In doing so, Bauer, the international media house operating with a global reach, is intensifying its consistent strategy of investing in top-quality magazines, especially in the premium segment, say the publishers. The licensor of People, the world’s most popular weekly entertainment magazine, is Time Inc.
The People brand has a global audience of 59 million consumers, with 3.5 million weekly subscribers in the US alone. The American People magazine, well-known internationally for its “Sexiest Man Alive” and “50 Most Beautiful” franchise issues, recently celebrated its 40-year anniversary with Jess Cagle as Editorial Director. Other licensed editions of People magazine are published in Greece and Australia.
Tom Junkersdorf, the Editor-in-Chief of the German license edition of People, has already succeeded in establishing Closer in the German market. The management will be in the hands of Bianca Pohlmann, who has been in charge of the people and lifestyle magazines of the Bauer Media Group as Managing Director since February 2014. The Head of Advertising will be Martina Borchert, most recently Regional Account Manager of Southern Germany responsible for the fashion, beauty, lifestyle and luxury segments of Bauer Advertising KG.
“Being Europe’s leading magazine publishing house, we are clearly committed to the print domain and are proud to introduce the world’s leading entertainment magazine in Germany,” says Andreas Schoo, Member of the Bauer Media Executive Board. “In the past several years we delivered proof on a number of occasions that the establishment of successful magazine concepts represents Bauer’s core expertise.”
“Time Inc. is pleased to partner with Bauer Media Group in Germany, a weekly publisher with a strong heritage,” says Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer, Time Inc. “We expect the People Germany team in Hamburg to launch the magazine with the same passion for the brand as we have in the US.”
