Who (magazine)
Who is a celebrity news and entertainment weekly magazine published in Australia by Pacific Magazines. It was launched as a sister magazine to the United States weekly People, with a name change facilitated because of an existing Australian lad's mag of the same name
As of March 2013, Who has a circulation of approximately 121,000 and a readership of 473,000.[1] The magazine features celebrity news and photos, interviews and entertainment reviews alongside human-interest stories plus lifestyle information involving fashion, food, beauty and health issues.
The magazine is now published under license to Time Inc. Who can pick up original, owned content from People and Entertainment Weekly. Annual special issues, or 'franchises' include "Most Beautiful People", "Best & Worst Dressed", "Most Intriguing People", "Sexiest People", "Half Their Size" and "Best and Worst of the Year" features. These are not trademarked however and competitor magazines, such as NW, have also published stories under some of these titles.
History
Time Inc. South Pacific launched Who into the highly competitive Australian weekly magazine market in March 1992. It differed to existing weekly, women's magazines in that it was not a general interest title with cookery, health and fashion and gossip, but instead focused almost exclusively on celebrity and entertainment news. It featured Candice Bergen as its first cover girl, who was then starring in the sitcom Murphy Brown. Initially editorial content was in black and white but by 1994 colour had been introduced throughout the magazine. The editorial content has since then broadened to include women's magazine staples such as fashion and beauty, in addition to celebrity news.
In 1997 Who celebrated its 5th birthday double issue, featuring Elle Macpherson and a giant, golden “5” on the cover, which was photographed in Los Angeles. In April of the same year, the magazine collected its second consecutive Australian Society of Magazine Editors’ (ASME) premier award, this time for Best Reporting on the Port Arthur massacre.
In January 2001, Who changed from a Monday sale date to Friday to capitalise on pre-weekend sales. The magazine also rebadged its Picks & Pans review section after Entertainment Weekly, from which Who regularly picks up features. The reviews section was re-designed in late 2008 under the new title 'Reviews'. In July 2001, the magazine won the Magazine Publishers of Australia Award for General Excellence (General Interest/News Magazines).
In 2003, the magazine launched its new look resulting in a bigger trim size (275mm tall by 225mm wide), higher quality paper stock and with a brand new masthead. It is the most significant change since the magazine's inception. Since then, competitor magazines NW, Woman's Day and New Idea have all adopted the wider 225mm trim size and gone further, increasing their height to 300mm. With the exception of Famous, launched in 2006, Who is now smaller than its competition. More recent launches OK! and Grazia magazines have also adopted the larger trim size.
In 2007 Time Inc. South Pacific sold Who magazine to Pacific Magazines.
Who magazine is printed by Hannanprint at two sites, in NSW and Victoria.
The magazine has been edited by Nicola Briger since December 2007. Briger is a former editor of Australian InStyle and Elle magazines.
Online
Who has a website which focuses exclusively on celebrity news as well as a blog. It also hosts the Who Celebrity Index, a celebrity-ranking classification database.
References
- ↑ "Who". Pacific Magazines. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
External links
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