Bauer Media to launch fortnightly magazine aimed at women 50-65
Bauer Media Group will launch a fortnightly magazine for women aged 50-65 in the first week of February with current Woman’s Day editor Fiona Connolly as editor-in-chief and former NW editor Lisa Sinclair executive editor, Mumbrella can reveal.
While declining to say what the title will be Bauer’s director of sales Tony Kendall confirmed the magazine would fill a niche in the market for a generation that has been left wanting in the current media market.
Research conducted in the third quarter of last year found three quarters of women (74 per cent) said they did not feel there was any media in the market that appealed to their age group, Kendall said.
It is understood the format will be similar to Bauer publication Woman’s World, a magazine aimed at a similar demographic which is published weekly in the US. In Australia the publisher produces Shop Til You Drop and Australian Motorcycle News on a fortnightly run.
“This demo is very happy, very optimistic, very young at heart,” he told Mumbrella.”There are lots of misconceptions about women over 50, and they certainly don’t see themselves as old.
“Elle McPherson, Goldie Hawn, George Clooney, are all over 50, and these are the sort of people they want to associated themselves with. They are still young at heart and very active.”
Kendall
Kendall said advertisers have jumped on board with retailers Coles and Woolworths keen to partner with the new brand, while a team of 11 journalists and sales staff have been working steadily on the new magazine, some moving from other Bauer publications and some from outside of the company.
Bauer confirmed the magazine is published by the global publishing group in the UK and Europe, and will be able to share content with these publications, but would not reveal the name of the title.
While it may compete with Bauer’s other publications such as Woman’s Day, the Australian Woman’s Weekly and Pacific Magazine’s Better Homes and Gardens, Kendall said it will stand out in the market.
“Research showed there wasn’t a competitor like this,” he said. “There’s definitely some parts of our own titles that may compete, and then there are titles like Open Road, Prevention and Diabetic Living, but they are very niche and probably more aimed at people 60-plus.
“This will be aimed at 50-65’s predominantly and cover celebrity, lifestyle, news, beauty, fashion, but all of that beauty and fashion will not be the Kardashians, it will be more along the lines of Goldie Hawn.”
The magazine is expected to be the first of two new publications to be launched by Bauer Media in Australia this year, with another planned for the second half of 2014.
Matthew Stanton, CEO of Bauer Media Group in Australia, praised the number of magazine launches by the publisher in a live video hangout with Mumbrella in November.
Megan Reynolds
Good to have another mag in the market, but Goldie Hawn is 68. So, technically, out of the demographic!
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Brilliant idea. And that’s not because 50-65 year old women are just about the last people in the country to read print magazines.
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In recognition of this gap in the marketplace we launched an iPad magazine that’s available on the Apple Newsstand targeting this demographic called Me Time Magazine last year. Being a small e-publisher we are really happy that Bauer’s research backs up our decision.
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What makes your mag the #1 magazine for over 45’s??
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Probably another women’s mag with no intelligent content just fluff.
Intelligent people read publications where readers can learn something to expand their brain. None of these womens’ magazines provide that the intelligent business women in the 40 – 75 age group are looking for. I read trade and business publications.
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I reread the article above – the magazine will cover celebrity, lifestyle, news, beauty, fashion, – may I say more. Interlligent women are just not interested in all the mind numbing fluff
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Speaking of women’s rags. I walked past my newsagent today and saw New Idea claiming Princess Kate is pregnant again. How do they know this and absolutely nobody else on the planet does? And why is there NO repercussions for such flagrant, false and inept reporting? Does nobody – the editor, the journalists, the subs – on these rags have any ethics or integrity at all?
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Hopefully they take a tip from the Hoopla site where some vary talented journalists are already reaching this market. Not really sure another general lifestyle mag is needed though when there are some fab specialist publications already in print such as Australian Gourmet Traveller.
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There is also the Business Review Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Australian Financial Review, Korean Times, Mainichi Daily- all excellent publicatons that intelligent women read.
We will just keep reading these above publications so we can check on business, shares, the money market and other information of interest to us women in the 50 plus age group.
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In response to Jill Collins and her comments on The Hoopla website: The problem with The Hoopla is that they offer to pay very talented journalists not a lot of money; lowest offer per word without doing it for free is this offer I received for $200 for 750 words, which works out to be 26 cent/word. Earned more than that as a 1st year cadet. Enough said.
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Wow Carole, what ever are you doing reading articles on Mumbrella?
Pot.Kettle.Black.
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Mumbrella is at least interesting – ‘Who Runs the World’. Most of the current women’s magazines are not interesting to many women
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