UpperCase Media (UCM), publishers of FHM and heat, will be launching ZOO Weekly and an Afrikaans version, ZOO Weekliks as the first weekly men’s lifestyle magazines in South Africa.

UCM Publisher, Kim Browne says, “From our experience with FHM and heat, we realised SA is a hungry market for new media development, which includes magazines. If done right, magazine brands with proven success in other countries can work really well here. With almost three years of international track-record with ZOO Weekly world-wide at our disposal, including all our own extensive local research, everything indicates South Africa is ready for a men’s lifestyle weekly – and ZOO Weekly is the best brand in this category”.

“This will also be one of the first times in SA publishing history that a magazine will be launched in both languages from the very first issue. We have the necessary resources at our disposal to provide an excellent brand in both English and Afrikaans. The magazines will essentially be the same, with each language edition nuanced for the specific needs of the different groups,” she explains.

ZOO Weekly titles will feature a variety of entertaining content on a weekly basis, which will be packaged neatly together in a compact formula of girls, sport, cars, gigs, jokes and gizmos.

Launching with a combined total print run of 85 000 copies for both the English and Afrikaans editions, ZOO Weekly and ZOO Weekliks will be on sale weekly from 24 October 2006 and will retail for a competitive price.