Brendon Hill says magazine sales have picked-up as restrictions ease

Magazine boss says sales and subscriptions have picked-up as coronavirus restrictions ease but advertising revenue remains weak.

Australia’s biggest magazine company, which publishes Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day

The boss of Australia’s biggest magazine company, which publishes Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day, says magazine sales and subscriptions have picked-up as coronavirus restrictions ease.

Brendon Hill, who has run Bauer Media for about 16 months, said sales were “strong” for magazines and subscriptions after a sharp drop at the beginning of the health crisis.

The company has seen an 8 per cent rise in subscriptions since March from a year ago, however advertising revenue remains under pressure, he said.

“Like all media companies, it’s been a challenging time through the pandemic for advertising revenue,” Mr Hill told The Australian, adding there are big opportunities to increase its audience reach.

Mr Hill’s comments follow the group’s rebranding to Are Media on Monday as part of its new ownership by private equity firm Mercury Capital following a rocky eight years under the Bauer family.

Air Media now boasts around 700 staff and 35 Australian magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, Marie Claire and Take5 following the axing of more than 140 staff and closure of eight magazines, including Harper’s BAZAAR, InStyle, ELLE and OK! mid-year.

The group recently resumed publishing six of its New Zealand magazines, including Woman’s Day New and NZ Listener and selling four titles to independent publishers. Under its previous owner, Bauer shuttered its NZ operations in April which led to more than 230 staff made redundant.

Mr Hill said the company has struck a distribution trial deal with Australia Post, which will see its magazines sold at its stores around the country from November. It also has a new agreement with German budget supermarket chain Aldi, which will stock Bluey magazines.

Mr Hill’s comments come three months after Mercury took control of Bauer, which included newly acquired Pacific Magazines from Seven West Media for an undisclosed sum.

The Australian’s DataRoom reported at the time that Mercury would pay $40m, plus redundancy costs, totalling less than $50m. That is a fraction of the $500m that the Bauer family splashed out to secure the Packer family’s ACP mastheads in 2012.

Bauer paid $40m for Pacific in May after the deal was struck late last year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Hill said 30 staff from across the business were involved with coming up with a new company name, resulting in about 200 suggestions.

“It’s pretty difficult to get a name registered these days so it got whittled down pretty quick,” he said, adding the new name represents its titles across women’s fashion and beauty, plus food and motoring.

Are Media will hold a virtual showcase for advertisers in November to spruik its audience network, which reaches six in 10 Australian women, plus some new research.