Media Forum: Is the men's market stagnant?

week's "Chantelle! The last nude shots ever!" on the front cover and a
choice between "one-minute fast satisfaction" and (for those with even
busier schedules) "30- second quick relief" phonelines at the back.

Irrepressibly perky or what? And Zoo isn't even the top-selling title,
though the men's weekly market- leader, Nuts, is prone to exaggerate the
size of its own attributes. A few weeks back, it was forced to withdraw
an ad claiming it was the top-selling men's magazine in Europe. Emap's
monthly magazine FHM still holds that title.

But, in general, it has in recent months been brash business as usual
for the men's weeklies. These titles are, after all, barely two years
old - and their charm surely is in the unashamed way they act their
age.

While their nipple count has ensured they've been bumped to the top
shelves in supermarkets, they've begun a metaphorical mud-wrestling
match with The Sun's editor, Rebekah Wade. She has threatened to reject
their ads in response to rumours that they were about to publish twice
weekly, thus taking them even more clearly on to tabloid newspaper
turf.

There's a growing concern in the business that, although the weeklies
are expected to achieve double-digit growth in this week's Audit Bureau
of Circulations figures, the sector as a whole is becoming jaded.

David Pullan, the managing director of FHM Worldwide, clearly doesn't
think so - though he does admit that the world has changed over the past
three years. He explains: "We've seen the advent of broadband as a
mass-market product and that shouldn't be underestimated in our market -
men's magazine readers are classic early adopters. Meanwhile, attitudes
have changed completely since the early days of lads' mags. We are less
able to rely on staples (content formats and ideas) and have had to
undergo an evolution in terms of content. Women in various states of
undress are a staple but it has been interesting to see how the values
of the more mainstream part of the market are seeping into the premium
market. So it's true that monthlies are being squeezed on several
fronts."

James Kydd, the brand director at Virgin Mobile, admits he's more likely
to advertise in weeklies these days. He states: "I think the feeling has
always been that monthlies are just too big. In their heyday, they
attracted loads of ads and their pagination went mad, so standing out in
that environment has always been a tall order."

But he believes that across the whole sector, innovation is at a premium
- which is perhaps disappointing given the boldness with which
publishers opened up this market more than a decade ago.

Claudine Collins, the group press director of MediaCom, doesn't quite
see it that way - and she admits that she still finds the market
exciting.

She explains: "Only two years ago, the weeklies revolutionised the
market. It is easy to write off the men's magazine market because a few
of the monthlies are likely to record significant circulation decreases
in the ABC figures."

From an advertising point of view, she points out that although the
upmarket magazines such as GQ, Arena and Esquire don't deliver huge
numbers, they still offer a very valuable, sophisticated men's audience
and are perfect vehicles for enhancing brand advertising. However, she
warns that the monthlies with larger circulations, such as Maxim, Loaded
and Front, are relying too heavily on price-cutting and covermounting in
order to keep their readers. "They need to think of a real point of
difference to their product," she says.

Mark Gallagher, the press director of Manning Gottlieb OMD, agrees the
weeklies and the monthlies face difficulties when it comes to
maintaining winning editorial formulas but the monthlies have greater
problems in that respect. He says: "For both markets, titillation has to
be a big factor but the weeklies have the extra advantage of topicality
so they can do more in the way of sport and entertainment - and come up
with the sort of stuff that will have people talking down the pub. I
don't think the monthlies are the subject of pub talk very often these
days."

NO - David Pullan, managing director, FHM Worldwide

"It's tough - there's no denying that. But young men are not going to
stop buying magazines. The habit has been created, brand relationships
have been established. We need to keep re-examining what a monthly
magazine needs to deliver to justify itself. We are confident we have
the creative talent to ride through this challenge."

MAYBE - James Kydd, brand director, Virgin Mobile:

"Perhaps the monthlies have lost their way. They just seem to get ruder
and ruder. Publishers proved the sceptics wrong when they created the
men's magazine sector over ten years ago. The problem is that their
approach hasn't really evolved - and in order to thrive they need to
start innovating once more."

NO - Claudine Collins, group press director, MediaCom

"FHM still sells over half a million copies per month and the two
weeklies combined also sell over two million copies per month ... And if
you compare the men's to the women's magazine market, this is still a
relatively young sector and therefore there is still huge untapped
growth potential."

MAYBE - Mark Gallagher, press director, Manning Gottlieb OMD

"These things, as we've seen before in the women's market, can be
cyclical and monthlies could well become fashionable again but the big
challenge for everyone is to maintain relevance. That's definitely
easier currently for the weeklies and this sector will continue to be
lively - I can see two new weekly launches this year."

- Got a view? E-mail us at campaign@haynet.com.