Australia's top magazine publisher, ACP Magazines, is preparing for its biggest launch in four years, investing $2 million in next Monday's unveiling of Women's Fitness Australia with a campaign including TV, outdoor, transit, radio and samples.
That would make the monthly the most significant addition to ACP's portfolio since 2008, when Top Gear, Grazia and Good Food entered the market.
However, the launch has been overshadowed by renewed rumours that the publisher is about to be sold off by parent company Nine Entertainment, as ultimate owner CVC Asia Pacific tries to boost its balance sheet ahead of its imminent debt restructuring proposal.
ACP's smaller launches in the past few years have had disappointing results. Niche men's title UFC, which started in February last year, failed to hit its sales target and was quietly withdrawn from the official circulation audit in the June half. Children's magazine In the Night Garden, which arrived in August 2009, seems to have been folded without fanfare.
Major closures over the past 4 1/2 years have included The Bulletin, New Woman, Ralph and FHM. This year, the publisher also iced a bold plan to launch a local version of international fashion title Elle, which had been meant to arrive in the autumn.
Women's Fitness, which targets women aged in their mid-20s, will be published here under licence from Felix Dennis's Dennis Publishing.
The title was launched in Britain in 2006 and Dennis describes it as "the fastest-growing health and fitness title in the UK", although its sales in the first half of this year declined by 2.7 per cent on the previous period to average just 20,717 copies per issue.
ACP publishing director Gerry Reynolds has set a conservative circulation target for the Australian edition of 45,000-50,000 copies a month, although one source said its advertising rate card indicated the company might be hoping for about 60,000 copies.
Its cover price will be $5.95, making it very competitive with the magazine from which it aims to steal much of its market share: five-year-old Women's Health, published by Seven West Media's Pacific Magazines, which sells on the newsstand for $7.50.
ACP has already had a couple of tilts at the women's physical fitness market. In 2009, it brought out one-off magazine Your Body, aimed at women in their late 20s to early 40s, but hopes that it might become a regular offering were not realised. Another experimental idea, Cosmopolitan Zest, also failed to fire.
That has left Women's Health largely unchallenged in the mass women's fitness category and it has cemented a commanding lead.
In a tough market the Pacific title posted an average readership of 444,000 readers per issue in the year to June 30, according to the latest Roy Morgan survey, up almost 3 per cent on the previous year.
Its sales for the June half declined almost 2 per cent to average 92,405 copies per issue, making it the 10th biggest-selling non-weekly title.
As well as the monthly print magazine, ACP has said Women's Fitness will have an iPad edition, website, mag-books and specialised mobile applications. Its editor is Rachel Sharp, who was formerly deputy at high fashion monthly Harper's Bazaar.
Its other major title in the category is Good Health, which targets women aged 35 and over.
Last week, ACP also launched the sixth year of its 30 Days of Fashion and Beauty promotion.
This year there are 50 individual events during the month, such as fashion shows, product launches and beauty workshops, promoting a range of its women's titles, including The Australian Women's Weekly, Grazia and Madison, as well as music bible Rolling Stone and TV Week.
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