Oprah Winfrey’s syndicated TV show isn’t the only part of her sprawling empire about to undergo big changes.
O, The Oprah Magazine is in the midst of a sweeping redesign that will be unveiled as part of the magazine’s 10th anniversary issue next May, The Post has learned.
The redesign comes as the magazine, a joint venture between Winfrey’s Harpo Print LLP and Hearst Corp., comes off one of the rockiest years since its launch in 2000.
The Hearst-led redesign will be extensive, according to a design source, who added, “It will be virtually every page of the magazine.”
Hearst declined to comment.
The gamble for Hearst is to modernize the magazine without alienating its nearly 2.4 million paid circulation base — or the talk show queen whose face is on the cover of each issue.
The title is Hearst’s second-most profitable magazine, but has seen newsstand sales slump nearly 6 percent in the first half of the year, while advertising pages for the full year are down 26 percent to 1,348. The title has also been plagued by staff unrest and a revolving door of editors-in-chief.
A few years back, Hearst riled Oprah when it squashed a proposal to launch a teen spinoff title out of concern it would compete with Hearst’s Seventeen or Cosmo Girl. Hearst later folded Cosmo Girl. And Oprah was said to be none too happy a year ago when Hearst suspended the publication of spinoff shelter title, O at Home.
While sources said Oprah still seems to enjoy the magazine, she does not enjoy the time it takes to do cover shoots for each issue. Hearst had toyed with the idea of producing some covers of the magazine without Oprah, but focus groups showed the move would be disastrous. Now Oprah does three photo shoots at once four times a year.
None of those bumps are seen as deal breakers, but the incentive for Oprah to build on the mag’s past success is less intense than it is for Hearst, which badly needs a money maker near the top of its stable. “For Oprah, it’s not about making money any more,” said an executive who worked with her. “It’s all about protecting her brand.”