NEW MAGAZINES TARGETING TEENS.

Byline: Eric R. Quinones Associated Press 

Two new magazines born from pop-culture icons are making the loudest noise in this year's annual parade of new magazines.

Teen People and ESPN Magazine, backed by well-known names and huge corporate dollars, tout fresh approaches to popular themes and are viewed as likely successes among the hundreds of new magazines that come and go every year.

``They're definitely the highest-visibility new names you're likely to see in 1998,'' said Peter Appert, a publishing analyst at BT Alex. Brown in San Francisco.

Teen People, which went on sale Friday, is a monthly spinoff of Time Inc.'s weekly People, built on the same formula: profiles of celebrities and regular folks. But unlike leading teen magazines Seventeen, YM and Teen, which are aimed exclusively at girls, Teen People is hoping boys will account for 15 percent of its readers.

Christina Ferrari, editor of Teen People, said her magazine will focus only one-third of its content on beauty and fashion, the backbone of other popular teen magazines.

``Our tone is more unisex. When we talk about male celebrities, we don't gush about how `babe-a-licious' they are,'' said Ferrari, the former editor in chief of YM. ``This will be the only teen magazine boys won't be embarrassed to be seen reading.''

One major obstacle is publishers' historical trouble getting teen-age boys to read magazines about topics other than sports.

``No one has ever successfully launched a dual-audience teen (magazine),'' said Martin S. Walker, chairman of magazine consulting firm Walker Communications.

But Teen People is hoping to follow the lead of People, whose 3.25 million circulation is 34 percent male. The weekly has been the fastest-growing consumer magazine over the past three years, according to Capell's Circulation Report, a newsletter on magazine circulation.

Time, whose other titles include Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly, would not disclose its investment in Teen People, which follows the launch of People en Espanol in 1996 and the People spinoff InStyle in 1994.

Time is likely spending tens of millions of dollars on the newest spinoff, analyst Appert said.

Teen People's circulation for 1998 is projected at 500,000, compared to nearly 2.5 million for Seventeen, 2.1 million for YM and 1.6 million for Teen. But Teen People hopes to increase that figure with greater support from advertisers, who covet the fast-growing teen market.

The first issue of Teen People, with ``Party of Five'' star Jennifer Love Hewitt on the cover, has 61 pages of advertising among 148 total pages, including The Gap, Revlon, Nike, Bausch & Lomb and Toyota.

``More and more marketers are looking younger,'' said Jamie Rhind, media director at ad agency Averett, Free & Ginsberg. ``There's a strong belief among many marketers that some of the critical years for brand building are occurring in the teen-age years.''

Younger readers are also a key focus of ESPN Magazine, a biweekly that will arrive on newsstands March 11 banking on the popularity of the nation's most watched sports cable network.

The magazine is backed by Burbank-based Walt Disney Co., which owns 80 percent of ESPN, and Hearst Corp., which owns 20 percent of the network and publishes such titles as Good Housekeeping and Esquire.

A magazine spokesman would not comment on the companies' investment. But a source close to the launch, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Disney and Hearst will spend about $75 million on ESPN Magazine.

In its path is Sports Illustrated, which dominates the category with a circulation of nearly 3.3 million, and smaller competitors Sport, Inside Sports and The Sporting News. With a projected 1998 circulation of 350,000, ESPN Magazine will lag those three as well.

Several ESPN Magazine staffers, including Editor in Chief John Papanek, once worked for SI. But ESPN Magazine, targeting readers ages 18 to 34, hopes a hipper approach will draw some readers away from its competitors and build a following of new, younger magazine readers, said Publisher Michael Rooney.

``Most sports magazines have been around a long time and don't know how to speak to the younger reader. . . . We do,'' Rooney said. ``Sports is part of popular culture today, and that is going to be reflected in this magazine.''

ESPN Magazine will not focus on traditional game stories, instead leaning on broader features and previews as well as items from personalities from the network's flagship ``SportsCenter.'' Attention also will be paid to alternative sports such as skateboarding and mountain biking to attract younger readers.

The magazine is hoping to reach circulation of 2 million in about four years, which by current figures would put it second to SI.

Hearst published 12 special ESPN Total Sports issues during 1995 and 1996, which were successful enough for ESPN to move full time into print, said John Skipper, general manager of ESPN Magazine.

``They should be able to bring over some of the advertisers that have been on TV but not necessarily been in print,'' ad-agency executive Rhind said.

For a company with such a strong presence on television and the Internet, ESPN's foray into the crowded magazine industry indicates that media companies must remain well-rounded, said Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi.

``It goes to show to all these prophets of gloom and doom that print is still alive,'' he said.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) TV star Jennifer Love Hewitt graces the cover of the first Teen People, a monthly spinoff of the weekly People.

Associated Press