School Road Publishing was set in motion mid-2020 with four new titles rolling off the presses later in the year.
Covid fast-tacked Bauer Media’s decision to abandon New Zealand last year. But former Bauer New Zealand editor and editorial director Sido Kitchin wouldn’t let Covid stand in the way of launching a new publishing company to cater to New Zealand readers.
The business is owned by Greg Partington who also owns New Zealand’s largest independent ad agency, Stanley St. The publishing business, headed by Kitchin who is group publisher and editor of Woman, works out of the same Auckland address.
Former Bauer Media New Zealand and Australia chief executive Paul Dykzeul consults to the business.
Sido Kitchin
Launching four new titles concurrently might seem a little ambitious, but Kitchin explained the business needed some scale quickly. “As I know from my time visiting agencies, having a portfolio of four magazines is powerful. We could also see gaps in the market for these titles,” Kitchin told Mediaweek.
The disruption to the market last year caused by Bauer’s departure and Covid really shook up New Zealand with other independent publishers seeing an opportunity to jump in too, some grabbing former Bauer titles.
“It is a really vibrant time for the industry here with the quality of the magazines better than ever.” Kitchin pointed to 20 relaunches/launches in the market since the first major Covid wave in 2020.
In addition to editing the fortnightly Woman, Kitchin was the publisher of the monthlies Haven, Thrive and Scout. Thrive later went bi-monthly and Scout changed to quarterly.
School Road Publishing has been pleased with the support from advertisers so far, but Kitchin conceded, “It is hard when you are a new business. When you launch it is a leap of faith for advertisers as you are selling a dream. Each month has grown with higher ad revenues than the one prior.”
In the group’s short journey so far Kitchin has made a couple of changes. “One of the things about being an independent is that we can change tack quickly if we need to. For example, when we changed Thrive to a bi-monthly we started hitting our ad sales and circulation targets.
“A fortnightly and three monthlies was ambitious, but we can be nimble when called for.”
The metric for magazine audience measurement in New Zealand is Nielsen Readership, but it takes a year for a new brand to get data. “While we wait for that, I commissioned a massive piece of research from a third-party surveying 1900 women aged 35-74 for Woman. The results were phenomenal. One in five women had read the magazine and engagement was incredibly high. Readers are spending around three hours with every issue.”
After seeing how Bauer Media decided not to have separate digital homes for its magazine brands, Kitchin was very keen to do the opposite and have distinct print and digital platforms. “Without that you tend to lose your brand voice.”
All of the School Road Publishing titles are available to Readly subscribers.
Woman: Fortnightly School Road flagship title $8.99
“This is certainly the backbone of the portfolio,” said Kitchin. “We had a strong launch with lots of support from other media. The magazine talks to women differently. It was time for a fresh perspective and that is what is resonating.”
Kitchin noted that choosing a fortnightly frequency for Woman is working for them. The magazine is playing in a space populated by the weeklies Woman’s Day, New Zealand Women’s Weekly and monthly lifestyle brands like Mindfood at the other end of the spectrum.
“We are 100% New Zealand stories which is very relevant to Kiwis today,” said Kitchin.
On digital, Woman has introduced a flexible paywall where people can trial the content. Readers can register and read four free articles before they need to decide whether to subscribe for more.
The business has recently launched a content studio offering custom content with video production and website development among the services. “We have been finding more of our ad partners want integrated content.”
Woman has done some impressive stories with stunning photography, with Kitchin noting it was a continuing challenge to create new quality New Zealand content with a tight budget.
Scout: Quarterly domestic travel magazine
The magazine is edited by Sarah-Kate Lynch. The new title started as a monthly, but flipped to quarterly. “That was from advertiser feedback. They were looking for a magazine that would be on sale for a longer period. We are reaching our advertising targets and sales have lifted nicely too.”
Haven: Monthly home magazine
Edited by Vanessa Marshall.
Thrive: Bi-monthly wellbeing magazine
Edited by Niki Bezzant.
More magazine coverage in Mediaweek
See also:
T Australia announces it will increase print frequency in 2022
Vogue Australia joins Conde Nast’s global New Beginnings initiative
Are Media launches rebranded Women’s Weekly Food mag and TRENDtalks: Food