List magazine to go four-weekly

AFTER 25 years, the Edinburgh-Glasgow events magazine, The List, is to go from fortnightly to four-weekly.

The change takes effect from the second of next month and will involve an increase in pagination – from around 96 to around 112 pages – and price, from £2.20 to £2.50.

Says the magazine, the change will offer readers more value for money, with listings covering 29 days and longer features. The move is also expected to allow easier deployment of editorial staff towards the magazine’s increasingly popular website, which boasts up to 760,000 unique visitors per month.

The magazine – the current issue of which includes the latest in a series of impressive supplements, a 2011 Scottish festivals guide – will also see its print run increase, from 18,000 to 20,000.

Subscribers who have pre-paid for a number of issues of The List will receive the same number of issues of the four-weekly magazine.

Last year, the website was developed to carry UK-wide listings, meaning some 30,000 events currently featuring.

Says Simon Dessain, digital director of The List: “We will shortly launch a new, easy-to-use web-based facility for submitting events information and which will also allow promoters and venues to enhance their listings with additional images, descriptions and other data. The growth in the number of venues and events will continue. We will launch a new film listings site in the next quarter.”

Added the magazine’s editor, 25 year-old Jonny Ensall: “Moving to a four-weekly cycle means that we’ll have the opportunity to be more in-depth in print, and more up-to-date on the website. The magazine will offer fantastic value, and will be a good read for the entire monthly period. The website will go from strength-to-strength, and will in future be updated more regularly.”

In post for almost 18 months, Ensall added: “The move is motivated by The List wanting to give more to its readers, advertisers and website users. It is a significant decision, and one that’s taken a lot of thought, but, as a result, we should be able to offer a better product.”

The change is not expected to result in any loss of editorial or sales staff.

It is understood the switch was proposed and developed by publisher, Robin Hodge, and Dessain.