|  In Australia,
the British newspaper and magazine publisher Northern & Shell,
has established a local wholly-owned subsidiary which will
launch OK! as a monthly magazine
in late September. The initial print order will be 130,000
copies, with expected average sale of 70,000 copies. In China,
OK! launched
in June under license to Shanghai-based Cinezoic
Media. It’s published fortnightly
and has an attractive cover price of RMB9.8 (US$1.20). The
magazine is expected to publish weekly from the middle of
2005, the same strategy adopted in the UK when
the magazine debuted in 1993.
|
 |
 In Singapore,
in July SPH Magazines launched
Shape -
with a cover price of Sin$5 (US$3) and a targeted circulation
of 40,000 copies a month. Singapore is the second Asia-Pacific
market for Shape,after Taiwan.
It’s
also the first international deal signed by Weider
Publications since it was acquired by American
Media in November 2002. The choice of Singapore – where
the total magazine advertising spending in one year is slightly
less than Shape’s US edition’s
advertising income in six months – probably indicates
a careful strategy of international expansion by American
Media under
Chairman, President and CEO David Pecker. Also, SPH
Magazines will launch Maxim in
October, under a licensing agreement from Dennis
Publishing.
The local edition is expected to sell 45,000 copies a month. |
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|  In Thailand,
a local edition of Maxim will
appear in mid-December, with a January 2005 issue and a cover
price of 80 Baht (US$1.90). The monthly men’s magazine
licensed from Dennis
Publishing is published by GMM
Times,
a joint-venture between Singapore’s SPH
Magazines and
GMM Media Plc, which also publishes Her
World.
Maxim Thailand
will be the fifth edition of the “beer and babes” magazine
in Asia. It already is published in Korea, Hong
Kong - where it was launched in
April by the South China Morning Post’s magazine division
- and Singapore (see above). A
new edition in China is expected before
the end of the year.
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|  In China, Variety soft launched
a test issue in June before starting fortnightly publication
in September. The entertainment industry magazine is published
by China Media Group Publication Administration in
a strategic alliance with Reed Business
Information and International
Data Group (IDG). And ESPN
The Magazine is
expected to launch in October, or as soon as Vertex
Communications & Technology Group - who acquired
the license for China - finds a local partner. ESPN is
indirectly owned by The Walt
Disney Company (80%)
and The Hearst Corporation (20%).
Vertex also formed a joint-venture with Sino-World
Media to
launch Newsweek Select, a monthly concept combining
articles on lifestyle, science, health and arts.
|
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|  Also
in Thailand, the wholly-owned subsidiary
of Burda signed a license agreement
with fellow publisher Axel Springer to
launch AutoBild.
The fortnightly magazine hit the newstands in July with
a cover price of Baht 50 (US$1.20). It’s expected to
sell 60,000 copies per issue. AutoBild originated
in Germany in 1986 and currently sells 656,000
copies per week. The automotive magazine is currently published
in 22 countries, including Indonesia.
Separately, Axel Springer announced last February (after
publishing its €197 million earnings for 2003) the establishment
of a €50 million fund to expand in China, Russia and India.
|
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|  In
the Philippines, Stuff will
publish a local edition at the end of September under a license
agreement with Media G8way Corp.
A Thai-language edition will follow in November published
by Inspire Entertainment Co. Ltd.
Owned by Haymarket -
who bought the title in 1999 from Dennis
Publishing,
who still publishes an unrelated men’s magazine in
the US - Stuff will have six editions in the
region by the end of the year. The consumer electronics
and gadget review magazine is already published in China (by
Shanghai Technology Products), in Taiwan (by Tom
Group’s PC
Home), in Malaysia and Singapore (by
Catcha)
and in Indonesia (by Gramedia).
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| Other
News:
In Korea, Hachette Filipacchi Media negotiated
an agreement with EIN*S International to become
its new local joint-venture partner in the company renamed Hachette EIN*S
MEDIA 
In Hong Kong, Advanstar Asia has
taken over IDG’s license
to publish the local edition of Computerworld as
a monthly magazine. In Thailand, a local edition
of marie
claire was launched
in April by Hachette Filipacchi Post. Still in Thailand,
The Nation Multimedia, publisher of the local English
language newspaper, launched Hair under license
from IPC Media. In China,
For Him Magazine (better known as FHM,
the EMAP flagship) was launched by Trends
Publishing,
the Chinese publisher owned by IDG (20%), Hearst (20%)
and the Ministry of Tourism (50%).
Finally, in the Philippines,
Top Gear, the automotive
magazine from BBC, will appear before the end of the year following
a license agreement with Summit Media. Launched
in January, Top
Gear’s Chinese edition is published by One
Media Group, the joint-venture between Ming Pao
Enterprises and
Media2U.
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In
line with the booming magazine market in China and to ensure the
best service for our clients,
The
biggest of the three was 
Separately,
Matt Handbury – Rupert
Murdoch’s nephew – sold his 
More than 104,000 people dead and nearly half a million injured in one year … but
barely a whisper in the world’s media. Those are the grim road accident
statistics from China in 2003, published by the Xinhua News Agency. Compare this
with the sensational headlines about SARS, which killed 349 people and paralyzed
most of the Asian economies for several months last year. 
George
Green