The numbers worked out, so HGTV Magazine is getting an official launch. “We wanted to strike a chord with Americans looking for a fun, approachable magazine about how they live their lives at home and we’re thrilled to have gotten the reaction we did with our debut test issue,” said the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sara Peterson.

HGTV Magazine will debut with an impressive rate base of 450,000 for the first official issue, covering June/July. There will be three more issues this year.

Dan Fuchs, the Associate Publisher of O, The Oprah Magazine for the past eight years, has been named Publisher and Chief Revenue Officer of the new title.

Hearst is taking a rare, bold step: It’s launching a new magazine — titled HGTV Magazine — in October, even though the economy is as depressed as Drake without a sweater. According to the New York Times, the magazine is only a “test,” with two issues planned so far, making it even more of a gamble. At least Michael Clinton, Marketing President and Publishing Director for Hearst understands that.

“I think advertisers want a little more facts behind things before you launch,” said Clinton. “I think that’s changed over the last few years. In the go-go years of the early 2000s, a lot of advertisers would take a lot of fliers on a lot of new things. Now in a post-recessionary world, they scrutinize their budgets a lot more.”

So why would Hearst decide to go through with this?

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