Financial Review launches new glossy lifestyle magazine
The launch of Fin Magazine taps into internal research into reader habits that found subscribers to afr.com who regularly read lifestyle content are 2½ times more likely to keep subscribing.
“We’ve found that the more our digital subscribers read our exclusive, upmarket lifestyle content, the more likely they stay engaged with the Financial Review”Said Drummond.
“Across the newsroom we’ve been rolling out new data tools to help our journalists understand the types of stories that subscribers value most. That intel, and that discipline, has been used in shaping the content for Fin Magazine. ”
AFR Magazine editor Matthew Drummond.
While there is a small revival in fashion and lifestyle glossy magazines, with Switzer Media & Publishing reviving Harper’s Bazaar and an ad agency bringing back InStyle from the dead, Drummond argues Fin Magazine will have a proven audience; each issue will be marketed to the digital-only subscriber base of afr.com.
Upcoming issues of AFR Magazine are promoted in the same way, underpinning its growth in print readership. Roy Morgan figures reveal AFR Magazine recorded annual growth of 58 per cent, with a print readership of 452,000 driven by strong growth across the Financial Review.
“We market the print product to the very sizeable, affluent, digital subscriber base of the Financial Reviewwhich tends to be younger, ”Drummond said.
The launch of the new magazine comes as Nine’s wider publishing business announced last week in a trading update it expects FY22 publishing earnings growth to be greater than $ 55 million compared to FY21 when publishing earnings were $ 117 million.