Weekly and growing

Magazines are having a tough time. Some are folding (Arena), others are thinking about staff cuts (20 per cent at Business Week). Things are not looking good.

But there are exceptions, one of them being Italian Vanity Fair. With circulation up by more than 8 per cent year-on-year, it apparently has a problem with an abundance of adverts. Its secret? It's a weekly. In the editorial mix: fashion, politics and celebrity gossip. Glossy photos and articles shorter than in its American counterpart (estimated reading time between 6 to 14 minutes). It's not the only weekly that is going strong, as the success story of Grazia magazine in the UK is well-documented. But going weekly is not always the answer. German edition of Vanity Fair went weekly in 2007 and folded in February 2009.

The link in the title takes you to an in-depth article by J.J. Martin for the New York Times.