News

The Spectator has launched a monthly business magazine, Spectator Business, in what could prove the first of a series of "brand extensions".

The first issue of the eponymous business title, which is being printed by Wyndeham Heron, runs to 116 pages, and features "Spectator-style analysis" of the month's business news.

Despite its £4.50 cover price, Spectator Business will be free to its controlled circulation of around 40,000 business, private equity and hedge fund managers, and will not be available on newsstands.

Andrew Neil, chief executive of The Spectator, described the sales model for the new title as more akin to business-to-business magazine than traditional consumer magazine publishing.

He said: “The sales model is theirs, but the target is different. Nobody is targeting the top-end business managers that we're going for.

"If the brand extension strategy is successful – and we've no reason to believe that it shouldn't be – then we will continue with that strategy."

Neil cited both India and the Far East as possible contenders for local-edition offshoots of The Spectator magazine.

He also praised print as being the right medium for the new Spectator Business, the content of which will be available in its entirety on the web.

“Magazines are not as threatened by the web as newspapers,” he said.