No doubt with hopes to mirror the success of its Food Network Magazine, Hearst is launching another television channel-based publication: HGTV Magazine.
HGTV Magazine will debut a test issue on newsstands October 4. With a cover price of $3.99, its rate base is set for 350,000. Food Network Magazine dropped its test issue with 300,000 issues in fall 2008.
At the helm of the magazine is editor-in-chief Sara Peterson, former editor of Time Inc.’s Coastal Living; Jeanne Noonan Eckholdt, executive director with Hearst Home Group, will act as publisher during HGTV Magazine’s beta phase, according to a Hearst press release.
According to reports, Peterson had plans to join HGTV Magazine at her time of departure from Coastal Living in August 2010; she was the third CL editor in two years to leave the publication.
A second test issue of HGTV Magazine is slated for February/March 2012, with a newsstand release date of January 17.
Promotion for the magazine has already begun, as HGTV aired a one-hour program, “HGTV: The Making of Our Magazine”, on Saturday, September 24. A social media push is to follow soon, as HGTV Magazine will announce date and times in-book for three Twitter chats scheduled in the month of October.
HGTV Magazine editorial will include sections like “Mission Makeover”, “Kitchen Chronicles” and “Real Estate Spy”.
Food Network Magazine continues to see numbers climb, as Hearst announced a sixth rate base hike in two years for the magazine in August. As of January/February 2012, circ for Food Network Magazine will hit 1.4 million; up from its current rate base of 1.3 million. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, Food Network Magazine‘s ad pages stayed relatively flat in first half 2011, increasing 1.8 percent from January-June 2010’s 347.25 ad pages to January-June 2011’s 353.34 pages.
