Bunte

History and profile

The magazine began publication, edited by Franz Burda, as Das Ufer in 1948. In 1954, it became an illustrated magazine and was renamed Bunte Illustrierte. The magazine has been published weekly since the 40/1957 issue. After taking over the "Deutsche Illustrierte" (German Illustrated) in February 1958, the magazine was renamed to the "Bunte Deutsche Illustrierte" (Colorful German Illustrated) and expanded its editorial. In early October 1960, the "Münchner Illustrierte"(Munich Illustrated) was acquired and the magazine was renamed to the "Bunte Münchner Illustrierte” (Colorful Munich Illustrated). With a second editorial branch in Munich, the Burda publishing house in Munich could be created. On 1 January 1963, the "Bunte Münchner Illustrierte" took over the "Frankfurter Illustrierte" and operated as the "Bunte Münchner Frankfurter Illustrierte" (Colorful Munich Frankfurter Illustrated). On 1 July 1972, the "Bunte Illustrierte" appeared for the first time under the title Bunte, whose first editor-in-chief was Bernd Ruland. After 3 March 1976, Hubert Burda was editor-in-chief. At the end of October 1983, the editorial staff moved from Offenburg to the new publishing house in Munich's Arabellapark.

In 1985, Burda publishing house created a series of articles for the magazine from the handwritten estate of Josef Mengele, a KZ doctor from the Auschwitz concentration camp and notoriously known for performing pseudo-medical experiments on living people. The estate consisted of several thousand pages. Bunte purchased it for one million Deutsche Mark (approximately half a million Euro) from Mengele’s son, Rolf.

In 1995, Bunte printed pictures of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, which led to a year-long dispute between the Burda publishing house and Princess Caroline.

Since 1998,Bunte annually hands out the New Faces Award, a newcomer award, in the categories Film / TV and fashion. The winners are chosen by an expert jury.

In 2008, the Deutscher Presserat (German Press Council) condemned the magazine for breaching the Press Code. It had reported about a new car model and according to the Presserat exceeded the limits for surreptitious advertising of a new product.

In February 2010, the Stern revealed that Bunte had commissioned an agency to spy into the private lives of certain political leaders.

The modern format, Burda is quoted as saying, was inspired by Andy Warhol. The magazine is published by Hubert Burda Media on a weekly basis on Thursdays. The present editor is Patricia Riekel.

Circulation

Bunte had a circulation of 694,500 copies in 1999. Retail sales in January 2006 were 725,036, down on January 2005's 748,843, although subscribers were up in 2005, at 123,273 from 2004's 119,236. In 2004, Bunte was the eighth best selling magazine in Germany (7.4% coverage), second in women's magazines behind Bild der Frau (8.2% coverage). The circulation of Bunte was 648,923 copies in 2010. During the fourth quarter of 2014 its circulation was 519,570 copies.