Focus

New recognition by readers of the titles produced by the Mondadori Group, Italy’s leading magazine publisher.

Figures published by Audipress (2011/III) show continued growth in readership for the Group’s weeklies and monthlies and that 82% of the readers of magazines in the country read Mondadori titles.

LEADERSHIP
In particular, according to the survey, every week Italians choose the magazines Tv Sorrisi e Canzoniand Chi: with a readership of 4,398,000 people, an increase of 3% on the previous survey (Audipress 2011/II), Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni confirms its position as Italy’s most widely read weekly; followed byChi, which is in the number one position among women’s entertainment weeklies, with a continuously rising readership (3,614,000 readers, +4.6% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

There were big numbers also for Donna Moderna, which once again is shown to be the most popular women’s weekly (2,710,000 readers, +3.6% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

With a monthly readership of 6,441,000 (+4%), Focus remains Italy’s most widely read magazine.

Moreover, according to the Audipress figures, an increasing number of Italians read Mondadori’s cooking titles, with the company holding 73% share in this market segment. Among the monthlies,Cucina Moderna, is the most widely read (+14% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

Meanwhile Starbene confirmed its absolute leadership (1,532,000 readers), also recording the best performance in the wellness segment (+7.5% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

BEST PERFORMANCE
There was great satisfaction at Mondadori also for the best performances recorded by other titles in the portfolio in the cooking and interiors.

Cucina no Problem recorded the best growth (+17%) in the cooking segment, in which alsoSale&Pepe stands out (+4,6%), appreciated by readers following the recent renewal.

In the consumer interiors segment, in which Mondadori has a 57% share, there was a brilliant result by CasaFacile (+15%), followed by the monthly Casaviva with an increase of +7.4% to reach a readership of 967,000, and recording strong growth particularly among women.

In addition, there was also significant growth by Confidenze (+23.3%), Economy (+20%), Ciak(+13.5%), Guida TV (+11.6%), Men’s Health (+10.1%), Pc Professionale (+8%), which was also the only IT title to be included by Audipress in the segment, and Panoramauto (+8%).

Jacopo Loredan has been appointed the new editor of the monthly Geo. Loredan, who will take over from the March issue, will also continue in his role as editor of the lifestyle monthly Jack.
At the same time Marco Casareto, who is stepping down as the editor of Geo, will concentrate more specifically on growing commitments related to the development of editorial initiatives based around Focus Storia and its system of brand extensions such as Focus Storia Biografie, Focus Storia Wars and Focus Storia Collection.

The new Geo, edited by Loredan, will be an even more international product, on the strength of a brand recognised for excellence in the international world of publishing thanks to the high quality of its images and reportage.

Jacopo Loredan, who was born in Venice in 1957, began his career as a journalist at ANSA where he became a professional journalist in 1982. Two years later he was hired by Lamberto Sechi at the newly-launched Nuova Venezia. In 1987 he moved to Epoca where he remained for seven years: first as a reporter and subsequently as a special correspondent and then as managing editor. In 1994 he was hired as a correspondent by Panorama. Two years later, in March 1996, he went to Focus, the Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori monthly, as deputy editor. In November 1999, having edited the first issue of the quarterly Focus Extra, he was asked to develop the project for Jack, of which he was to become editor.

Marco Casareto, 45, was born in Chelmsford (England). After studying physics at the University of Milan, he began to work with a number of different magazines including, from 1993, Focus. Three years later he joined the staff of the magazine and in 2000 was appointed section chief with responsibilities for the coordination of the brand extension Focus Extra. Managing editor from 2002, in 2004 Casareto became coordinator of the new Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori title Focus Storia, of which he became deputy editor in 2006 and editor in 2008. The same year he was also appointed editor of Geo, a position he held until November 2009, taking it up again in September 2010. He is currently the editor of Focus Storia and its related editorial offshoots, Focus Storia Biografie, Focus Storia Wars and Focus Storia Collection.

Focus, Italy’s most widely read monthly is celebrating its eighteenth anniversary with a big event to be held at the Rotonda della Besana in Milan, as part of the big exhibition 2050. Il Pianeta ha bisogno di te (2050. The planet needs you), organised in partnership with London’s Science Museum.

Published by Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori and edited by Sandro Boeri, Focus is Italy’s biggest-selling monthly. It is aimed at a qualified target of people who are curious and interested in discovering the world. Over the years Focus has established itself as an authentic unbounded guide to knowledge. The breadth of the subjects it covers (medicine, geology, archaeology, biology, astrophysics, mathematical and physicals sciences, nature and technology) clear, accurate and rigorous exposition and a use of spectacular and high-impact images are among its distinguishing features.

“Thanks to its unique formula, that combines scientific rigour with simple language,” underline Giacomo Moletto, managing director of Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori, “the magazine’s success has made it a leader in Italian publishing with more than 6 million readers and a circulation of almost 500,000 copies. The Focus brand has become so well known that it has recently been successfully “exported” also to television on the national channel Italia Uno in prime time: further proof of the title’s popularity,” concluded Moletto.

There has also been an excellent response from advertisers: in the period January-December 2010, in terms of pages sold for the monthly, Mondadori Pubblicità recorded an increase of 22% compared with 2009.

This evening’s event will be truly spectacular, thanks to the “transformation” of the Rotonda into a sort of special issue of Focus, with the façade of the church acting as an interactive cover for the magazine.

Guests will be entertained by amazing sets and exciting projections that play with the infrastructure, both inside and outside, of the building, but, above all, they will be able to share a really special moment when greetings will be delivered from space from the astronaut Paolo Nespoli. The special guest star of the event will be DustBot, Italy’s “Wall-E” which has been designed to interact with people.

The joy of knowledge,from history and medicine to technology and sport.

From Thursday 16 December 2010, Italia 1 will broadcast in prime time “Focus Uno”, a programme made in conjunction with the popular science monthly Focus, published by Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori and edited by Sandro Boeri, which is aimed at those who want to discover and know more about the world we live in.

Italy’s most widely-read magazine makes its first move into television with a new and revolutionary programme that deals with a huge range of interesting issues, including technology, science, history, sport, nature, health, sex, the animal kingdom and much else. An endless and fascinating overview made with reportage, first-hand accounts, astounding internationally produced documentaries and exclusive documents.

There will also be a large number of features produced in-house dedicated to the most extravagant and amusing curiosities.

Presented by Giulio Golia, “Focus Uno” is a new format that maintains the popular and authoritative style of the magazine Focus, and follows the same editorial line: to inform, discover, ask daring questions, provide comprehensible answers, and broaden knowledge while also being entertaining.

From puncturing myths about sex, to the most bizarre deaths explained from a scientific point of view; from unexamined aspects of human behaviour that we take for granted, to the most innovative and original aspects of the world of insects; from the infinite range of unexplained phenomena, to metropolitan legends about the food that we eat and our daily lives, to unique and extraordinarily spectacular natural events; and from the most innovative and creative proposals from the world of renewable energy, to extraordinary images from the world of animals and their natural habitat.

As well as documentaries on the most surprising and varied subjects – personality disorders, lightning, space as seen from a satellite, hyper-technological cars – and features on the new frontiers in the prevention and most recent developments in medicine and pharmacology.

So, don’t forget to tune in from Thursday 16 December 2010 to Italia 1 in prima time for four episodes of “Focus Uno”.

Focus Uno is a programme by YAM112003, produced in association with the popular science magazine Focus for ITALIA 1. Editorial supervision for features of a medical-scientific nature is provided by Intermedia.