Just two months after the launch of the men's lifestyle magazine Hombre (circ. rate base 100,000), published by Hombre Publishing Group, a partnership of six private investors, Harris Publications announced the launch of Fuego, another Latino men's magazine. New York based Fuego (circ. 200,000) is scheduled to hit newsstands in April of 2005. Fuego targets English-speaking Latino men 18-35, but Editor Vee Bravo says the bulk of the readers will be 18-28, hip, stylish and cultured. Hombre, which targets bilingual Hispanic men 22-39, with an average personal income of $65,000, is its closest competitor, but according to director of ad sales Arlene Ramos Noel, Fuego is different than anything else out there. “Maxim en español and Men's Health en español are translations of English titles. The ones that are actually written for Latinos don't have the backing and distribution of a major publishing company like Harris.”

For the first year, Fuego will be distributed on a quarterly basis, then move to bimonthly and eventually monthly. The first 200,000 copies will be distributed on newsstands across the country where Harris publications, like XXL (hip-hop magazine), King (African-American men's magazine) and Revolver (music), are distributed. Noel says that nothing has been nailed down in terms of advertising, but that Fuego is going after a wide variety of advertisers, including progressive fashion, men's fragrances, food/beverage, automotive, electronics and entertainment. Although many advertisers realize the benefits of specifically targeting this market, Noel says that there are still some who are reluctant to get involved. “Some advertisers still believe that they can reach everyone through general market books.”

Latino men are getting a lot of attention these days. There are currently five Latino men's magazines on the market, including Zoom Media Group's Loft (monthly, circ. 60,000) Tlahtoani Media Group's OYE (circ. 75,300, monthly), Maxim en español (Editorial Televisa, circ. 50,000, monthly), Men's Fitness en español (Editorial Televisa, circ. 35,000, monthly) and Hombre, not to mention a number of other specialty magazines that get mostly male readers. Loft, OYE (Open Your Eyes), Hombre and now Fuego are all English language men's lifestyle magazines, each with a slightly different angle and target audience. Hombre includes Spanish summaries of their English articles.

In terms of ad revenues, even the more successful men's magazines are getting a pretty small percentage of ad buys, according to HispanicMagazineMonitor. Loft was the leader for the January-November 2004 period, with US $1 million in ad sales, and the only Latino men's mag to experience growth compared to the same period last year (up 1.10%). Maxim en español was next with $982,000 in ad revenues, down 1.6%. Hombre did 131,000 in ad sales in its first month.

“When you start subdividing the market it gets harder to have the numbers to support a circulation-driven publication,” says Carlos Pelay, president and founder of Media Economics Group. Still, Pelay says that if there are going to be more men's lifestyle magazines they have to be in English to really reach the market they're after. Pelay adds that there might be room for more specialty magazines – like Fútbol Mundial and Sobre Ruedas – that attract mostly male readers.

Carrie Barnes

Ad revenues for Latino men's lifestyle magazines

Category ranking results for Jan-2004 – Nov-2004 by ad cost from HispanicMagazineMonitor

Specialty magazines with mostly male readers

Category ranking results for Jan-2004 – Nov-2004 by ad cost from HispanicMagazineMonitor