Observer to launch monthly music supplement in bid to target youth
The Observer is to launch a glossy monthly music supplement to stand alongside its food and sport magazines.
The Observer Music Monthly will launch later this year, backed with an advertising campaign created by Mother.
The newspaper published a 68-page glossy travel magazine in January, which experts thought would join the roster of monthly supplements (MW November 7, 2002). However, insiders believe that the newspaper has scented an opportunity to bring in more youth-oriented advertising. There have been several newsstand music magazines launched in the past six months, including Word, X-Ray and Bang.
Chris Willis, Observer advertisement manager, says: “The Observer will be the only Sunday newspaper with an exclusive supplement dedicated solely to music. This will offer a fantastic platform for advertisers within the broader setting of a national Sunday newspaper.”
The newspaper rebranded its weekly Life magazine as a glossy tabloid called Observer Magazine last April (MW April 11, 2002). Observer Sports Monthly was launched in May 2000 and was followed by Observer Food Monthly in April 2001.
The colour supplements are credited with helping to improve the newspaper’s circulation. The year-on-year average net circulation rose 1.94 per cent for the six months from November to April.
The Observer Music Magazine will be edited by Caspar Llewellyn Smith. He joins from the Daily Telegraph, where he was assistant editor of the Telegraph Magazine.
