Keith J. Kelly

Keith J. Kelly

Media

Meredith Corp. bringing back Cooking Light, offering home delivery

Meredith Corp. is apparently going to resurrect another magazine by offering home delivery of Cooking Light starting next year.

The mag, which once boasted circulation of a million, last year saw its subscribers absorbed into Eating Well, which pushed that magazine’s circulation to a whopping 1.775 million.

Cooking Light continued to publish quarterly newsstand-only issues on special themes, charging $11.99 for ad-free magazines and selling anywhere from 45,000 to 65,000 copies.

Doug Olson, president of Meredith Magazines, said home-delivered subscriptions are available for $20 for one year or $30 for two years — a steep discount off its newsstand price. “We’re not declaring a rate base, but our goal is to get 150,000 to 200,000 subscribers.” he said. “It’s a consumer-driven model, but we’ll welcome advertisers if they want to jump in.”

It’s the second time that Meredith has reversed itself and begun offering subscriptions to a former Time Inc. title that it nearly killed off. Coastal Living, which was converted to a newsstand-only quarterly this year, will return to offering home-delivered subscriptions for one to two years at the same price as Cooking Light.