Discovery Channel Magazine debuts across Asia

25 February 2008

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/onscreenasia.com/;sect=home;pos=imu;sz=300x250;abr=!ie;ord=984920680?" ></SCRIPT>
Singapore – The Discovery Channel Magazine, a consumer publication inspired by the television network, has debuted across Asia. The launch event was attended by more than 200 industry guests in Singapore on February 22, 2008, while a second trade event is scheduled for February 26 in Hong Kong.
The Discovery Channel Magazine is a collaborative effort between Discovery Networks Asia and Reader’s Digest Asia, part of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., global publisher and marketer of books, magazines, music and video. Published bi-monthly, the Discovery Channel Magazine offers articles and images encompassing topics including science, technology, animals, and history. The inaugural issue features topics including the future, the present, crime and investigation as well as the supernatural in Your Future Life, Back from the Brink, Guilty! Convicted in the Crime Lab, and Stalkers of the Supernatural, respectively.
The Discovery Channel Magazine is available in Singapore for S$7.90 (US$5.60), in Malaysia for RM$14.90 (US$4.60), Philippines for PHP250 (US$6.15), in Hong Kong HK$45 (US$5.75), in Taiwan NT180 (US$5.75), in Thailand THB190 (US$5.90), in Japan ¥987 (US$9.20), in Korea KRW9,000 ($9.50), as well as in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Yearly subscription is also available.
Rosemarie Wallace, regional managing director of Reader’s Digest Asia, is the publisher working with a separate team of writers and designers on Discovery Channel Magazine based in Singapore. Jim Plouffe, editor-in-chief of the English edition of Reader's Digest in Asia, oversees the publication.
According to Readers’ Digest Asia, Discovery Channel Magazine’s launch had been preceded by subscription response rate that was 50% over forecast. It also registered a response rate of over 20% for a direct mail campaign in Malaysia which also exceeded the forecast by more than 1.6 times. That is equivalent to an incremental of 4,500 subscriptions sold. Some Asian distributors have also increased magazine draw quantities after previews. Besides newsstands and bookstores, Discovery Channel Magazine is also on sale at Spinelli outlets in Singapore and San Francisco Coffee outlets in Malaysia.
Discovery Channel Magazine is Reader's Digest Asia's first non-Reader's Digest title. Presently, the company publishes 7 editions of Reader's Digest in the region including three wholly-owned, three licensee and a copyright co-operation for China.