Launch date set for free women’s mag

Stylist, the long-awaited, free women’s weekly from ShortList Media is to launch on 7 October.

The title will target “affluent, urban women” aged 20 to 40 – the female equivalent to the audience that its ShortList magazine targets.

“It will be very distinctive for the women’s market and look significantly different to other weekly glossy titles,” ShortList Media founder and chief executive Mike Soutar tells Marketing Week.

He says the sister publication to Thursday’s male-oriented ShortList magazine would retain its “clean and crisp” cover format of one image and cover story, but would focus on fashion and beauty.

Planning is already going beyond the first issue to ensure subsequent editions have strong editorial coverage and advertisers.

“A strong launch issue is important but it’s a mistake to focus exclusively on that,” says Soutar.

The title will be distributed on Wednesdays in six cities – London, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Brighton – via ShortList’s distribution network, but tailored to the commuting patterns of women.

Soutar is confident that the title will achieve an ABC audit figure of 400,000 by February, when the next bi-annual audit figures are released.

Industry responses have been split between believing Stylist could plug a gap or will struggle in a competitive women’s market.