The launch is the first UK men's weekly to hit a foreign market and follows the promotion of FHM general manager Simon Greves to international director of men's magazines, as exclusively revealed last week (see Media Week, 26 July, page 9) The publisher is taking one of the most successful UK magazine launches of the last two years and trying to duplicate that success with the launch of Zoo Spain.
In Spain, Zoo will be published in partnership with Focus Ediciounes, which publishes FHM under licence. The edition will involve a current weekly title Sie7e (Seven) being rebranded and relaunched as Zoo Sie7e.
Dharmash Mistry, managing director of ECM, said: "The first international edition of Zoo is a landmark in our broader men's strategy – in the market less than two years after our launch of Zoo in the UK."
Greves' remit is to transplant Emap's men's titles into new markets.
The publisher has had great success in building the FHM brand in foreign markets – it notched up Sweden as its 30th country recently – and is seeking to build on this network.
"We're looking to develop other magazine brands with existing FHM partners," Greves said.
FHM has thrived in Spain since its launch in March 2004.
The previous market leader had a circulation of less than 100,000, while FHM came in with its first audited circulation figure of around 250,000.
Also in Emap's men's portfolio are Arena, Empire, Car and Max Power. Emap women's titles are also published outside the UK, including Closer and Heat.
The target circulation for Zoo Sie7e is 100,000 within the next 18 months. Zoo's biggest rival in the UK is IPCMedia's Nuts. Last week Andrew Horton, director of IPC's licensing division, IPC+, said the publisher would consider launching Nuts, the leading men's weekly, outside the UK. "We license magazines across the portfolio and obviously Nuts is part of the mix where we are looking at international opportunities," he said.
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