IPC revamps Melody Maker and Our Baby to win back readership

IPC is relaunching Melody Maker in an A4 format and revamping parenting title Our Baby in September under the new name Expecting Our Baby.

The 72-year-old music title will be transformed from a traditional newspaper to a more “visually led” glossy.

The revamped Expecting Our Baby, meanwhile, will include features on fashion and beauty for the first time, and employ a larger format and better quality paper.

The two titles recorded disappointing ABCs for January to June. Melody Maker was down 14.9 per cent to 34,068 year on year, while Our Baby dropped 19.9 per cent to 36,721.

However, IPC’s Ideal Home was up 14 per cent to 237,734, and Now magazine up 26.1 per cent year on year to 386,383.

EMAP and The National Magazine Company have witnessed significant circulation slumps. NatMags saw only one circulation rise year on year across its portfolio. EMAP’s FHM fell to 701,089 for the first time, while Smash Hits saw a 39.8 per cent drop to 230,764 in the teenage market.

IPC is ploughing £30m into acquisitions and spending £25m on its new Internet venture, IPC Electric, as revealed exclusively by Marketing Week (July 29).

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