HEALTHY FIGURES: Men’s Health editor in chief David Zinczenko has big plans for Women’s Health — and he thinks the title eventually could be bigger than its male counterpart. Zinczenko was promoted to editorial director of Women’s Health in June, and editor in chief Tina Johnson abruptly resigned from her post last week. A search for a new editor in chief, who will report to Zinczenko, began this week. The rate base for Women’s Health has ballooned from 400,000 at its 2005 launch to 1.35 million as of the January/February issue, and that number could soar to 2 million, he predicted. “We’ve pulled into the passing lane, and we’re poised to surpass a lot of women’s magazines now. We can see Glamour just up ahead. There are a lot of opportunities for Women’s Health because of the size of the market,” he said. “The women’s market is five times the size of the men’s market. I expect it to be a higher circulation than Men’s Health,” which has a circulation of 1.9 million. “Clearly a magazine like Glamour has shown that they can be above 2 million circulation and have 1,600 ad pages a year and create a really attractive lifestyle magazine.”
The October issue introduced new elements to Women’s Health, such as expanded fashion and beauty coverage, improvements in the printing quality and, most noticeably, a celebrity on the cover (Elizabeth Banks) rather than the models of past issues. “Men’s Health did well for years with models on the cover, and when we finally put celebs on the cover, we did even better,” said Zinczenko. “No reason to not take lessons that we learned at other Rodale titles and apply them here.” That includes celebrating such covers when possible — on Monday, the magazine will host a party at Gramercy Park Hotel for its October cover star.
— Stephanie D. Smith
The October issue introduced new elements to Women’s Health, such as expanded fashion and beauty coverage, improvements in the printing quality and, most noticeably, a celebrity on the cover (Elizabeth Banks) rather than the models of past issues. “Men’s Health did well for years with models on the cover, and when we finally put celebs on the cover, we did even better,” said Zinczenko. “No reason to not take lessons that we learned at other Rodale titles and apply them here.” That includes celebrating such covers when possible — on Monday, the magazine will host a party at Gramercy Park Hotel for its October cover star.
— Stephanie D. Smith
