Despite a recent downturn in the magazine industry, a few powerhouse titles have emerged victorious over the past year. In its 31st annual Hot List, Adweek notes the 10 most successful and influential of the bunch:
- Food Network Magazine: As Condé Nast was shuttering Gourmet, Hearst's "lower-brow" food magazine was soaring. In two years, circulation has hit 1.3 million.
- Marie Claire: Another Hearst title, this fashion magazine has boosted itself through ties with Project Runway and Running in Heels.
- Elle Decor: The Hachette Filipacchi Media title was acquired by Hearst—and despite the negative impact the economic downturn had on most of its shelter-magazine peers, this title managed to find a middle ground between "impeccable show houses" and "down-to-earth how-to" ideas.
- Wired: This Condé Nast title escaped the fate of similar '90s tech magazines and "has become an agenda setter and a digital beacon for the company."
- GQ: Also a Condé Nast title, it managed to hold on as other men's magazines went under. It has "reasserted itself as the preeminent men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine by taking itself seriously—but not too seriously."
Click for the complete list, including a title that succeeds
despite featuring mostly "products we can't afford." (More
magazines stories.)