A Charlottesville, Virginia publisher has rolled out a local bi-monthly magazine for Boomers in the region, called TheNext50. Publisher Eric Lund told a local newspaper that editorial will be locally-focused, studiously non-senior and that the target is affluent Boomers retiring to the area in growing numbers. These days, it’s great to see new ventures in print (of any kind). Speaking from my own experience launching Satisfaction Magazine in Chicago, readers will love it. But the big challenge will be convincing local advertisers to value a niche market that they will perceive as “old”….no matter how hard you work to frame it as something else. That can make it difficult to attract luxury goods, autos, fashion and high end retail pages. And many advertisers are looking for pure tonnage at the lowest cost in regional markets–not something strategically targeted. On the national level, more advertisers are getting comfortable with the affluent Boomer niche.

But here’s wishing TheNext50 all the best. It would be great to see someone finally crack the code. Initial circulatin is 15,000 and it’s distributed free around the Charlottesville area.

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