Meredith Buys Shape Magazine

Posted on January 28, 2015

Meredith has acquired Shape magazine from American Media (AMI). The move will mark the end of the print version of Fitness magazine as Meredith will be combining the two titles. Scorpions star Katharine McPhee is featured on the cover of the above issue of Shape.

Fitness will be folded into Shape and Fitness subscribers will start getting Shape instead beginning with the May 2015 issue. Shape will have a rate base of 2.5 million after the combination - an increase of 60% from the current rate base of 1.6 million. Meredith is also acquiring Natural Health and Fit Pregnancy from American Media. Tom Witschi, president of the Meredith Women's Lifestyle Group, will oversee the titles.

Tom Harty, president of Meredith's National Media Group, says in a statement, "The acquisition of Shape establishes Meredith as the leader in the women's active lifestyle media category. It increases our reach among millennial women to over 23 million, creating an unmatched opportunity for advertisers to connect with this highly-valued audience across multiple media channels."

Although Meredith is ending Fitness as a separate print publication the company does plan to keep the Fitness website. Financial terms of the Meredith and AMI transaction were not disclosed.