Top celebrity magazine to be launched in SA

Internationally renowned for its sassy irreverence, heat will be South Africa's first weekly glossy magazine focusing on both local and international celebrities. It will be primarily aimed at women and is described as an indispensable weekly fix for those who are celebrity obsessed, fashionable, intelligent, in touch, and have a light-hearted, often naughty take on life.

"Heat's readers are women who don't want another magazine telling them how to get a life, as they already have one! They already have the boyfriend, the career, and the attitude, and are looking for upmarket entertainment. No one is currently giving these sharp-witted, fun loving, upscale twenty-somethings this kind of detailed tongue-in-cheek inside information on local as well as international celebrities.

"We are therefore convinced that heat will fill this gap in the market with style," says Louis Eksteen, publishing director of the brand.

Structured as a joint venture with Media24, heat UK's parent company Emap will invest "a significant amount in pound sterling", according to Eksteen.

If statistics from the United Kingdom are anything to go by, local consumers are set to become heat junkies, as 76% of its current readers in Britain buy heat every week (with a staggering 28% of these not purchasing any other magazine).

Heat UK's mantelpiece is also straining under the weight of its awards, including the PPA Consumer Magazine of the Year Awards for both 2002 and 2003. No surprise therefore that the magazine's circulation figure has shown significant growth to over 565 000 per week.

"As the phenomenal growth of heat in the UK has shown, people's fascination with celebrities and the lives of the stars is something which, once awakened, doesn't burn itself out. Rather it grows continuously and becomes increasingly addictive. We are confident that this international trend will take off massively in South Africa with the entry of heat into the marketplace," says Kim Browne, publisher of heat in South Africa.

The celebrity-publishing category in the UK is currently estimated to be worth 200 million pounds per annum.

"South Africa has long been criticised for not having a celebrity culture. The launch of heat will change that as we, like our targeted readers, will relish in coverage of our local stars and give our celebrities the kind of exposure that they deserve," concludes Browne.