Dubai Media Observer: For men

Friday 14 August 2009

For men

It seems the Dubai men's magazine market is about to explode - GQ and Esquire, anyone? But what's to say new titles - even if international brands - will do better in this market than any previous attempts? Will the ad spend ever be big enough to support new men's glossies?

36 comments:

Anonymous said...: IQ, GQ... FK Q coming soon?; 15 August, 2009 12:06
Anonymous said...: For Man, For HIm, For Girls.. For Play soon?; 15 August, 2009 12:07
Anonymous said...: Who's launching them?; 16 August, 2009 14:52
Anonymous said...: OFF TOPIC ALERT!

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Anonymous said...: Hasn't ITP sacked everyone?

Anyone else noticed how Arabian Business seems to be going down hill fast? Plenty of Fahim exclusives but little else.; 18 August, 2009 14:17
Anonymous said...: Never mind that, Arabian Business.com has been taken down today - presumably because of its French ex-spy story yesterday. Anyone got the inside line on what's happening?; 19 August, 2009 18:52
Anonymous said...: New thread on what's happening at ArabianBusiness.com, please mods?; 19 August, 2009 21:30
Anonymous said...: check this link
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/565225-no-immediate-plan-to-ban-dubai-fraudsters-book; 19 August, 2009 21:32
Anonymous said...: Another regional men's mag launching online as well -- www.rex.ae; 20 August, 2009 15:59
Anonymous said...: ITP to publish Esquire from Dubai.; 21 August, 2009 01:47
Anonymous said...: a mag....a blog. yawn; 24 August, 2009 14:46
Anonymous said...: Yawn...; 24 August, 2009 21:59
Anonymous said...: Online mag? Another blog flogging products more like. Swear words do not make it a mag. Yawn...; 25 August, 2009 11:43
Anonymous said...: New topic!

Yahoo buys Maktoob, is this the end for AB.com and AME?; 25 August, 2009 15:52
Anonymous said...: Why launch these premiere Mens titles here?
They are Western magazines applying to life in a Western society, so very different to the society in the UAE.
Does anyone buy mags these days?; 27 August, 2009 13:17
cherry said...: i head GN has goot the exclusive 'editorial' or coverage rights for the 7s this year. no ARN then or the Times? sounds like a dodgy bit of 'wasta' from FP7 if you ask me. this could be entirely unfounded of course......like i care.....; 27 August, 2009 13:42
Anonymous said...: Ooohh, the 7s... the greatest sporting event on Earth since the formation of the original Olypmics in Greece, erm or, the flagship school egg and spoon grand finale - I forget which.; 28 August, 2009 20:08
Anonymous said...: I would generally suggest print media is on a sticky wicket, and online could better suit budgets. Ergo the Maktoob buyout makes sense.

Shame then, that Rex is obviously written by someone obsessed by his/her own writing. As for print good luck to Esquire, but will they be locally relevant and will revenues support the franchise fees?

Men's Fitness seems to be ticking over nicely - although my agency (management) won't advertise in it as we feel it's too international.

When will someone produce a men's mag with local content (and don't suggest For Men - it not only third world terrible but it's edited by a woman and it shows! She presented to my bosses and I got to sit in the meeting. It was laughable.; 28 August, 2009 21:59
Anonymous said...: New foreign language paper launches in Dubai:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2009/August/theuae_August567.xml&section=theuae; 30 August, 2009 07:13
Anonymous said...: 4Men, IQ, Men's Style, Men's Fitness all have one thing in common, no relevant local content, in fact 4Men has no relevant content, period, as for the editor Debbi whatshername?, well, it's like hiring Bikram Vohra to edit Marie Claire, although this being Dubai it would not surprise me.; 31 August, 2009 19:33
Anonymous said...: Any of the mags which arent published by ITP will struggle because:-
a.)Lack of Visibility
b.)Low Ad Sales Revenues.....; 01 September, 2009 19:21
Anonymous said...: And any of the mags which ARE published by ITP will suffer because:

a)They're published by ITP.

