." He also says Elle Girl will skew older, closer to 17 than to 12: "I think we'll reach an older teen, a more sophisticated, stylish reader."

The game plan is to use Ellegirl.com, launched last June, to test ideas and promote subscriptions, then start the magazine as a quarterly this September. "We're not going to have to come up with a million subs in the first year or two," Kilger explains. "I think this is a different kind of launch, and I don't know too many teen magazines that have been able to create a global imprint."