Article: Primedia soap mags slice rate bases for '03; 'Digest' and 'Weekly' will shift focus to core audience as sector battles soft circulation.(News)(Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly )

Byline: JON FINE

primedia's soap-opera magazines are slashing their rate bases for the new year.

Soap Opera Digest will halve its rate base to 500,000, from 1 million, while Soap Opera Weekly will shrink to 225,000 from 300,000.

Steve Aster, exec VP-consumer marketing for Primedia, said the titles will focus on a hard-core group of enthusiasts, and that the move will greatly reduce subscription-acquisition costs.

As it cuts circulation, Soap Opera Digest will boost frequency from 48 times a year to 52. Mr. Aster said that some savings achieved via the rate-base reductions would be reinvested in editorial.

Both titles have ...

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