Meredith Acquires 'Shape', Phases Out 'Fitness' In Print

Women’s interest publisher Meredith Corp. is continuing its buying spree with the acquisition of Shape magazine, along with the digital assets of Natural Health and Fit Pregnancy, from American Media.

At the same time, the company plans to phase out the print edition of its own Fitness magazine and merge its editorial operations and subscription base into Shape, expanding the latter’s rate base dramatically. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Meredith Corp. will begin publishing Shape effective with its May 2015 issue and shutter the print edition of Fitness following its April issue. Fitness subscribers will receive the new, expanded Shape from that point on. By combining their current subscribers, Meredith will boost the rate base for Shape 60% from its current total of 1.6 million to 2.5 million. The Shape and Fitness Web sites will continue to operate independently; Meredith claims that together, the Web sites have an unduplicated reach of 7 million unique monthly visitors.

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As part of the transition, Tim O’Connor has been named publisher of Shape; he previously served as managing director of Meredith’s Corporate Sale Group. Editorial operations for the expanded magazine will be overseen by Galvanized, the independent consulting company founded by former Men’s Health Editor in Chief David Zinczenko, who has been helping AMI and Meredith with brand and editorial decisions.

According to the company, Shape’s subscribers have a median household income of $87,000 and a median age of 39.

As noted, this is just the latest in a series of acquisitions and partnerships unveiled by Meredith Corp. in recent months. In October of last year, it signed a long-term licensing deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, giving it responsibility for ad sales for the latter’s flagship Martha Stewart Living, as well as Martha Stewart Weddings.

In November, it acquired mywedding.com, a popular online wedding planning destination, and also revealed plans for a licensed product line under its Allrecipes brand, created in collaboration with the Clipper Corporation. In December, it launched a new magazine, Eat This, Not That!, in partnership with Galvanized. 

The quarterly title, which hits newsstands December 2, is the first stand-alone magazine produced under Zinczenko’s popular Eat This, Not That! brand. And in January, it acquired Selectable Media, which specializes in native advertising.

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