b)More of the above.; 01 September, 2009 21:03
Anonymous said...: off topic i know but see him here when he's done his time?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6818648.ece; 02 September, 2009 19:54
Anonymous said...: haha. anon at 19.33 has never read the mags he comments on. doofus.
4Men is entirely local.
iQ has had local covers.
Men's Style I have never heard of (so, possibly, fair comment)
Men's Fitness is supposed to be purely international, surely?; 03 September, 2009 00:40
Anonymous said...: lack of vis doesn't mean lack of sales revenue - as any Motivater will tell you. and any other publisher who doesnt pay ITP's POS rates will testify.; 03 September, 2009 00:44
Anonymous said...: Good grief, I just visited Rex - what a pile of shite. Advertorials 'R' Us? A no-revenue loss leader I can't believe I followed the link to. More enjoyable to file through the countless press releases I get every day - at least they have information.; 03 September, 2009 00:48
Anonymous said...: To be honest, local content in men's titles is a pretty tricky affair.

PRs are questionable, local 'celebrities' uncontactable and local experts in most fields simply don't offer the same quality of copy after translation that you get with the international contact.

Add in the fact that most magazine are one or two-man bands at present, particularly at ITP and it means they simply don't have the time to first, chase this local content up and econ, knock it into shape once they've got it.

As for the local titles, I think Men's Fitness has surprised a few people with some decent copy. IQ was average at best, Men's Style pretty uncompelling and 4Men quite possibly the worst men's mag I've ever seen.

I think Esquire will struggle to be honest, simply due to the fact that ITP are unlikely to give it the budget or staff to have make a real go of it.; 04 September, 2009 00:13
Anonymous said...: The new editor of Esquire will be Jeremy Lawrence, current TOD editor - which says it all really....; 07 September, 2009 12:11
Anonymous said...: I think expat companies will never learn that launching western titles in English here in the UAE is bad business. It doesn't mean that the Arabic version will do any better if done the ITP style (take L'Officiel Hommes as an example).; 07 September, 2009 13:51
Anonymous said...: Anyone know why all Nakheel's assets are being moved into Istithmar? Could it be because the world and the palms are about to tank nakheel, so the govt is moving out any assets away from liquidators' hands?; 19 September, 2009 16:27
Anonymous said...: Nakheel was bankrupt months ago. And had it been a Western corporation, it would have had to have declared it months ago too. Alas, the joys of secretive governance.; 30 September, 2009 01:01
Anonymous said...: back to thread, and i picked up a copy of IQ in the hairdressers the other day. first time i'd seen it in six months. was very pleasantly surprised. i know it's not the norm to praise people on here, but it's improved tenfold since i last read it. actually had some worthy interviews and features...not least a member of the royal family daring to speak about sex and drugs. i may actually buy a copy nest time i see it. will they have to change name when GQ launches? or will GQ have to change theirs, as IQ was here first. it will be interesting to see how much GQ and esquire retail at.
meanwhile, time out has dropped off in content, i feel, and is becoming more and more a listings title. i have no idea how what's on is still going mind...does anyone actually know anyone who buys it.
a shame there aren't any other man-titles to critique. roll on esquire and GQ...; 30 October, 2009 00:58
Anonymous said...: Thoughts on Esquire?; 12 November, 2009 18:01
Anonymous said...: Has anyone got an update on what's happening at ENG? It's been a while since we heard what the Merchants have been up to. Those who are still there must be saints or just plain stupid.; 14 November, 2009 14:08
Anonymous said...: How come ITP or any publishing house in the Gulf fail to have even one title worth reading? Just a question.; 28 November, 2009 02:11
Anonymous said...: Can't comment on the other publishing companies, but in the case of ITP it's because it employs monkeys. The only reason ITP survives is because it lies about its circulation figures. I know most publishing companies do this, but not to the same scale.; 23 December, 2009 19:52

Dubai Media Observer

Friday 14 August 2009

For men

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