Shortlist Media, the publisher of free magazines Shortlist and Stylist, is to launch a bi-annual men's fashion glossy in March 2011, which will be branded Shortlist Mode.

As with Shortlist and Stylist, the magazine will be free of charge, and will focus on an ABC1 male audience, with 250,000 copies being distributed at more affluent, shopping-centric cities, such as Manchester, Glasgow, and of course London.

The magazine itself will be timed to coincide with key designer collections in 2011, with the first issue understood to be going out in early March. Shortlist Mode will be thick-cut glossy throughout, but the specific details surrounding editorial content is currently unclear – of course, it will be an up weighted version of the Fashion and Grooming features in Shortlist, but editorial features are yet to be confirmed.

This announcement is not completely surprising, as the growing strength of Shortlist’s fashion and grooming features ensured that a stand-alone magazine would take shape at some point in the not-too-distant future.

From an advertising perspective, Shortlist continues to attract high spending blue-chip advertisers as well as global brands such as O2, L’Oreal, Adidas and American Express. However, the fashion focused Shortlist Mode will undoubtedly be focused on attracting designer and retail related advertisers, who are looking to speak to a mass market audience in a refined relevant environment.

A spokesman from Shortlist Media says, "We are living in an ever-changing world in which young men are spending more time and money on the way they look."

MEC Opinion: Shortlist has reinvigorated the male magazine market. However, 2011 seems to be an interesting time of change. Whilst Shortlist continues to record a 500k+ circulation, other publishers are planning a response to this magazine’s growing market share.

News International are planning to launch a male magazine as part of the NOTW package in March, and Bauer media have already tested a trial version of male-targeted Gaz7etta in the November issue of Grazia. Such new innovations will hopefully provide competition to the free magazines, as well as offering different options to advertisers who are looking to target younger ABC1 men.