Taking a Stance

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

A TransWorld title hopes to capture Generation Y males with a new lifestyle magazine.

There are plenty or magazines for teen girls--Teen People, Jump, Latin Girl and Twist are just a few of the latest entries into this expanding market. But what about the other half of the teen audience? Other than gaming titles, teenage boys have been all but ignored. Publishers, apparently, have had their reasons. The thinking was that at this age, guys don't seek self-help and advice the way young women do. But TransWorld is out to disprove that theory with the launch of a style and service guide, TransWorld STANCE.

"We're trying to create a broader interest magazine for teen boys," says Fran Richards, editorial director for the magazine, which launches this month. "There's been a huge focus on Generation X, with a lot of publishers vying for that readership. We felt that there's a whole culture below the adult mainstream radar--a culture of brands, sports activities, music and fashion--which is very much geared toward and generated by kids between 12 and 24."

And this is an audience that Publisher TransWorld Media, a division of Times Mirror Magazines, knows well. The company reaches more than three million male teens through individual sports titles including, for example, Trans World SKATEboarding, Trans World SNOW-boarding, TransWorld SURF, Freeze, Ride BMX and SNAP BMX.

"They are kids we already publish to," says Brian J. Sellstrom, president of TransWorld Media. Therefore, STANCE was a logical offshoot of the company's more vertical titles, he says. "We want to take those common denominators like music and fashion and things that cut across all the vertical niche sports areas and lifestyles that are common to all these kids, particularly the guys," he says. "There really an no mass-circulation magazines other than perhaps some of the video game magazines."

The audience, while untested when it comes to a broader-interest magazine, is very attractive to advertisers, Sellstrom says. "There's some pretty significant dollars that these kids spend," he says. Today there are nearly 22 million teen males in the United States. In 1997, he says, this group spent $91.5 billion. Sales of more product focussed issues of the TransWorld magazines indicated readers want more information on products, gear and music that is part of their lifestyle. "There's been a proliferation of these magazines geared toward teen boys in the specialty sport category, and they have almost all been action-based," says Richards. "We've done some experiments in more gear-based and product-based areas and they've been very successful. We think there's a definite demand," he says.

The premier issue, which launches this month, aims to fill that demand, while attempting to reach readers through their heroes and icons. For instance, a feature on how to buy a car includes a sidebar on what kinds of cars some skate and snowboarding celebrities own. "We really want to make sure there's a point of reference," says Richards. Other highlights of the issue include a report on the latest in fashion and gear, profiles of different sports and entertainment personalities, a humor section and a fashion section. Advertising categories for the publication include apparel, footwear, music, video, audio equipment and automotive.

Will teen boys buy in?

Teen boys may be a lucrative market to advertisers, but they're also a fickle market. "Generation Y is broad, but how deep is it?" asks Marc Sani, editorial director for the Action Sports Group, Emap USA, who oversees several TransWorld competitors in the vertical extreme sports market, including Snowboarder and Surfer Magazine. "Will a company that tries to develop a broader youth culture magazine wind up cannibalizing their core?"

Sani also questions whether an audience already enmeshed in youth culture needs a magazine about themselves. "I think they want something that's probably more specific to their needs," he says. Still, he says, TransWorld definitely knows the market and will use that to its advantage. "Those folks are smart people. If they think there's a market, they are going to go after it."

Both Sellstrom and Richards believe TransWorld's STANCE will capitalize on the company's core audience, not take from it. "Our reputation is based on publishing to teen males who are active in alternative sports," Sellstrom says. About $50,000 will be spent this year in launching and promoting the magazine, primarily though TransWorld's established magazines and Web sites.

The launch issue of the bimonthly magazine has a total distribution of 90,000, and the magazine has a cover price of $3.99. Subscriptions will be available for six issues at $9.95.

Also, the magazine is going after advertisers that include, but are not limited to, the extreme sports market. Current advertisers include Levi Strauss, Interscope Records, Union Bay, DC Shoes, ESPN, the Milk Processors Board, Sketchers, Spiewak, Alphanumeric and Fresh Jive. Sellstrom says the launch issue, with 60 pages of advertising, exceeded expectations.