Now To Love editor Fiona Baker: ‘We are not all things to all people’

Where the Bauer content network sits in the Australian market.

Women-targeted content network Now To Love isn’t about publicising its own brand but rather the Bauer Media titles that sit under its umbrella.

The editor of the network, Fiona Baker, told Mediaweek that names like Woman’s Day and The Australian Women’s Weekly are so recognisable that it would be foolish not to use their brand power to attract eyeballs. She described Now To Love as a “department store”.

“Now To Love is still a baby. It is only 18 months old,” Baker said. “It’s unique, because it provides scale that is home to well-known, heritage magazine brands that still have a connection with their audience.

Each Bauer brand has its own tone and style of content that it produces so there is something to suit every reader’s mood and taste.

“If you are looking for royal content, we have Women’s Weekly,” Baker said. “If you are looking for TV content, there’s TV Week.”

There is a team of journalists and producers who keep track of what content is produced in which magazine. They take the content that is relevant to Now To Love’s readers and put it online. Along with this, the network produces about 80% of its own content. “It is just branded and powered by the magazine brands. We are working in real time,” Baker explained.

“We only take a small amount of content from print. The duplication of audience is minimal. A reader of Woman’s Day online isn’t necessarily a reader of it in print. We are very aware of that.

“Any content that we produce we make sure speaks in the voice of the brand that it is going to live under.

“It’s about understanding audiences and why they come to our brands for content.”

Baker said she is looking to bring more timeless print content to digital as well.

“We are continuing to strengthen our connection with the titles and be brand-first,” Baker said. “Women’s Weekly, for example, has beautiful journalism and deep dive coverage. The stories deserve to have a long life cycle.”

The greatest challenge for Now To Love is ranking well in search. However, as simple as this sounds, a lot goes into doing this. Baker is currently channelling her energy into getting the SEO right. “We want to continue to perform. We haven’t been around very long and we currently sit in the top five in our category. That is good. We are moving forward,” Baker said. “From a strategic point of view we have to make sure that we have the content on our website that people can find engaging.”

Now To Love has a broad offering with some content coming from various Bauer magazines. However, Baker maintains the network has a “very honed focus”.

“We are not all things to all people. We are keeping our content extremely honed and curated,” Baker said. “Our audience is very digitally savvy and engaged. They are about 30-50 years old. It’s a really broad audience but they are coming to us for their very particular needs.

“We want to entertain and inform our audience.”

Top Photo: Fiona Baker

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