The newsstands in Australia’s biggest markets along the east coast were loaded with royal wedding special editions of Australia’s biggest-selling weekly magazines on Monday, just 36 hours after Meghan and Harry said “I do” on Saturday night.
Bauer Media in particular is going all out with a stand-alone Royal Wedding Harry and Megan special, which will also be published this week. The 100-page title will sell for $4.99.
Woman’s Day editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly told Mediaweek:
“Woman’s Day went into overdrive from the minute guests started arriving on Saturday evening. We went to press at 2am Sunday morning and reached 72% of our readers (NSW, Qld and Vic) by Monday.
“We then backed up with a 100-page special souvenir edition, which we sent to press at 9pm Sunday night and is on sale nationally on Thursday for just $4.99. It will remain on shelves for a month and will be promoted at a special High Tea event at the QVB Tea Rooms on Thursday where we will have a replica of the dress, a Meghan Markle lookalike and where readers can taste a replica of the actual wedding cake.”
Fiona Connolly
Any extra readers that the Bauer Media weekly picks up from this royal fever should strap themselves in as there is plenty more to come.
“This thoroughly modern royal couple will be the gift that keeps on giving,” said Connolly.
“We saw a whole new side to these cute lovebirds – in fact the whole royal family at the wedding. They wore their hearts on their sleeves and there was a realness and sweetness that we have never seen before with royal marriages. I can’t wait to see how they break protocol as they head into their first year of marriage and, even better, to see them here in Australia in just a few months’ time will be the icing on the cake for our readers.”
At Pacific, the weekend activity was carried out with military precision.
Louisa Hatfield, general manager, family & entertainment, explained to Mediaweek:
“New Idea has been planning its coverage of the royal wedding for four months. We had two teams working through the weekend. The first was in from 6pm Saturday right through until the early hours of Sunday morning.
“They produced, in record time, 48 beautiful pages, detailing every moment of Harry and Meghan’s big day. The special issue of the magazine was on the newsstands within 24 hours of the wedding (Monday morning) and had three times the coverage of our competitors.”
Hatfield added they reached a big digital audience:
“The New Idea and Who teams achieved record numbers online, helping Pacific achieve its highest weekend ever, network-wide, and highest day of audience this year. New Idea and Who Instagrams featured rolling coverage and the social media brand extension, New Idea Royals, doubled its number of fans during the weekend.
“A second New Idea team trooped into the offices at 4am Sunday and worked through the day producing the ultimate one-shot souvenir magazine, which will be truly special for all royal fans, perfect bound and with a gold foil cover. It will have all the gorgeous official portraits of the happy couple.”
Pacific Magazines’ Louisa Hatfield
Pacific had the royal wedding special issue of New Idea on sale in Queensland, Victoria and NSW on Monday. The other states will have the updated version on Thursday.
Hatfield too noted there is plenty more to come as they continue the Duke and Duchess of Sussex watch.
“They rank right at the top for both New Idea and Who. Prince Harry was the favourite royal for so many of our audience and to see him so in love is the ultimate fairy tale. Meghan is definitely going to be one of our biggest cover stars. She has everything: the Prince, the A-list friends, the Hollywood background, she is intelligent, caring and beautiful. We love her!”
Pacific will publish a special edition of Who on Thursday which will feature the official photographs of the royal wedding.