InTouchWeekly.com Shows Organic Growth Of +745% In Unique Vistors Over The Last Year

NEW YORK, May 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bauer Media Group today announced that digital traffic for its celebrity weekly website, InTouchWeekly.com, is at an all-time high, showing organic growth of 745% in unique visitors over the past year.*

The strong figure is indicative of a major digital push by Bauer Media over the past year led by Christian Baesler, Vice President of New Media. Critical to InTouchWeekly.com's success are key hires including the addition of In Touch and Life & Style's Editorial Director, David Perel, in March 2014, formerly EVP of Digital Content for American Media, Inc. and founder of RadarOnline.com; and Bauer Entertainment Group Digital News Director, Rachel Quigley in December 2013, previously at Daily Mail Online.

"We're thrilled to see readers' response to our clickable and shareable content on InTouchWeekly.com," said Quigley. "By implementing a digital growth strategy that optimizes traffic from each magazine's respective social media channels, we're now providing readers with unique, original content that is catered to their wants and interests." 

Similarly, social media assets have grown exponentially. In Touch's Facebook fan base increased organically by 4,403% over the past year, reaching more than 1 million fans, while Life & Style's has skyrocketed from 100,000 fans a year ago to over 1.9 million today.

"Our tremendous spike in Web and social media traffic really speaks to the overall strength of our brands," said Perel. "Our online growth has been completely organic, demonstrating the high level of consumer engagement with In Touch; along with our nearly 7 million print readers, the overall audience for the In Touch brand has never been larger."**

InTouchWeekly.com's growth leads the way for what has shown to be an astounding increase across all of Bauer's digital properties. Overall, the number of unique visitors to all Bauer websites has increased +436% over the past year. Bauer's other celebrity/entertainment title, LifeandStylemag.com, is up by 408% over the past year, while the Bauer Teen Group sites (comprised of the online sites for J-14, M, Twist, Miss Literati, 4TNZ and Quizfest) have increased their unique visitors by +264% over that same time period.*

"After years of assembling a digital team of industry experts in the fields of Editorial, Technology, Design, Marketing, Ad Sales and Product Management, and building our in-house Content Management System powering all of our websites, we couldn't be happier with the results. Our teams have extremely exciting projects in the pipeline that will disrupt the way people are consuming content online right now and increase our digital footprint even further. We will continue to innovate across all platforms to create unique experiences that readers can't find anywhere else," said Baesler.

Taking notice are major advertisers. "Bauer Entertainment Group's audience of millions is seven times larger than it was the same time last year," said Christopher Yates, Vice President of Digital for Bauer Media Group. "We have programs in place with major advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, WEtv and Rimmel London, with more to come."

*According to Google Analytics, comparing unique monthly visitors April 2013 vs. April 2014:

InTouchWeekly.com: 469,578 vs. 3,967,310; +745%
LifeandStylemag.com: 477,829 vs. 2,427,272; +408%
Bauer Teen Network: 944,291 vs. 3,432,928; +264%
Bauer Digital: 1,891,698 vs. 10,148,476; +436% 

**According to MRI 2013 Doublebase

About Bauer Media Group
Bauer Media Group is one of the most successful media companies in the world. More than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products, and 50 radio and TV stations reach millions of people around the globe. It has more than 11,000 employees in 17 countries. In the U.S., Bauer sells more magazines at retail than any other magazine publishing company.

SOURCE Bauer Media Group