Bauer pumps up new health title

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb 1, 1995

It looks as though Bauer Publishing Company is attempting to pull at Prevention's heartstrings. A Bauer spokesman has confirmed that the German publisher of First for Women, Woman's World and Soap Opera Update is testing a new digest-size health publication called Heartbeat. The spokesman declined to offer details of the magazine's content and how it will differ from the Rodale Press title.

But some competitors see a ripe market for new health publications as aging baby boomers clamor for information to prolong their time on Earth. "I'll certainly be watching it," says Susan Buckley, publisher of American Health. However, Mark Bricklin, editor of Rodale's Prevention, doesn't foresee a long life for Heartbeat. "[Bauer] spent a lot of money with [First] and the whole thing went into a long, slow tailspin," he says. "It's a real potpourri of nothing--it's a general, generic type of journalism. This is just an attempt to mimic a successful magazine." Prevention, targeting women ages 25 to 54, has a paid circulation of nearly 3.4 million. Ad pages for 1994 totaled 724, up 8 percent from 1993's 670.