Magazines

Belgium had no Newsweek, no Business Week, no Sports Illustrated, no news magazine, no business magazine, no sports magazine.

The first Flemish news magazine rolled off the presses in 1971. For Roularta, the weekly Knack meant the first step towards diversification. At this time, Rik De Nolf joined the company alongside his father. He became manager of the magazines division in 1972.

The group was enhanced by the contributions of the Louis Claeys family. His son Leo Claeys became manager of the printing division in 1972 and later also the Free Press division.

The editors of Knack are located in Brussels and Roularta also opened an office there for national advertising sales.

For the free papers, Roularta concluded additional agreements for obtaining advertising with publishers active in regions where Roularta had no editions of its own, making possible full coverage throughout Dutch-speaking Belgium.

In 1975, the biweekly financial-economic magazine Trends appeared for the first time. Less than a year later, the French-language counterpart appeared: Trends/Tendances. This is Roularta’s first venture into the French-speaking part of the country.

In March 1980, Roularta started a sports magazine, for which a French edition appeared in 1981. After several joint ventures and experiments, in 2001 Roularta definitively opted for the weekly title Sport/Voetbalmagazine – Sport/Foot Magazine, with the substantive accent on football but also attention for other professional sports.

In 1983 Weekendblad appeared, a lighter magazine with a focus on film, culture and society. This was added as a second magazine to Knack in 1984 and renamed Knack Weekend, the Flemish lifestyle magazine.

Again in 1983, the French-language Le Vif Magazine was launched. Analogous to Knack, here again a Weekend Le Vif was added. Roularta concluded a cooperation agreement with the French group L’Express in 1986, and from now on the news magazine would be called Le Vif/L’Express. After the acquisition of Pourquoi Pas? (1988), this magazine was integrated into Le Vif/L’Express.

In 1987, Roularta adapted the frequency of Trends Magazine due to its growing success: it became the weekly business magazine. The three “weekly news magazines” Knack, Trends and Sportmagazine (LeVif/L’Express, Trends Tendances, Sport/Foot Magazine) were a fact.

Roularta, together with the French publisher Bayard Press (50/50 share), launched Plus Magazine, the magazine for the senior citizen market, in Belgium (1988), the Netherlands (1990) and Germany (2001).

In 2020, Plus Magazine Belgium will be a 100% Roularta publication.

In 2000, alongside Knack Weekend, a third magazine was added to Knack in a single package: Knack Focus. This is an entertainment magazine about culture, film, music, books and theatre, containing the complete schedule of radio and television programmes. Focus Le Vif followed in 2008.

In the autumn of 2002 Nest was launched, a country lifestyle magazine with five editorial pillars: country living, home & garden, food & beverage, hobbies, fashion and health. The French-language counterpart comes after acquisition of the French magazine Tempo Verde. 

Bodytalk was launched in 2008, a monthly magazine in Dutch and French with four important pillars: Health, Food, Exercise and Psychology.

In 2011, the weekly magazine Trends received a lifestyle magazine Trends Style six times per year as supplement.

In 2017, Roularta acquired the business magazine STERCK. STERCK is a multimedia brand offering 360 ° BtoB marketing solutions for the local business community, including network events. In addition to the original editions Limburg and Antwerp,  the editions East and West Flanders were launched in 2019.

Sanoma's Belgian magazines and websites were taken over in 2018. The weekly magazines Libelle / Femmes d'Aujourd'hui and Flair (N / F) and the monthly magazines Feeling / Gaël aim at a distinct female target group.

In 2020, the yearbooks De Communiekrant and Loving You (for wedding couples ) will be integrated in the monthly magazine Steps.