TV Guide, the small-format magazine that for decades has occupied a familiar space in the checkout lanes of the nation’s supermarkets, announces today that it will be converting to a larger format that will focus more on celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle subjects and feature fewer program listings.
The new format launches with the October 17 issue, with just 25 percent of the magazine devoted to listings and 75 percent to news and feature stories – exactly the opposite of the ratio in the current edition.
This shift is just part of the revamp at TV Guide, which also announced that it is cutting the guaranteed circulation offered to advertisers by two-thirds (from nine million weekly readers to 3.2 million) – a bow to the new realities of the magazine business and how people get their information.
The new format launches with the October 17 issue, with just 25 percent of the magazine devoted to listings and 75 percent to news and feature stories – exactly the opposite of the ratio in the current edition.
This shift is just part of the revamp at TV Guide, which also announced that it is cutting the guaranteed circulation offered to advertisers by two-thirds (from nine million weekly readers to 3.2 million) – a bow to the new realities of the magazine business and how people get their information.
- KC's View:
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It isn’t clear exactly what impact this is going to have at the front end, but at the very least it means that TV Guide is going to be seeking larger real estate there.
One has to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the magazine. There are so many other places to get television listing information…and the last thing the world needs is another entertainment/celebrity/lifestyle magazine.
