EUROPEAN MEDIA: France - Across the Channel.(Interview)(Statistical Data Included)

Isabelle Musnik reports from the French capital, where the media agencies and owners are reeling from a hectic year.

This year's return from the traditional summer break has been unusually eventful. 'We are exceptional in France,' Isabelle Tricot, the director of research and strategic planning of MediaCom, says. 'There are always more launches than closures. If you compare advertising and circulation in 2001, the press is the medium that performed worst in advertising with a 7 per cent decrease in advertising pages, but there was still a small increase of 0.4 per cent in total circulation. Readers are not disappearing.'

Yet 2001 was a quiet year for launches. There were 14 new magazines according to Initiative Media, but some have already closed, such as Madame Figaro Cuisine, Triba, launched by Le Nouvel Observateur and aimed at 'new families', and M Magazine targeting the male market. In 2002 Initiative Media anticipates that there will have been 30 new launches by the end of the year.

And it's true that, despite the downturn, new titles are appearing all the time, particularly in …