Billed Bladet (Danish: The Picture Magazine) is a Danish weekly entertainment and royal magazine based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1938, it is one of the oldest magazines in the country. It was started as a conservative political magazine, but later it was redesigned in its present format.
History and profile
Billed Bladet was first published on 5 April 1938.[1][2] The magazine was modelled on the American magazines Life and Look.[1]Billed Bladet is part of Aller Media.[3][4] The former owner of the magazine was Den Berlingske Gruppe.[5][6] Aller Media acquired the magazine in 1987.[1][5] It is published by Aller Press AS weekly[7][8] and has its headquarters in Copenhagen.[9]
During its early period Billed Bladet had a much more comprehensive coverage and included more photographs.[10] In fact, it was a political magazine targeting the conservative middle classes, particularly those living in Aarhus and Copenhagen.[11] Immediately after World War II the magazine published the photographs of the Nazi concentration camps in Germany.[10] From the 1960s it began to provide news on celebrities[12][13] and royal families as well as on television programs, including Vild med dans (Denmark's Dancing with the Stars) and X-factor (Denmark's Got Talent).[3][14] The subtitle of Billed Bladet has been Danmarks royale ugeblad (Danish: Denmarks' Weekly Magazine of Royalty) since 1995.[6]
The weekly publishes a list of Dress of the Week.[3] Its target audience is women over forty.[14]Billed Bladet has high ethical standards in regard to the news it publishes.[13] For a long time the magazine asked the permission of the members of the Danish royal family when they would be photographed in public places.[13] Later this policy was changed, and they began to be photographed based on the decision of the editorial team of the magazine.[13]
Annemette Krakau was appointed editor-in-chief of Billed Bladet in 2006.[1]
Circulation
Billed Bladet sold 146,450 copies in 1956, 127,257 copies in 1960 and 140,065 copies in 1964.[15] In the 1970s the magazine enjoyed the highest circulation levels and had over a million readers per week.[11] Its circulation rose to 241,757 copies in 1970 and to 373,650 copies in 1974.[15]
The magazine sold 183,000 copies in 2001[16] and 185,000 copies in 2003.[17] The magazine had a circulation of 204,700 copies in 2006,[8] 201,000 copies in 2007 and 195,000 copies in 2008.[18]
The circulation of the magazine was 176,786 copies in 2010 and 163,869 copies in 2011.[19] The magazine sold 150,263 copies in 2012.[19] The weekly had a circulation of 150,000 copies both in the second half of 2013[1] and in 2013 as a whole.[20] In 2014 its circulation was about 133,000 copies.[6]
