About Gala

Gala

Gala is a German weekly celebrity illustrated magazine (Illustrierte), published by the Funke Mediengruppe from Hamburg. Appearing weekly on Thursdays, its essential content is stories about prominent people and royal families, told with the gloss and emotional closeness of the premium people press. Per IVW figures for the fourth quarter of 2025, Gala sold 125,014 copies per issue with a spread circulation of 127,728, reaching around 2.48 million readers (2020). Editor-in-chief since May 2022 is Doris Brückner.

Overview

Gala positions itself as the premium people magazine: serious, competent and reliable reporting on prominent personalities, in the words of its own publisher portrait — attending the celebrations and social events that matter to high society, entertaining and stimulating emotions, with well-researched interviews and dazzling photo spreads "designed to build, with the stars, that respectful distance." It is international in outlook, glossy in execution, and deliberately a step more upmarket than the classic Regenbogenpresse weeklies.

History

The magazine was launched in France by Gruner + Jahr in 1993; the German edition was first published on 13 April 1994. It arrived in a German celebrity-press market dominated by Burda's Bunte and Bauer's rainbow titles, and carved out its niche as the sophisticated alternative: less shrill, more international, with a visual language closer to the fashion press than to the gossip weeklies.

The editorial leadership reads like a chronicle of German magazine journalism. In December 2001 Peter Lewandowski took over as editor-in-chief from Jörg Walberer, leading the title for over a decade — a tenure that spanned the magazine's peak circulation years. In 2006 the spin-off Gala Style was launched, followed in 2009 by Gala Men — brand extensions into fashion and men's lifestyle that testified to the parent brand's strength. In October 2012 Lewandowski was succeeded by Christian Krug — the former Max co-editor-in-chief, Stern journalist and media consultant, son of HSV footballer-turned-journalist Gerd Krug and stepson of journalist Birgit Lahann — who in October 2014 moved on to become editor-in-chief of the Stern itself, with Anne Meyer-Minnemann succeeding him at Gala. In December 2019 Meyer-Minnemann was replaced by Brigitte Huber, who simultaneously served as editor-in-chief of Brigitte, Barbara and Guido — a concentration of women's editorial power unprecedented in the German magazine industry, placing four major titles under one editor. In May 2022 Doris Brückner became editor-in-chief, leading the title into the Funke era.

The brand extended to television: on 11 June 2022 RTL launched a TV programme titled Gala, moderated by Annika Lau, bringing the magazine's people journalism to the screen.

In March 2025 came the historic break: RTL Deutschland, the parent company of Gruner + Jahr, sold the brands Brigitte, Gala and Eltern to the Funke Mediengruppe — the last of G+J's great magazine brands, ending the Hamburg house's six-decade history as a magazine publisher. Around 300 employees of the three brands moved to Funke with their existing contracts, in a deal the Essen-based publisher framed as an investment in journalism's future. For Gala — conceived, launched and raised by Gruner + Jahr over 31 years — the sale ended the Hamburg publishing house's era as a people-press publisher and entrusted the brand's future to the Essen-based Funke group, which publishes it through the Funke Women, People & Family GmbH. Media commentators called it a black day for print diversity — and a test of whether Germany's premium people brand can flourish outside the house that invented it.

Content and concept

Gala's content is people journalism with international polish: stories about prominent personalities and royal families, celebrity interviews, society events, fashion and lifestyle. The magazine's self-image stresses seriousness and competence — well-researched interviews, respectful distance to the stars, emotional but not intrusive storytelling. "Gala is international" is the brand's own summary of its outlook: where the classic rainbow titles focus on German-language celebrities, Gala has always looked to Hollywood, the European royals and the global high society — a cosmopolitanism inherited from its French origins. The spin-offs Gala Style (fashion, 2006) and Gala Men (men's lifestyle, 2009) extended the brand's aesthetic into adjacent segments, though the weekly remains the core.

The Thursday publication rhythm and the glossy production values position Gala between the classic rainbow weeklies and the monthly glossies: weekly enough to be current, glossy enough to be aspirational. Its publisher portrait's phrasing — "serious, competent and reliable reports about prominent personalities," attending "all the celebrations and important social events that really matter to high society" — captures an editorial culture that takes the people beat as seriously as news magazines take politics.

Coverage and audience

Gala's 2.48 million readers (2020) make it one of the widest-reaching people magazines in Germany — a remarkable multiplier on a sold circulation of 125,014, reflecting the title's strong pass-along readership in waiting rooms, salons and shared households. The audience is predominantly female, interested in celebrities, royalty, fashion and society, and attracted by the magazine's promise of sophisticated rather than sensational people journalism: the reader who wants the royal wedding covered beautifully, not shrilly. The sold circulation has fallen 58.7 percent since 1998, tracking the segment's structural decline as celebrity news migrated online — but the reach figure shows the brand's cultural footprint remains far larger than its newsstand sales suggest.

Ownership

Since March 2025 Gala has been published by the Funke Mediengruppe — specifically the Funke Women, People & Family GmbH — the Essen-based media group that acquired it with Brigitte and Eltern from RTL Deutschland. Funke, one of Germany's largest regional media companies, framed the acquisition as an investment in journalism's future. The magazine's previous publisher, Gruner + Jahr — founded 1965, long Europe's largest magazine publisher — ended its history as an independent people-press publisher with the sale.

Digital presence

gala.de extends the brand's people journalism online with daily celebrity news, photo galleries and lifestyle content, competing with the digital-native gossip portals and social media that have eroded the print weekly's news monopoly. The digital operation trades on the brand's editorial resources: access to celebrities, photo archives and reporting capacity that pure aggregators cannot match. The RTL television programme Gala (since June 2022, moderated by Annika Lau) gives the brand a broadcast presence unusual among German print magazines — a weekly TV window that reinforces the print brand while reaching viewers the magazine no longer captures. Whether exclusivity and gloss can sustain a paid print weekly in the age of the Instagram story is the existential question for Gala — a title that has reinvented itself repeatedly since 1994, from French import to Hamburg institution to Funke's premium people brand.

From a 1993 French launch to a Hamburg institution: Gala spent three decades proving that German people journalism could be both popular and polished — and its next chapter, under Funke, will test whether that formula survives the transformation of the media business itself. The respectful distance to the stars, the well-researched interview, the dazzling photo spread: Gala's values were built for print, but its readers increasingly live online — and the magazine's future depends on following them there without losing its gloss. Thirty-two years after the first German issue, the experiment continues — weekly, glossy, and still convinced that the lives of the prominent deserve serious journalism. The brand's combination of print, online and television gives it a multi-platform presence few German people magazines can match.