Bauer Media is bolstering its Now to Love content hub with a new digital-only vertical that targets women 45 and over.
The vertical, Reinvention, will draw from Bauer’s existing magazine assets as well as host its own around 80% of its own original content around themes of finance, travel, career, health and wellbeing.
Media personality Deborah Hutton has come on board as the editor at large, which Bauer Xcel GM of commercial and innovation Jane Waterhouse says is more commercially savvy than placing an “influencer” at the helm.
“Deborah Hutton knows her product and she knows the business. She’s not just a face we are slapping on to the brand; she has worked in television, ran businesses and launched successful books,” Waterhouse says.
With Hutton on board, Waterhouse is confident Reinvention will reap the benefits of appealing to a demographic often disregarded by the media.
“It’s an ongoing issue that media companies are not recognising the demographic of women over 45. The stereotype is that they are rapping up their lives but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Waterhouse says.
“Clients and brands are beginning to acknowledge the power of this demographic and with more briefs coming in, advertisers can see the opportunity.”
The Reinvention website
Waterhouse says there are more similarities between Gen X and Gen Y and the 45+ demographic than brands and publishers recognise, but the age group responds to different marketing activities.
Advertising for Reinvention will include native content, video, sponsorship and also Bauer’s second foray into podcasts.
“We see more similarities between the 45+ age group and Gen X and Gen Y. They are extremely digitally savvy, spending a lot of time on social media and they are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. But they need to be marketed to in a different way than other ages,” she says.
Bauer recently launched a podcast for Cosmopolitan magazine. Its podcast for Reinvention will be commercialised when it launches in coming weeks.
The podcast space is increasingly becoming an area of interest for publishers as they aim to grow other revenue streams.
Most recently Nine launched a suite of podcasts, but is yet to bring advertisers on board. Mamamia has been a leader in this space, launching a bespoke podcast for Westpac and other brands in the past.
“Clearly Mamamia is the biggest network and do a great job,” Waterhouse says. “We probably won’t ever be as big as of a player in podcasting as Mamamia, but more people want to play in that space because that is what women are engaging with.”
Last year Pacific Magazine’s Prevention title was sold to US publisher Rodale. The magazine was one of the few that targeted the 40+ demographic. Waterhouse says this has opened up more possibilities for Reinvention.
“The premise of Prevention felt so at odds with this demographic. What are people preventing themselves from? Dying? We know these women are reinventing their lives – not living in fear,” she says.
Looking at other competitors in the market, Waterhouse says that sites such as Starts at 60 are doing a good job at targeting baby boomers, but the people aged 40-60 are a “forgotten land”.
“When we’ve been talking to advertisers about the launch of Reinvention, we’ve been surprised about how many people have said there is nothing out there for this demographic.
“With Reinvention part of the Now to Love network, we have the power of Bauer behind us to be the destination of choice for these women. If you’re a lone operator in this digital world it’s a lot harder because you need scale.”
Now to Love launched at the end of 2016 as part of the media company’s content restructure. The hub encompasses women’s entertainment, lifestyle, health, parenting and celebrating news from The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, NW, OK, Take 5, TV Week, Yours, Good Health and Mother & Baby.
On the various changes Bauer has undergone, including the recent axe of Shop Til' You Drop magazine and several others, Waterhouse says the last six months have been transformative for the business.
“It’s an exciting time at Bauer under [CEO] Nick Chan. When Chan came on we knew there would be change and we knew there had to be change because the market is evolving,” she says.
“The last six months we put our heads down and worked very hard to be able to showcase brilliant work to clients.
“Bauer has always been great at content and we are just really bringing that to life in the digital environment and also introducing new boundaries around print. We strive to be a creative content leader in the market.”
When asked if Reinvention could eventually move into print, Waterhouse says “stranger things have happened”.
“When you look across the industry they are definitely pure plays that grow into print. But already have the leading magazines brands that talk to this demographic amongst other in Australian Women’s Weekly, Good Heath and Yours magazines so that is very unlikely."
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