New look for Now magazine

Now magazine is attempting to keep up in the celebrity weekly market with a relaunch, as it prepares to announce a circulation fall below the half-million mark for the first time since 2001.
The IPC title, which hired a new editor in April, has introduced a new design and content with this week's issue and will integrate more closely with its website, nowmagazine.co.uk.

The magazine is set to report circulation of 494,229 in the Audit Bureau of Circulations this Thursday, according to figures leaked last week - an 8.5% fall both period on period and year on year.

Although Now held its circulation steady last period, in August 2006 it posted an ABC of 539,902, a fall of 8.8% year on year.

Now broke new ground when it launched in 1996, helping redefine the women's weekly market then dominated by older titles such as Woman's Weekly. At its height, Now sold over 630,000 copies a week.

Since then, the market has seen an influx of celebrity mags such as Heat and Closer and hybrid products with heavy celebrity content such as Reveal, Grazia and Look.

Steve Goodman, the managing director for the print trading group of media buying network GroupM, said celebrity weeklies were often too similar.

"There is an element of cannibalisation but overall the market is still expanding," he said.

"I think what we'll see is more of the celebrity market tackled by titles in different ways because there hasn't been enough differentiation in the market."

Now's redesign includes a "cleaner, brighter lay-out" and new features, such as 20 fashion pages, 13 lifestyle and real-life pages and more TV coverage.

The magazine will publish reader views from the online daily polls and prompts to visit nowmagazine.co.uk will appear throughout.

The editor, Helen Johnson, who was poached from rival Emap where she was editor of women's monthly New Woman, has been working on the redesign since she joined in April.

"The Now brand has fantastic heritage and we're enjoying ourselves more than ever," Johnson said.

"Now is simply brimming with news, pictures and lifestyle - all wrapped up in a new and distinctive Now tone of voice."


Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Tuesday August 14, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk