Confirmation of the magazine's introduction is expected within weeks. A sales team has been recruited and retailers are being briefed on an imminent launch.
Glossy monthlies typically debut either in spring or autumn, but a real-life weekly could appear in the summer, taking advantage of low TV advertising rates.
Real People will be the first launch from ACP-NatMag, a joint venture between The National Magazine Company and Australian Consolidated Press. The venture already houses celebrity title Reveal, which debuted last October, but originated at NatMags.
ACP-NatMag registered Real People as a trademark last November. In April it subsequently registered the name Snip & Save, believed to be a shopping magazine project which is currently in the planning stages.
In recent years, women's weeklies have been divided into three sub-sectors: the depressed older title category, and the booming celebrity and real-life genres.
The latter is dominated by Bauer, which, aside from Take a Break, also publishes That's Life, which sells about 600,000 copies a week.
The other major player in the market is IPC, which publishes Chat and Pick Me Up, which it launched in February.
NatMags and its subsidiaries have six projects in development. Aside from Real People and Snip & Save, the most advanced of these is a UK edition of Prevention, a US glossy devoted to the concept of wellbeing. This will be launched through its NatMag-Rodale subsidiary, and will compete with Hachette Filipacchi's Psychologies, due out in the autumn.
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