Cosmopolitan is altering up its print plans.
Starting this yr, the Hearst-owned publication will print eight-themed points, every devoted to a unique topic and numbered fairly than tied to a particular month. In 2019, it printed 12 points, then 10 in 2020 when the pandemic started, and 9 in 2021.
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“We’re calling it the ‘2022 assortment’ and we actually needed to make one thing that does really feel collectible and that you simply need to reside in your espresso desk as an alternative of placing it into your recycle pile. So the visuals are actually wealthy and plush and edgy and complicated,” Jessica Pels, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan, informed WWD.
The primary subject, “Situation 1: The Love Situation,” will discover the widening scope of how love is outlined, thought of and skilled and the theme might be woven all through the problem pages. Its cowl face is actress Sydney Sweeney, who’s in the midst of a plot line on HBO’s “Euphoria” about her character Cassie’s obsession with love. Music and journey might be amongst different themes this yr, though a number of the themes will change yearly.
The themed magazines could have considerably of a brand new look, too — new, up-and-coming voices, contributors, photographers and illustrators and greater in measurement with immersive flowcodes, which Pels believes will assist the journal decipher what readers are all in favour of. There can even be merch, starting with a sweater assortment in collaboration with denim model Mom.
“We’re actually aware of reader calls for and to how our readers reside their lives. And since we have interaction with our readers on each single platform we will have a superb sense of how they spend their time and so we are going to all the time serve them what they need the place they need it and for now for print what meaning is a thicker, extra particular, extra escapist expertise,” Pels mentioned of Cosmopolitan shrinking its print frequency. “I really feel like doing fewer points isn’t about fewer touchpoints. It’s about making the print touchpoint a richer, extra significant and in the end longer lasting one.”
Cosmopolitan is much from being alone in lowering its print frequency. Amongst others, Marie Claire, which Hearst bought to Future, is now publishing simply two print issues a yr, whereas WSJ., the luxurious vogue and tradition insert of The Wall Road Journal, lower frequency from 12 points to eight in 2021 with a renewed give attention to digital platforms. And different titles, like W, even have taken the “collectible” route, proclaiming they’re greater than only a journal and boosting their cowl costs because of this.
This isn’t the one large change Cosmopolitan has made in recent times. In 2020, it launched digital subscription Cosmo Unlocked, a bundle together with limitless digital entry priced at $3 a month. For $20 a yr, readers get the web site, print journal and publication. Related packages have been rolled out at Hearst’s Good Housekeeping, Girls’s Well being and Bicycling, whereas Runner’s World has had one since 2019 because the writer appears to turn into much less reliant on promoting {dollars}.
In line with knowledge from the Alliance for Audited Media, Cosmopolitan’s whole viewers was down 19 p.c within the first 9 months of the 2021, in comparison with the identical interval a yr earlier. Print and digital editions had been down 25 p.c, however video was up nearly 20 p.c. Knowledge offered to WWD by Cosmopolitan confirmed that web site visitors was up 31 p.c in 2021.
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