Lads' mags make a play for China
The thought of 1.3bn Chinese consumers leaves western advertisers and media owners salivating. The sheer size of the Chinese market means that western companies have long been queueing up at its doors.
Now, in a watershed moment, not one but two UK lads' mags are to publish on its shores. Emap's FHM will be the first to bring its mix of babes and bar humour to a young Chinese male audience, followed by Dennis Publishing's Maxim.
For western publishers, breaking into the Chinese market is the equivalent of scaling the walls of Troy. George Green, president and chief executive of Hearst Magazines International, says: "In contrast to almost any publishing territory in the world you don't just go in there and launch a magazine."
Hearst publishes a Chinese edition of Esquire through its stake in Trends, a Chinese publishing company which is 50 per cent owned by the country's tourism ministry.
Each consumer publishing title in China must have a permit, and the number of permits has only gradually increased year by year. New publishers must enter the market either by acquiring a new permit or, more often, by buying an existing Chinese title. Even then, western publishers are not free to launch titles under their own brands, but must continue trading under the Chinese brand for at least six months.
When FHM is launched in China on April 20, also in partnership with Trends, it will be under the existing brand name of a men's tailoring magazine, Men's Garments, until the Chinese authorities are satisfied with its content.
The first edition will have a print run of about 200,000 and the content will initially be 50 per cent Chinese and 50 per cent taken from international editions. "With regard to the content of the mag and how sexy we can be, we will have to tone it down," says Simon Greves, general manager, FHM International. FHM has learnt the hard way about the parameters of acceptability in Asia: its Singapore edition was banned for six months.
Dennis Publishing's Maxim will be following its competitor into China within months. It launched in Hong Kong two weeks ago through a joint venture with South China Morning Post, which is controlled by Robert Kuok, the Malaysian-Chinese tycoon. The title will continue to work with the newspaper group and a local publisher in mainland China.
It is printing 140,000 copies in mainland China and 40,000 in Hong Kong, retailing at Rmb20 (about $2.40) in China.
Publishers can find a lucrative market in China. Pat McGovern, founder of US-based publisher IDG, which has technology titles across 85 countries, says: "China is our most profitable country. Pre-tax margins are between 30 and 35 per cent compared with the global average for magazine companies of between 16 and 18 per cent."
He adds: "The government is moving away from the idea that media is something that has to be controlled, and understanding that media businesses can be a big part of GNP."
英国《男人帮》进中国
一想到中国的13亿消费者,西方广告商和媒体公司就会垂涎三尺。光凭中国市场的巨大规模就足以使外国公司在中国的门口排起长队了。
在眼下这个关键时刻，无独有偶，英国两家男性杂志正准备登陆中国。EMAP集团旗下的《男人帮》(FHM)将率先将美女与酒吧幽默的主题呈现给中国的年轻男性读者，丹尼斯出版公司（Dennis Publishing）的《格言》杂志(MAXIM) 将紧随其后。
对西方出版商而言，打进中国市场犹如攀登特洛伊城墙般艰难。赫斯特杂志国际公司(Hearst)总裁兼首席执行官乔治o格林 (Geroge Green) 说："在这里，你要做的并不仅是到一个地方，而后发行一本杂志；这与进入世界上其他任何一个国家的出版业有明显不同。"
《时尚》 杂志是中国的一家出版公司，50%的股份归中国国家旅游局所有。赫斯特公司通过获得《时尚》的股份，推出了中国版的《君子》杂志(Esquire)。
在中国，每一份面向消费者的杂志都必须获得刊号才可发行，而刊号的数量正逐年递增。新的出版机构若想进入市场，必须获得一个新刊号，或采取一个比较普遍的做法：购买一家已有的中国期刊刊号。即使如此，西方出版商仍不能自由地用自己的品牌发行杂志，至少必须在6个月的时间内继续使用中国品牌进行销售。
《男人帮》也将采取同《时尚》合作的形式。4月20日开始在中国发行。杂志名称仍将沿用现有的男性服装杂志名称《时尚?#20808;生》，直到中国政府对其内容感到满意。
该杂志第一期将发行约20万册，内容的50%取材于中国，另外50%来自《男人帮》国际版。《男人帮》国际集团的经理西蒙o格里伍斯(SimonoGreves)说："考虑到当地对杂志内容和性感程度的限制，我们将不得不对作出调整。"《男人帮》的新加坡版曾遭禁6个月，公司通过这个教训认识到亚洲地区对杂志的接受程度。
丹尼斯出版公司的《格言》杂志将在数月内紧随其竞争对手进入中国。两周前，该公司通过和《南华早报》建立的合资公司在香港发行《格言》。《南华早报》的老板是马来西亚华裔大亨郭鹤年(Robert Kuok) 。《格言》将继续同《南华早报》以及中国大陆的一家当地出版商开展合作。
《格言》在中国大陆印刷了14万册，在香港印刷了4万本，在中国的零售价为20元 人民币(合2.4美元) 。
在中国，出版商可找到一个有利可图的市场。美国出版商国际数据集团(IDG)在85个国家发行技术类图书，它的创始人麦戈文 (Pat McGovern) 说："中国对我们来说是利润最高的国家。税前利润在30%至35%之间，相比之下，出版商在国际市场上的平均利润只有16%到18%。"
他补充道："中国政府正逐步摆脱媒体必须受到控制的观点，并且理解到传媒行业可以成为国民生产总值（GNP）的一大部分。"
