There's only one word to describe the teen magazine category: hot. The Magazine Publishers of America reports that in 1999 alone, 10 new titles in the teen category were introduced, almost double the 6 new titles introduced in 1998 in the category. Recently-launched teen titles like Teen People, CosmoGirl, Jump, MH-18, and Twist-all introduced in the last three years-are generating a lot of attention in the industry because of their rapid growth and increasing share of the lucrative teen audience.

The explosion of the teen magazine category is driven by a number of factors. The first, and most important, is the fact that the number of teens in the United States is growing. According to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 23 million teenagers in the U.S. today; nearly one out of every 10 Americans is between the ages of 12 and 17. Over the past five years, the population of teenagers has grown almost 7%, and over the next decade, the teen population will continue to grow at that pace. The Census Bureau estimates that by the year 2009, the teenage population will grow to over 25 million.

Also driving the growth of the teen magazine category is the amount of money that today's teenagers have to spend. According to a Teenage Research Unlimited/Teenage Marketing & Lifestyle Study conducted in the fall of 1999, today's 12-to-15-year-olds have an average of $62 per week to spend, while 16-to-17-year-olds average $101 per week. Making those figures even more appealing to the industry are statistics showing that teenagers are enormously loyal to the magazines they buy with their spending money. The same Teenage Research Unlimited study found that 53% of teenagers cited magazines as a medium to which they paid attention (a close second behind cable TV with 54%), and that 32% of teenage girls said they "always stuck to" their favorite magazines.

And while the recent entries into the teen magazine market have certainly made a splash, the numbers show that the established titles are holding their ground in the category. The "big three" of the teen magazine category-Seventeen, Teen, and YM-have maintained and even increased circulation over the past three years. According to data from the MPA, Seventeen's average single-copy circulation rose 4.12% from 1997 to 1998 (the last year for which data is available). According to figures from Primedia, the publisher of Seventeen, the title's current paid circulation is 2.4 million, the highest in the magazine's 54-year history. Seventeen is read by one out of every two female teens in America, as well as one out of five young women aged18 to 24. YM (Young and Modern) saw a 1.68% increase in single-copy circulation from 1997 to 1998, and the title currently has a rate base of 2.2 million with a total audience of over 9 million. And Teen Magazine, published by Emap USA, grew its single-copy circulation 8.34% from 1997 to 1998. Teen's subscription circulation increased even more, from just under 1.4 million copies in 1997 to over 1.5 million copies in 1998-a 13.17% growth rate.

But no one in the industry doubts that the new titles are a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps the most successful teen launch of the last few years has been the introduction of Teen People, published by Time, Inc. The title first hit the newsstands in January of 1998, and has risen from a circulation of zero to a circulation of 1.6 million in less than three years. During that time, the title has increased its rate base four times, and is currently the number one teen title on the newsstand, according to Hank Fiefield, the marketing director for circulation for Teen People.

"The title is doing phenomenally well," Fiefield says. "I think it just hit a nerve with teens. There had been talk about a teen-focused People magazine for a while, and when we conducted some research, we realized that the time was right." Fiefield notes that in a category filled with fashion-and-makeup titles, there was room for a product like Teen People, which has a different focus. "We deal with teens in a different way," he says, "treating them in a more honest, adult fashion."

Fiefield cites the incredible growth in the teen population as part of the driving force for launching the title, as well as research showing that teens have a significant impact on household spending. Another incentive was providing a magazine that would appeal to a broader range of readers, including Hispanic and African-American teens; Fiefield points out that approximately 1 in 4 Teen People readers is of non-white ethnicity. That broad range also includes an often-forgotten segment of the teenage population in the magazine category: teenage boys. "We wanted to give boys a voice too," Fiefield says, adding that the Teen People readership is split about 75% to 25%, girls and boys.

And speaking of teenage boys, the new crop of teen titles includes a few aimed specifically at the 12-to-17-year-old-male market. The most recently-launched boys' title is MH-18, published by Rodale Press. MH-18 is a spinoff of Rodale's popular Men's Health title, and according to Steve Bruman, advertising director at Rodale, the trend towards younger readers of the Men's Health title was a strong indication that Rodale could successfully tap into the teenage boy market. "For the past three to four years, we've noticed a trend towards younger guys, ages 18 to 24, reading and being interested in Men's Health," Bruman says. "We figured it was about time that teenage guys had their own authoritative source for information on fitness, sports, girls, gear, and life."

MH-18 is targeted at males ages 13-18, with editorial content primarily focused at the 15-to-16-year-old level. Recent articles include "Get the Girl: How She Wants to be Kissed," "Better Grades, More Free Time," and WWF secrets from wrestling star The Rock. Content reflects the results of a survey conducted by MH-18 regarding teen guys' priorities, which showed that 27% of teen guys were interested in being smarter and getting better grades, 18% were interested in having more money, 17% wanted to be a better athlete, and 13% wanted improved success with girls.

The first issue made its newsstand debut at the end of August, with a second issue coming out in November (beginning in 2001, the title will be published bimonthly). MH-18 launched with a 125,000 rate base, and as Bruman reports, some unusual marketing strategies were utilized to help promote the initial launch. Free copies were given away at Vans Skate Parks in different locations, at U.S. Marine recruiting centers around the country, and at The Buckle stores (in conjunction with Polo). Selected Blockbuster Video stores will also carry the title. "We wanted to reach teen guys where they play," Bruman says.

Reaching teen girls where they play is the focus of another new teen title called Jump, published by Weider Publications. Jump was launched in the fall of 1997, with a slightly different mission than most fashion-and-makeup titles in the teen category: empowering teen girls to feel their best both physically and mentally. The title aims to take teen girls past what Jump editor Lori Berger called "the three B's-beauty, body, and boys" in an interview with the New York Times in April of 2000.

"Weider is a category leader in health and fitness, so Jump was a line extension into what we already publish and know best," says Camille Pellino, director of retail marketing at Weider. "The idea behind Jump was to focus on the fitness interests of our readers and to bring fitness to the teen category." Pellino says that according to Jump surveys, over 60% of the title's readers have played three or more sports in the past year, a figure that shatters the perception of the teenage girl as primarily interested in makeup and the prom.

Jump's editorial content is skewed toward the athletically-minded teen girl interested in being as healthy as she can be. Recent articles have included "Sweat Your Butt Off with Jennifer Lopez," "How to Say So Long to Stress," and a piece entitled "Kick-Butt Queens," featuring a hockey player, a bullrider, a boxer, and a wrestler. "We look at our reader as an independent, self-assured, and healthy young woman," says Pellino.

So how long can this boom market of teen magazines continue to grow? Well into the next decade, say industry experts, who are optimistic about rising teen population rates and spending power. "We've always known that the demographics of the teen population would be in our favor," says Pellino, who has worked in the teen magazine industry for a number of years. She cites studies that project the teen girl population to grow to 16 million by 2010-a 15% increase in the fifteen years between 1995 and 2010. "The category has changed dramatically," she says, "especially in the sheer number of titles. But because of the population growth, all sales are higher-it's actually grown the category. It's a pretty exciting time to be in this business."