Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

When Rupert Murdoch added the Wall Street Journal to his News Corporation media empire, one of the first things he did was to sign off on the creation of Pursuits magazine, a spin-off of the lifestyles section of the Journal’s Saturday edition. Starting in September 2008, Pursuits will be a monthly magazine that focuses on the lifestyles of the rich and famous, offering “compelling journalism, vivid imagery and an unmatched guide to wealth, fashion, collecting and travel,” according to WSJ managing editor Marcus W. Brauchli (WJS.com). There is still no word as to who will be the magazine’s editor. The leading candidate is Journal columnist and author Robert Frank. Frank most recently wrote the book “Richistan” about America’s wealthy. He has been heavily active in Pursuit’s conception.
The Wall Street Journal announced the decision to launch Pursuits on September 17. The Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones & Company said that that they hoped this new glossy magazine would draw more ads for expensive consumer goods and travel agencies. The Journal will launch the first issue as an insert in the September 2008 Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal. Pursuits initial circulation will be about 800,000. The magazine will be delivered to WSJ subscribers in the 18 metropolitan areas where the Journal sells its most copies. The magazine’s content will also be available for free on the Wall Street Journal’s Web site.
Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, purchasing it from the Bancroft family, the majority shareholders of Dow Jones & Company who initially opposed the sale, for $5 billion dollars. Since taking over, he had contemplated spinning off the Pursuits section of the Saturday edition of the Journal into a monthly glossy magazine. He has also considered turning the whole Saturday edition into a magazine.

Resources
The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/business/media/17journal.html?ref=business

The Wall Street Journal Online
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118998549310929184.html

New Magazine Coming To Wall Street

The Wall Street Journal announced this week it will be publishing a Wall Street Journal Magazine, Pursuits, which is expected to make its debut in September of 2008. This new magazine will cater to The Journal’s wealthy audience through a new highly visual, “glossy” approach. According to the press release issued Monday the magazine will explore the affluent lives of its readers, including lifestyle, travel, food, art and investing.


It will also be available for free online, unlike The Wall Street Journal. Pursuits will encourage more consumer advertisers and help to expand the audience of the publication.

“Pursuits will extend the Wall Street Journal's highly successful business of life franchise that began with the Weekend Journal and Personal Journal sections of the newspaper by offering unique access and insight through lifestyle reporting that only the Journal can provide,'' said L. Gordon Crovitz, executive vice president, Dow Jones & Company and publisher, The Wall Street Journal according to the press release.

This magazine is a perfect example of niche publishing. The Wall Street Journal is targeting the audience and expanding on the topics that might interest them. By knowing the audience The Wall Street Journal can give its wealthy readers more of what they want: information about how to make the most with what they have.

There are endless magazines that attempt to find the best travel deals or good food for an even better price. But what about those who don’t have to worry about money, those people want to know about the top quality places to eat, shop, travel etc. They also want to know about investing: what to invest in, where and when to do it.

The place for the wealthy to find these things will be in the Wall Street Journal, the paper that they already read everyday. Talk about knowing your audience and capitalizing on it. The magazine will make money from the advertisers that will want to use these pages for endless consumer ads. And the website they use, which is already the largest paid subscription on the web ($99/year for subscribers who don’t get the print edition) is going to get much more traffic, therefore making investors more money.

The creation of the Wall Street Magazine is publishing at its best. You find an audience and give them what they want to read about and then keep what you have and make it grow. The Journal is growing a new magazine and that magazine is going to make their money grow as well.