Industry Standard Goes Global; Newsweek Hits The Middle East

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June, 2000 by Matthew Schwartz

The Industry Standard is crossing the pond. A few Standard folks are hanging out a shingle in London right now for an early fall launch of the magazine's European edition. Details are sketchy, but sources say the weekly should start with a circulation of about 50,000, and will be distributed in as many European countries as possible.

The game plan is to pour The Industry Standard's high-tech-is-hip formula into Europe while striking the right geographic balance, says Jim Ledbetter, editor in chief of the magazine's European edition. "We're looking at Time and Newsweek as the standard models," he adds. "They take their existing editions, repackage them, and add specific content that's unique" to European countries.

Speaking of Newsweek, it hits the Middle East this month. Newsweek in Arabic is the magazine's fifth non-English-language edition, and launches on June 6. The latest Newsweek is the fruition of an agreement signed in late 1998 between Newsweek Inc. and Kuwait-based Dar Al-Watan Publishing Group to develop and publish the 30,000-circulation weekly. It will be distributed throughout the Persian Gulf countries, the rest of the Middle East and select cities in Europe. Content will be supplied by Newsweek's international network of news bureaus; ads will be sold by both Newsweek International and Dar Al-Watan.