Dennis Publishing will this week make its first foray into the free magazine market launching a health and fitness title that will take on market leader Men’s Health.
Dennis is investing £3m in making the new title, Coach, a success, with the first edition due out on Wednesday.
The company’s executives are cheekily promoting the weekly title, which will have a 300,000 distribution, as the UK’s biggest men’s health and fitness magazine.
The claim will irk Hearst Rodale’s Men’s Health which has the biggest paid-for circulation of any title in the sector at about 200,000 per month.
Ian Westwood, group managing director at Dennis Publishing, says that the title is targeting the more general fitness minded everyman “who aren’t likely to buy a magazine with a sculpted six pack on the cover”.
The title will also compete against fellow free magazines Shortlist and Sport, which are distributed on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Coach will be edited by Ed Needham, a former editor of FHM, Maxim and Rolling Stone.
Dennis denies that Coach will cannibalise its own title Men’s Fitness, which has sales falling at 20% year-on-year.
There has been speculation that Dennis might look to take the struggling monthly free to try and revive its fortunes, as Time Inc UK did with music magazine NME which hit the streets last month.
Digitally, the Men’s Fitness website will be rolled into a wider health and fitness portal under the Coach brand. The website will be edited by Joe Barnes, another former FHM editor, who will also continue to editorially lead Men’s Fitness.
The magazine will also cover genres including technology, careers, fashion and modern living.
Dennis says that advertisers have embraced the new title which has seen its original pagination upped ahead of launch to carry more ads.
About 80% of the 300,000 weekly distribution will be in London, with 20% going to cities and commuter towns including Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Reading and Cambridge.
About two-thirds of the magazines will be handed out with the remaining 100,000 targeting running and cycling clubs and retail outlets.
