20 Power Launches FOR THE '90s

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2000 by Susan Thea Posnock

That formula has proved successful in a competitive category where quite a few titles had staked out their territory long ago-publisher Annie Zehren says Teen People broke even with its 17th issue.

ESPN The Magazine

LAUNCH DATE 1998

AD PAGES March-December

1998: 1,245; March-December

1999: 1,303

RATEBASE 1998:350,000; 2000:1 M STAFF Launch: 126; Today: 148 FREQUENCY Biweekly

Creating ESPN The Magazine was a no-brainer, according to its founders. The brand was already well known and trusted among young men in this country, says general manager John Skipper.

Still, success wasn't guaranteed. The quality of the editorial idea had to be matched by the execution of that idea, he says. And let's not forget that the magazine was going up against category heavyweight Sports Illustrated. To be successful, the publication had to approach the market from a new angle, says Skipper. Fans already get a proliferation of sports news from all kinds of channels; therefore, a magazine that recapped highlights that had already been in the newspaper and on television didn't make sense, he says.

So ESPN "offered something extraordinarily fresh," says Skipper. "We're not telling you game stories or reviewing the games that have already happened-we're concentrating on what's coming up. And lots of 23-year-olds thought 'this is the sports magazine I didn't even know I was missing,' "Skipper says.

At this point, ESPN hasn't thrown any a knockout punches, but it has made an impact on other titles in the category. "All the sports magazines have responded," says Skipper. "S/is now more preview focussed, it has more humor and more photos off the field," he says.

Business Fast Company

LAUNCH DATE 1996

AD PAGES 1996: 400; 1999:1,748

RATEBASE 1996: 100,000; 2000:500,000

STAFF Launch: 13; Today: 56 FREQUENCY Monthly

According to the creators of Fast Company, something had to be done to shake up the sleepy business category. Says co-founding editor Alan Webber, no one was focusing on what was clearly a new niche: the new economy. "[Business titles] weren't looking at new ways of inventing your own career or helping your company compete," he says. "There was a kind of sameness to Them."

Now, says Webber, the old, established players are being forced to catch up. "Today what's happening with careers and the workplace is a page-one story. As a consequence, business publishers are either launching to be a part of that revolution, or reinventing themselves to be a part of it."

But the magazine, which is published by Fast Company Media Group LLP, not only covers the changing business environment, it mirrors it, says Webber. "We are, in effect, doing the same Things we write about--growing fast, having to attract new talent, and keeping the compass bearings strait so we don't lose course," he says.

The Industry Standard

LAUNCH DATE 1998

AD PAGES 1998:613; 1999:3,091

CIRCULATION Launch: 60,000; 2000:125,000

STAFF Launch: 45, Today: 177 FREQUENCY 1998:24; 2000:40

When other publications were treating the Internet as a technology and or product, The Industry Standard took a very different view: "We identified that a new industry was being created," says Kelly Conlin, president and CEO of IDG, publisher of the magazine.