Yahoo! Internet Life:
The web as a lifestyle

Magazine for folks who like to surf

By Rebecca Finkel

      As the internet becomes more and more a part of everyday life, new magazines are cropping with the aim of attracting readers by covering the technological revolution.
      Not so for Yahoo! Internet Life.
     Though its title might suggest high-techie the monthly is really about lifestyle, as in web lifestyle.
     "We don’t care about technology and equipment," says publisher Paul Turcotte. "We cover the content on line--sites that have an impact on your life. We’ll tell you what’s the best in a certain category. We tell you the impact of the net on society, the implications of certain things. This is a magazine people very very much use."
     If at first glance it seems an odd way to go about covering the web, it appears to be working. Yahoo! Internet Life is among the hottest new magazines.          Ad pages are up 30 percent for the year, and ad revenues will double, while circulation has grown to a rate base of 700,000, up from 100,000 at launch in 1996.
     Yahoo! Internet Life is published by Ziff-Davis through a licensing agreement with the web portal. And there the relationship ends. Says Turcotte: "It’s purely for the brand name. No money was exchanged."
     Nonetheless, it’s a relationship that’s working for both parties. The portal gains free promotion by having its name displayed prominently on newsstands across the country, and the magazine benefits from instant name recognition.
     Even more important, though, the publicaton has a link on the home page of the portal, which gives it exposure to hundreds of thousands of potential readers every day.
    Visitors can click for a free issue, and Turcotte says the publication receives 60,000 requests a month. Unique among magazines, it spends no money building circulation.
     "It’s the most amazing acquisition model I’ve ever been involved with," Turcotte says. "We have never bought a list."
     Turcotte explains that as a lifetyle magazine Yahoo! competes not with PC magazine or Wired but with such magazines as Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly.
     "We are to the internet what Rolling Stone is to music and what Entertainment Weekly is to entertainment. We define ourselves through our competition. We’re not just a computer book. We’re a consumer book."
     Advertising is about half and half net-affiliated and consumer. Ads range from IBM and Compact to Guess and Crown Royal.
    Turcotte says the magazine hopes to raise its rate base to 900,000 in February 2000 and hit the 1 million mark around mid-year next year. In three years he hopes to reach 1.5 million and take the magazine bi-weekly.
    "The internet is growing and having more and more of an impact on people’s daily lives," says Turcotte. "I can see us being a very, very, very large magazine. Think about the audience. Twelve million people play golf. There are all these golf magazines with 1 million or so circulation. There are 90 million people who are online. Unlike golf, the internet changes everyday. It’s simple supply and demand."

  -Rebecca Finkel is a staff writer for Media Life.