Several of New Zealand’s most iconic and best-read magazines – including the Listener, the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly and Woman’s Day – are up for sale again, five years after they were saved from the wreckage of Covid.
Are Media, which operates those three titles and a range of others in New Zealand and Australia, is on the market, its Sydney-based private equity owner Mercury Capital said today.
The sale raises the inevitable question of the future direction of the magazines under any new ownership – and whether they will remain under one umbrella.
The NZ Woman’s Weekly is 92 years old; the Listener is 86.
In New Zealand, Are Media also publishes The Australian Women’s Weekly, Your Home and Garden and Kia Ora (under contract with Air New Zealand). In Australia, Are Media’s portfolio includes The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, New Idea, TV Week and Who.
Mercury bought many of the former Bauer-owned titles in New Zealand and Australia in June 2020 for less than A$50 million ($54m) and housed them under Are Media. Bauer, a German-based publisher, had abruptly closed the titles several months earlier, just as the Covid outbreak started.
Mercury Capital is run by an ex-pat New Zealand venture capitalist, Clark Perkins, out of Sydney.
In a statement to Media Insider, an Are Media spokesman said: “Further to recent speculation, and on the back of a number of market enquiries and approaches, we can confirm that a decision has been made to commence a sale process for Are Media, Australia’s leading omnichannel content company for women.
“KPMG Corporate Finance has been engaged to run a formal sale process.”
The Daily Mail quoted one insider as saying: “To be fair, Mercury had a successful first couple of years when mag sales remained strong, but lately it’s been a real slog, with poor print market conditions being felt everywhere.”
It is understood that the operation has been profitable, but the Mail said “magazines aren’t quite the rivers of gold they once were”, and speculated about the prospect of artificial intelligence taking “half the newsroom” roles in Australia.
Other sources told the Mail that Mercury’s investment was only ever meant to be for five years.
In an email to Are Media staff this week, Australian-based chief executive Jane Huxley spoke of “the next steps in our Are Media transformation journey”.
“After careful consideration, Mercury and our board have decided it’s time to begin the process of finding a new owner for the Are Media Group,” Huxley’s email said, according to BusinessDesk.
“This decision comes from a place of strength and optimism. We’ve built incredibly strong foundations and now it’s time to take the next step. With the right new owner, we believe Are Media can grow even stronger and continue to lead women’s media in Australia and New Zealand.”
She said the company’s titles would continue to be produced as usual. The sale would “unfold over coming months”.
In New Zealand, sales numbers have not been released for the Are Media magazine titles, but readership has remained strong and it is understood that the operation is profitable.
Just last month, Are Media celebrated a boost in readership across its six titles, with Kia Ora magazine up 4% to 468,000 readers – its highest-ever recorded readership – the Woman’s Weekly up 3% to 419,000 readers; The Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ) up 8% to 343,000; Woman’s Day up 3% to 329,000; the Listener up 4% to 215,000; and Your Home & Garden up 3% to 113,000.
“Readers continue to seek out these titles for inspiring, informative and trusted local content, and magazines continue to stand out as an attention-rich, engaging platform where content is not only seen, but absorbed,” Are Media editorial director Sarah Henry said at the time.
“On average, readers of Are Media magazines spend over 100 minutes with a copy of their favourite magazine.”
Are Media general manager Stuart Dick said he was thrilled with the results. “It’s a clear signal that audiences are drawn to quality content and storytelling they can trust.”
Other former Bauer titles in New Zealand – such as Metro and North & South – were later sold to private interests in 2020, and continue to operate separately.
Both the Daily Mail and Australia’s Mediaweek said there were questions about the organisation’s digital strategy in Australia.
“Despite maintaining a loyal following, the titles have experienced significant circulation declines as advertiser dollars shift toward digital and social platforms,” Mediaweek reported.
“The company’s centralised digital publishing strategy, which brought its magazines under the Now to Love umbrella site, has drawn internal and industry criticism for diluting brand identities and limiting audience engagement.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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