Time for a Good Ole-Fashioned Magazine War

Remember when magazines were constantly vying for dominance in the city? Yeah, I don’t know what a magazine is either. But WWD wants us to remember and is getting ready for the showdown between WSJ Magazine and T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Both magazines have new editors and will debut this weekend under their new leadership. WSJ is being stewarded by Deborah Needleman while T has been taken over by Sally Singer after Stefano Tonchi’s departure to W.

And XYZ, here we are with a “war” over ad revenue and market share. However, Needleman doesn’t see the two magazines as being rivals:

“I’m interested in [T] because I’m interested in Sally. I think she’s interesting and talented. And I don’t mean this in a bullshit way, but I’m not doing [WSJ.] with an eye for them at all.”

Well, Singer’s issue of T is being kept on the QT, but there is a lot of talk about rock legend Mick Jagger covering their first issue. Meanwhile, Needleman has French actor, Vincent Cassel…

Right.

Seems like this war is over before it even began. Although, this issue of WSJ did log the most ad pages in the mag’s short history. Needleman’s still got a lot of work ahead of her, including hiring a new staff; luckily, her next issue isn’t until March.

As for T, let’s just hope it fares better than W. The idea of a rivalry is always good for sales, but will you be picking up either magazine this weekend?