Wall Street Journal to Add a Weekend Lifestyle Section in the Fall, Create More Ad Space

Zeke Turner — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:39:16 -0400

When The Wall Street Journal decided to develop a New York section, it shelved plans for an expanded Weekend section, despite the fact that all studies seemed to indicate Greater New York would lose money and the Weekend section would make plenty of it. Now there are plans, finally, to relaunch it in the fall.

"It will be quite grand and rather profitable," said Robert Thomson in an interview with us back in April.

AdAge has learned a bit more about the Journal's new weekend lifestyle section.

Deborah Needleman, who still has a loyal following after Domino's close, will consult on the launch. Last we heard, Ms. Needleman was working on a shelter website with Ken Lerer.

Ms. Needleman told AdAge that she plans to bring a magazine sensibility to the newspaper's newest section.

"Part of what we're trying to do is marry the fun and irreverence of the British weekend papers with the utility of a really great service section that addresses luxury in a real-life way," Ms. Needleman said. "It needs to be a pleasure to read and to look at, but you really have to get something out of it."

The section will continues in the direction of the Journal's bi-monthly magazine WSJ., which was added in September 2008 at the behest of Mr. Murdoch to create more space for consumer advertising.

In his first visit to the Journal as the paper's future owner, according to Sarah Ellison's War at the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Murdoch sat in on a meeting to review prototypes of the new magazine.

"We've got to lower the advertising rates to make them comparable to The Times's weekly magazine," Mr. Murdoch said.

Never heard that one before!

Observer » Wall Street Journal to Add a Weekend Lifestyle Section in the Fall, Create More Ad Space

Wall Street Journal to Add a Weekend Lifestyle Section in the Fall, Create More Ad Space