Business

Summer debut at HGTV mag

After two test issues, Hearst and Scripps Network yesterday gave the green light to the launch of HGTV Magazine, billing it as a “home lifestyle” magazine that will launch officially with the June/July issue.

Although the print world has not recovered from the 2008 financial meltdown, which was particularly tough on magazines in the shelter category, professor Samir Husni, who tracks new magazine launches at the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, said, “I don’t think it is a gamble at all; they’ve really tested this.”

The company launched two issues, last October and in January, with free ads inside just to test consumer reaction. The last issue sold about 270,000 copies on newsstands.

“We already have nearly 500,000 subscribers,” said Michael Clinton, publication director and president of marketing at Hearst.

Hearst tapped Dan Fuchs, who was most recently associate publisher of O, the Oprah Magazine, to be the launch publisher.

Hearst views the title as a rival to Martha Stewart Living and Time Inc.’s Real Simple rather than a pure shelter play.