Reader’s Digest tunes up for new look, new editor

Will a new look with Reader’s Digest, coupled with a new editor, be enough to maintain current readers plus lure new ones, wonders Grumpy Editor.

Already with most of the content tilted toward women readers, the magazine may move stronger in that direction with the naming Friday of Peggy Northrop as editor-in-chief.  She replaces Jacqueline Leo, editor since 2001, who is leaving to pursue other interests.

The magazine also debuts a redesign in January.

Northrop joins Reader’s Digest after being editor-in-chief at More magazine since 2004.  More’s appeal is with women 40 plus.  Prior to More, Northrop was editor-in-chief of Organic Style and held senior editorial positions at Vogue, Glamour, Redbook, Real Simple and Health.  She began her career in newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner.

Older readers will recall earlier years of Reader’s Digest, when it lived up to its name with condensations of key articles from a variety of publications.  With about 30 articles in digest form, the idea was to read an article a day during a month.  On occasion, the Digest would run an article before it appeared in its credited publication.

Lately, the Digest has become service oriented.

Getting away from its original appeal, readership has been in a steady decline.  Starting in January, the magazine will reduce its guaranteed paid circulation in the U.S. to 8 million from 10 million “in a bid for cost efficiencies and better audience composition,” according to Advertising Age.

However, it maintains its position as the largest circulation of any magazine in the world with 51 editions in 22 languages, reaching nearly 80 million readers in more than 60 countries, relates Mary Berner, president and CEO of The Reader’s Digest Association.