Fast Company Named to Adweek's Annual 'Hot List'

Less than three years after it found a new home, ad pages and newsstand sales
are up sharply.

NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast Company magazine was named to
Adweek's highly anticipated "Hot List," identifying publications with the most
positive momentum in the marketplace as measured by advertiser and reader
interest. Among Fast Company's impressive numbers: ad revenue up 26.3% in
2007, with ad pages up 20.6%, according to Publishers Information Bureau
(PIB). Growth continues in 2008, with the March issue up 75% in pages
year-over-year.
On the newsstand, sales of Fast Company increased 38% in 2007, according
to the most recent Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) FAS-FAX report. Fast
Company has been among the top-10 fastest growing newsstand titles percentage-
wise for the last 3 consecutive ABC reporting periods.
These gains have come as other business titles have struggled to find new
relevance. Ad revenue for BusinessWeek fell 12.9% last year, while its ad
pages dropped 18.2%, according to PIB; ad revenue for Fortune was down 10.5%,
and ad pages slid 17.3%.
Fast Company's surge forward began to take shape when Joe Mansueto
acquired the publication from a German publisher in September 2005. It was a
period that had seen many once promising magazines -- Business2.0, E Company
Now, Red Herring, and Industry Standard -- struggle and vanish from the
newsstand. And, indeed, many assumed Fast Company would quickly follow.
Mansueto placed Fast Company under new leadership, began investing in
editorial talent, and improved production values. He and the members of the
editorial team then tweaked the mission of the magazine to focus more
intensely on the forces of innovation and creativity that are driving
business. "Today's it's a more fun, more relevant, more vital publication.
People are embracing it as the modern business publication -- and that's
exactly what it is," said John Koten, CEO of Mansueto Ventures, which owns
Fast Company. "The recipe clicked because so many people realize today that
they need to focus on the parts of business that are creating the future."
"I am not surprised that so many people are finding this magazine
relevant," said Koten. "But I am surprised, shocked actually, that we
traveled so much distance so quickly. Three years ago, the rumor mill had
Fast Company boarded up and closed. Now it's Hot List material. I am not sure
there has ever been a more dramatic turnaround in the history of our
industry."
Being named to Adweek's Hot List "reinforces how Fast Company has
reasserted itself as an influential media brand," said Fast Company Editor and
Managing Director Bob Safian. Fast Company ranked No. 7 on Adweek's "10 Under
50 Hot List" for titles under $50 million in annual revenue. Full details can
be found in the March 31 issue of Adweek.
Fast Company's editorial coverage was also recently honored, by the
prestigious Society of American Business Editors and Writers. The magazine
received 2008 awards for Overall Excellence and for Best Cover Story (for "Al
Gore's $100 Million Makeover," by Ellen McGirt, in the July/August 2007
issue). The judges for Overall Excellence were former Wall Street Journal
managing editor Paul Steiger, Rance Crain of Crain Communications and New York
Times columnist Floyd Norris.
The award-winning FastCompany.com has also received attention in 2008 for
launching unique social networking functionality that leads other business
sites and for launching Fastcompany.tv, headlined by new managing editor and
star blogger Robert Scoble.
Fast Company magazine has a subscriber base of 750,000 -- comparable in
size to Fortune and Forbes, yet with a younger, more diverse readership and a
more progressive vibe. "These are the sort of leaders who are changing their
organizations and their industries," says Fast Company publisher Christine
Osekoski. "They take action when they're moved by something in our magazine."
Fast Company added more than 40 new advertisers in 2007, and has already
brought in more than 20 newcomers in 2008.
SOURCE Fast Company

Christina Duffney for Fast Company, +1-212-389-5485, cduffney@mvpub.com