Paris Match

For the Japanese musical group, see Paris Match (band).

Paris Match
Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II of Monaco, on the cover of Paris Match, 21 October 2003
Editor-in-chiefOlivier Royant
CategoriesNews magazine
FrequencyWeekly
Total circulation
(2020)		568,115
Founded1949
First issue25 March 1949; 75 years ago (1949-03-25)
CompanyLVMH
CountryFrance
Based inParis
LanguageFrench
Websitewww.parismatch.com
ISSN0397-1635

Paris Match (French pronunciation: [paʁi matʃ]) is a French-language weekly gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. Paris Match has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism".[1] Its content quality was compared to the American magazine Life.[2] Paris Match's original slogan was "The weight of words, the shock of photos", which was changed to "Life is a true story" in 2008.[3] The magazine was sold by Lagardère to LVMH in 2024.[4]

History and profile

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A sports news magazine,[5] Match l'intran (a play on L'Intransigeant), was launched on 9 November 1926 by Léon Bailby. It was acquired by the Louis-Dreyfus group in 1931 and then by the industrialist Jean Prouvost[6] in 1938. Under Prouvost the magazine expanded its focus beyond sports, to a format reminiscent of Life: Le Match de la vie ("The Match of Life") and then Match, l'hebdomadaire de l'actualité mondiale ("Match, the weekly of world news"). Following the outbreak of World War II it became Match de la guerre ("Match of War") in October 1939. Selling for 2 francs a copy, it reached a circulation of 1.45 million by November. Publication was halted on 6 June 1940, during the Battle of France.

The magazine was relaunched in 1949 with a new name, Paris Match.[7] The magazine temporarily ceased its publication between 18 May and 15 June 1968 upon the call for a strike by the Syndicat du Livre, the French printers' union.[6]

In 1976, Daniel Filipacchi purchased the ailing Paris Match.[8] It continues to be one of France's most successful and influential magazines. It is published weekly and is now part of Hachette Filipacchi Médias,[9] which is itself owned by the Lagardère Group.[10]

On occasion, Paris Match has sold more than one million copies worldwide when covering major events, such as the first flight by a French astronaut, Patrick Baudry, aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery in June 1985. Benoît Clair, a senior writer for Paris Match, was the first journalist allowed to join the shuttle crew members from training until the departure for the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. A series of reports on the training was published in Paris Match on 22 April 1985, 17 June 1985 and 20 January 1986.[11]

As of 1996 the magazine has adopted an independent political stance.[12]

In February 2024, it was publicly disclosed that the luxury brand LVMH is in talks to purchase Paris Match from the media conglomerate Lagardère SA.[13] LVMH purchased the magazine in October of 2024 for €120 million.[4][14]

Circulation

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Paris Match had a circulation of 1,800,000 copies in 1958.[2][15] The 1988 circulation of the magazine was 873,000, making it the best-selling news weekly in the country.[12] In 2001 the weekly was the tenth-largest-circulation news magazine worldwide, with a 630,000 sale.[9]

Paris Match had a circulation of 655,000 during the 2007–2008 period.[3][16] In 2009 the magazine was the best-selling photonews magazine in France, with a circulation of 611,000 copies.[17][18] Its circulation was 578,282 in 2014[19] and 568,115 in 2020.[20]

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In Hergé's Tintin adventure The Castafiore Emerald (1963), reporters from the imaginary "Paris-Flash" magazine (a clear spoof on Paris Match, with a similar logo) play a major role in the plot's development. The magazine is satirized as sensationalist and inaccurate.

References

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  1. ^ "Roger Therond, 76, Editor of Paris Match". The New York Times. Associated Press. 25 June 2001. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Beau Monde: The power and glory of Paris-Match". The Independent. 4 August 2006. Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Un nouveau slogan pour Paris-Match" [A new slogan for Paris-Match]. Le Figaro (in French). Agence France-Presse. 22 January 2008. Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Lagardère and LVMH complete the sale of Paris Match - LVMH". www.lvmh.com. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  5. ^ "p1 - Your search - List of results At number : 542 Results - Gallica". gallica.bnf.fr.
  6. ^ a b Audrey Leblanc (November 2010). "The Color of May 1968". Études Photographiques. 26. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Historical development of the media in France" (PDF). McGraw-Hill Education. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. ^ "A Top French Publisher Purchases Paris-Match". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2 September 1976. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Top 50 Finance/Business/News magazines worldwide (by circulation)" (Report). Magazine Organization. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  10. ^ Madjar, Robert (1997). Daniel Filipacchi. Editions Michel Lafon.
  11. ^ Baudry, Patrick (1985). "Aujourd'hui le soleil se lève 16 fois" avec Benoit Clair. Editions Michel Lafon.
  12. ^ a b Peter Humphreys (15 May 1996). Mass Media and Media Policy in Western Europe. Manchester University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-7190-3197-7. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  13. ^ "LVMH in Exclusive Talks With Lagardere for Paris Match Magazine". Bloomberg.
  14. ^ Carabin, Aurélie; Williams, Stuart. "LVMH's Bernard Arnault acquires glossy French weekly Paris Match for €120 million". Fortune Europe. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  15. ^ Serge Berstein; Jean-Pierre Rioux (13 March 2000). The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974. Cambridge University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-521-58061-8. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  16. ^ Anne Austin; et al. (2008). "Western Europe Market & Media Fact" (PDF). ZenithOptimedia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  17. ^ Raymond Kuhn (1 March 2011). The Media In Contemporary France. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 9. ISBN 978-0-335-23622-0. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  18. ^ "World Magazine Trends 2010/2011" (PDF). FIPP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  19. ^ "Presse Magazine". OJD. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  20. ^ "Paris Match - ACPM". www.acpm.fr. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
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