Andrew Cook.
Are Media's 2025 plans include new products, events, awards and competitions, coupled a stable of magazine brands and a rapidly growing content commerce business.
Revealing its plans for next year at the Ignite event in Sydney today, the omnichannel content company for women outlined a roadmap that focused on its portfolio of luxury, homes and lifestyle and entertainment brands.
In the luxury vertical, ELLE will grow from two to four issues in 2025 and supercharge its video, social and TikTok offerings - ELLE’s TikTok followers have grown 1,000% this year. ELLE will also launch its first marquee event, the ELLE Next Gen Awards, which will celebrate the rising stars in fashion, film, beauty and art.
For the first time, the marie claire International Women’s Day event will be turned into a consumer event, building the brand’s connection with its readers. The marie claire Sustainability Awards, which launched this year, will be expanded to include more categories and reach more consumers.
The marie claire and ELLE Australia in-store Masterclass Styling Sessions, in partnership with Max Mara, Calvin Klein, Pandora and other brands, will expand in 2025 to include more shoppable experiences and online extensions.
The marie claire Success Summit will also be a new networking event to inspire women to accelerate their careers.
In the beauty space, Are Media’s online beauty sites Beauty Crew and Beauty Heaven – along with marie claire and ELLE – will launch a Beauty Influencer Collective, giving clients the opportunity to tap into micro and macro influencers, both on staff and beyond, to spread brand message.
Next year will see the launch of the Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards, with winners to be announced in Gourmet Traveller’s June 2025 issue, celebrating the Best of Australia, and the top-rated hotels will feature online in Gourmet Traveller’s national guide to Australia’s Best Hotels.
The Gourmet Traveller reader dinner series will be expanded.
In the lifestyle vertical, spearheaded by the The Australian Women’s Weekly, the Children's Birthday Cake Book turns 45 and will be celebrated in a very special way to be announced in the coming months.
This year’s The Australian Women’s Weekly Health Summit, which was Are Media’s fastest-selling event ever, returns in 2025 and is going on the road so The Weekly’s regional and interstate consumers can get access to its advice. The Health Summit will also spawn standalone activations around menopause, including events and a special menopause issue.
Money With The Weekly is a breakfast hosted by Effie Zahos to help audiences combat the cost-of-living crisis and safeguard their superannuation, while a new omnichannel weekly book club, Read With The Weekly, has also been announced.
The Weekly is going travelling with special partners for its new tentpole, Travel With The Weekly: on board, on tour, on the road, with the magazine’s expert editors and partners.
Women’s Weekly Food is expanding in 2025 with a focus on aligning content across all platforms with the trusted Test Kitchen expanding to include product reviews, specially curated EDMs and a new video series.
The homes vertical will see the launch of Home Beautiful 100. A major cross platform campaign to celebrate 100 years of Home Beautiful, the campaign will begin with a major competition in collaboration with the Homes Show that will give consumers the chance to win a $100,000 makeover.
Better Homes and Gardens will be searching for Australia’s most dedicated and passionate tradespeople with the new tentpole Tradie of the Year, a six-month campaign that offers many opportunities for sponsors to get involved.
Better Homes and Gardens will be also starting a new series, Better Conversations, connecting audiences with the people behind their most loved food, gardening and interiors projects.
Belle Passport will also arrive in 2025, a new and exclusive travel section running across Belle from May to November 2025.
The entertainment vertical will see the Now To Love website be transformed into a more focused digital extension of the Woman’s Day magazine. The new womansday.com.au will leverage the magazine’s highly engaged and loyal audience by offering content that resonates emotionally with its readers.
Next year will also bring an enhanced TV WEEK website, featuring exclusive entertainment insights and celebrity news to the latest streaming updates and travel reviews.
Woman’s Day Out will arrive in 2025. A ticketed event to be held in regional centres, it will feature speakers, sponsors, celebrities and entertainment across the beauty, health, fashion and wellness spaces.
New Idea, New Health, a virtual health conference, will launch next year, covering everything from migraines to menopause, while WHO TikTok will unveil an exciting new celebrity beauty content series to capture the attention of a younger, beauty-obsessed audience.
Are Media CEO Jane Huxley, said Are Media’s strategy is predicated by two core beliefs.
"First, that in today’s media landscape, trusted content brands matter more than ever, and secondly that quality content legitimises transactions," she said.
"Our strength in these key areas is what makes Are Media unique and positioned to lead in 2025. Are Media reaches nine in 10 women each year. Our social platforms have 21 million connection points and 4.5 million Unique Website users each month.
“But Are Media doesn’t just reach women; it informs, inspires, entertains and most importantly for our partners, it converts that attention into action. Are Media ignites intention in women across Australia, women who control 85% of all consumer spending. That’s a powerful asset to have in your media mix.”
Are Media director of sales, Andrew Cook, said the company's brands are synonymous with Australian women.
"The new research we announced today clearly shows that clout, curation, and confidence are the key drivers behind why audiences trust our brands – and why they act on that trust," he said.
"Our editors are the original influencers. They know what resonates, they know how to curate authentically and, most importantly, they know how to lead consumers to the final click.
“Today, our editorial leaders shared powerful new tentpoles for 2025, each presenting unique ways to engage audiences with our partners’ products. We’re doubling down in the luxury space, expanding ELLE Australia from two to four issues and supercharging our social presence. The new marie claire Skincare Awards and the Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards offer additional touchpoints, attracting an audience primed for high-end brands.
“Our entertainment vertical is growing strongly, with extraordinary reach across print, digital and social. This success is driving the rebranding of Now To Love to womansday.com.au, expanding our digital capabilities and creating more opportunities to engage Australia’s entertainment-driven audiences. Meanwhile, Better Homes and Gardens, with a new Editor and its new upcoming Tradie of the Year competition, continues to expand its influence as a beloved household name.
“We are magazines and more. Our expertise in connecting with and understanding Australian women across the marketing funnel will add reach and influence to every marketing campaign targeting women that we work on. The team behind our brands are passionate about what they do, and that’s because our audience is passionate about what they want.”
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