NewsLifeMedia CEO Nicole Sheffield today announced that Melissa Overman (pictured) has been appointed executive editor of the company’s female driven content network of digital brands consisting of Australia’s number one parenting website Kidspot.com.au; leading health and wellbeing brand Bodyandsoul.com.au; and the go-to online destination for beauty Primped.com.au.
Highly experienced in digital media Overman steps into this newly created role from news.com.au where she was group features editor for three years, steering the feature verticals of the brand in an environment of continual change to ensure news.com.au achieved and maintained its leading position.
In her new role starting on Monday 18 April, Overman will lead the content strategy of NewsLifeMedia’s mass market female portfolio, maintaining and growing their market position with Australian women, while ensuring the network has a strong voice that builds meaningful and deep connections with women. The editorial teams of each of the brands will report to Overman.
Nicole Sheffield said: “Melissa is an incredibly talented editor with a thorough understanding of digital news who was instrumental in driving news.com.au to number one. Melissa is an inspiring and creative leader with a passion for all things lifestyle and celebrity. She also understands how analytics feed into content planning and creation which will be the key to success going forward. Our women’s portfolio is in a great place, all are market leaders in their categories. Aligning the editorial of our mass female digital properties under Melissa as executive editor better organises the business.
“We have exciting plans to expand the network and intend to launch a younger skewing female news offering by the end of the year. I’m confident that with Melissa powering NewsLifeMedia’s female focused content strategy, our strong network of brands will be a powerhouse content platform that engages and connects with Australian women at all life stages and passions, providing consumers with innovative and unique content.”
Overman said: “Delivering great content to women has always been my passion and I couldn’t think of a better way to do that today than through the hugely successful digital brands at NewsLifeMedia. No other female network has the trust of women like NewsLifeMedia and I’m thrilled to be able to harness this engagement and deliver exciting new experiences to such a rapidly growing audience.”
Overman began her career in women’s magazines before transitioning early into the digital world helping to grow various online female destinations. She oversaw the content creation for lifestyle.com.au at Foxtel and most recently the features content for Australia’s leading news site, news.com.au. She has been a journalist for over 15 years and last year became a mum.
Nielsen Digital Monthly Ratings, February 2016:
Kidspot.com.au achieved a unique audience of 1.878 million DRM in February, leading the parenting category with a margin of 807,000 over the closest competitor. Australia’s go-to for beauty Primped.com.au has a unique audience of 93,000; and Bodyandsoul.com.au lead in the health category with a unique audience of 523,000 DRM in February.