Us still looking for support
In a People-friendly niche, celeb mag eyes new editor
Winona Ryder -- hot or not? Nabbed for shoplifting Dec. 12, the fleet-fingered thesp wasn't getting much play anymore. The business side of the Wenner Media property was resisting the idea: She didn't have enough "heat." But Winona advocate Leerhsen prevailed. And guess what? Boffo newstand sales.
"We write about things that are out of sync with the publicity machines," says Leerhsen, a candidate for the job of his mentor McDonnell, who last week took the helm at Sports Illustrated.
But since Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner purchased the fortnightly and made it weekly in 2000, Us Weekly has seemed to be living on borrowed time.
According to recent estimates, it was losing at least $10 million annually, and last March owner Jann Wenner sold 50% to the Mouse House for $30 million.
Set out to grab some business from People's younger readers -- mostly younger, affluent females in their 30s -- Us reaches out to an audience hungry for that little celeb tidbit. It's not exactly a People knockoff.
However, Us features some strong celebrity surveillance. In this week's issue, there's a play-by-play of a chance meeting between "All the Pretty Horses" thesps Penelope Cruz and Matt Damon on Rodeo Drive.
But amid the profusion of celeb-centered mags, Us may seem downright moribund.
People associated with the mag say legendary baby boomer Wenner wields a heavy hand over the mag's editorial content, and a recent cover of the late Beatle George Harrison underscores their point. (People also ran a Harrison cover, but Us is ostensibly aiming at a younger crowd.) Leerhsen, however, insists Wenner is attentive. "He listens to me."
Still, apart from its bottom-line shortcomings, the magazine has the reputation as an editorial gulag, with long hours, little focus and high turnover. "No journalist endeavors to work at a place like that," says one former staffer. "It kills one's soul."
Leerhsen, whose office bookshelves contain works by Jorge Luis Borges and Evelyn Waugh, concedes it was a difficult place, but isn't any longer. In the meantime, the weekly needs a new editor. Other candidates for the top job are former Glamour editor Bonnie Fuller, and former Talk Magazine No. 2 Maer Roshan, who was rumored to have been approached about the job but wasn't interested.
Whoever is tapped will find a percolating business. In 2001, a bleak year for the magazine biz overall, ad revenue at Us increased almost 7% from 2000. In comparison, People's take dropped 9%. And Us Weekly's ad-page sales are pretty much in sync with those of Entertainment Weekly when it was a start-up.
But the magazine is also cutting back the number of issues it prints from 43 to 40.
Rose rejects the idea that the diminished frequency bodes ill. "It's a good return on investment," she says.
For its part, the Mouse seems content. "Us Weekly's performance is in accordance with our business expectations," says Deborah Dugan, executive veep and managing director of Disney Publishing Worldwide. "We're quite pleased with it, especially in this climate."
So will Us survive its tumultuous birth? Leerhsen believes so. "If no one screws up, I think it'll make it."
