Mag Bag: 'Self' Launches Text-Based Diet Program

Self-magazine

Self Launches Text-Based Diet Program

With more and more Americans concerned about their weight, Self magazine is hoping to help out (and build a new channel to engage consumers) with a new text-based diet program for mobile devices called the Self Diet Tapper. People who sign up for Diet Tapper (which costs $0.10 per day) receive text messages five times per day reminding them of the calorie goal for each meal, along with meal options. It also sends hydration reminders and a daily cardio plan, all of which is designed to help participants lose up to two pounds per week.

Diet Tapper content offers include exclusive online diet plans with healthy recipes including frozen food options, workouts, and advice on diet-friendly fast food options. Self Editor in Chief Lucy Danziger explained: "The SELF Diet Tapper is like getting a gentle reminder tap on the shoulder from your healthiest girlfriend, but in this case, she's a registered dietitian or a fitness trainer."

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The new diet program is inspired by research showing that dieters who receive text-message reminders throughout the day lose five times the weight of people who go it alone (or at least, without text "taps"). Similarly, a study in the Archives of Dermatology found that people who received a text message reminding them to wear sunscreen were 26% more likely to apply SPF. Other studies have shown the efficacy of daily motivational texts for people who are trying to quit smoking.

Bonnier Launches Digital-Only Weekly Mag, C Mode

Bonnier Magazines' new content-development outfit, Boom Publishing, has launched a new digital-only weekly magazine dedicated to the fashion world titled C Mode -- a name derived from the blog maintained by Swedish fashion blogger Caroline Blomst, carolinesmode.com. The magazine aims to cover all things fashion-related with the same fun, breezy tone as Blomst in its weekly overview, and also offers e-commerce capabilities for curated shopping. It is the first digital magazine to be created using Bonnier's proprietary Mag+ production suite. At launch the magazine is available at the iTunes app store, but an Android version is in the works. It costs $0.99 per single issue or $2.99 for a month-long subscription.

Food Network Ups Rate Base

Food Network magazine is on a roll, judging by this week's announcement that the foodie title will increase its rate base by 100,000 to 1.4 million beginning with the January-February issue. That's a lot of growth for a title that began with a rate base of 400,000 when it launched back in summer 2009. According to the most recent circulation report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, covering January-June 2011, Food Network magazine averaged 1,472,607 in the first half of this year.

Kiplinger Reports Record Online Traffic, Ad Revenue

With many Americans worried about the state of the economy and looking for ways to improve their own finances, Kiplinger's Personal Finance reported that it has achieved record Web traffic and online ad revenue in the first half of 2011. Traffic jumped 45% compared to the same period in 2010, from 52 million page views to 75 million page views. Meanwhile online advertising revenue increased 58% for January-July 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. Unique visitors increased 17.3% year-over-year to a monthly average of 1.56 million in the first half of 2011, and the average number of page views per visit grew 17.6 percent, from 5.27 to 6.20.

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