The Australian is reporting today that PBL Media, owners of ACP Magazines, has purchased half of the local version of OK! OK! has quickly carved out success in the tough weekly magazine marketplace as I have blogged previously.
While it’s a 50/50 joint venture, I’d expect ACP to lead on the distribution side – making a tougher retail real-estate battle for Pacific Magazines. They need either a much stronger Famous or a new offer in the marketplace.
As the report in The Australian says, the major weeklies are having a tough time and that OK! is bucking that trend with sales growth of 18.8% year on year. That’s what I am seeing – strong growth. Hence our decision to allocate more real-estate in the high traffic areas.
I am disappointed about this move from a newsagent perspective because of what it means for competition. However, for ACP it makes sense. I hope that OK! continues as is because it ain’t broke.