Stephen Giannetti has spent nearly three decades in magazine publishing. Prior to becoming VP-Group Publisher at National Geographic in August 2000, Giannetti was VP of Rodale Inc. and Publisher of Prevention, and Eastern Regional Manager for Reader's Digest. National Geographic, National Geographic Society's 118-year-old flagship title, has a global circulation base of 6.35 million, according to Giannetti, who oversees ad sales for all the Society's magazines and who in mid-November attended a company sales meeting in Marakesh in North Africa. As for its spinoffs, he says National Geographic Kids—which began in 1975 as World Magazine but changed its name and began accepting ads four years ago—has a rate base of 1.3 million. National Geographic Traveler, launched in 1984, has a rate base of 715,000. National Geographic Adventure, started in 1999, will next year jump 50,000 to 575,000. (Another title, National Geographic Explorer, is under the school publications banner, not his, Giannetti notes.) National Geographic's readers are roughly 50/50 male/female, Giannetti notes, while Traveler skews female and Adventure has a younger-male skew. Kids' goal is "exciting youngsters about their world," he adds.


Q. That National Geographic cover decades ago of the blue-eyed young girl from Afghanistan probably remains the magazine's most famous cover. What would you consider the second most famous?
A. That's a great question. There are a lot tied for second. Decades later, we did a cover of that same girl as an adult. Last year's single-topic issue on Africa was only the second non-photo cover we did. And King Tut was one of our great covers too. But I'd say probably the second most famous would be our cover when we found the Titanic; that 1985 Bob Ballard photo was a last-minute cover substitution.

Q. Speaking of "The Boy King," last year the National Geographic Society brought a tour of King Tut and ancient Egyptian artifacts to the U.S. for the first time in decades. What do you think makes us so fascinated with things Egyptian—from pyramids to the Sphinx to Tut?
A. I don't know, but that is the most popular traveling exhibit ever. It was completely sold out in L.A. and Miami and the next stop is Philadelphia in February. It's been a huge success, so much so that it's going to London next year and adding seven more cities—and more artifacts too.

Q. Any other spinoff ventures ahead, besides films, National Geographic Channel and your website?
A. Our licensing division has a partnership with a cruise line that goes to the Galapagos Islands. Our website (http://www.nationalgeographic.com) has been going more than 10 years now. We want to make our site richer and deeper, particularly in the photographic area. We now have webcams from Australia, Africa and Manitoba and we plan on four or five more cams on the web next year. And we even have a world music site. Last spring National Geographic World Films had Mountain Patrol in theaters; we bought that at the Sundance Festival, as we did earlier with March of the Penguins—our most successful film. Next will be God Grew Tired of Us, about two impoverished African boys who manage to go to school in the U.S. and become successful. As for magazine spinoffs, we'll probably grow the franchise we now have.

Q. There's a vote going on now, involving USA Today and ABC's Good Morning America, to name the "New 7 Wonders of the World," with candidates ranging from the Grand Canyon and Taj Mahal to the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge. What would be some of your choices?
A. I think first is the Earth—and we better watch out or it won't be around! Machu Picchu is unbelievable, one of my favorites. And the Sandwich Islands, featured in our current issue. They're almost inaccessible, but that's a wonder of the world.