Bauer Media Group
 | |
| Company type | limited partnership under German law |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1875 |
| Headquarters | Germany, Hamburg |
Key people | Yvonne Bauer, (Publisher) |
| Products | Multi-platform media: print, digital, radio, TV. Print houses, postal services, distribution and marketing services |
| Revenue | approx. 2,4 billion euros (2013) |
Number of employees | 11,000 (2013) |
| Website | www.bauermedia.com |
Bauer Media Group is a large European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. The portfolio extends to include print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. Bauer Media Group has a workforce of approximately 11,000 employees in 17 countries.
H Bauer UK
Bauer Verlagsgruppe has been managed by five generations of the Bauer family. Originally a small printing house in Germany, Bauer Media Group entered the UK with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987 and, under the name of H Bauer Publishing became Britain's third largest publisher. Bauer further expanded in the UK with the purchase of Emap Consumer Media and Emap Radio in 2008.[citation needed]
The group acquired Australian magazine publisher, ACP Magazines from private equity firm, CVC in 2012, increasing the company’s turnover to more than €2 billion.[1]
In November 2010 Heinz Heinrich's daughter Yvonne assumed the management of the Bauer Media Group after joining the family business in 2005.[citation needed]
In the UK there are two divisions of the Bauer Media Group, the original UK business trades as H Bauer Publishing under CEO David Goodchild, and its sister company is known as Bauer Media (Bauer Consumer Media Ltd), CEO Paul Keenan.[2]
H Bauer Publishing Brands
H Bauer is a publishing brand that include women's weekly and TV listings magazines; namely Bella, Take a Break, that's life! TVChoice and Total TVGuide as well as a number of puzzle magazines.
In 1987 Bella was H Bauer's first venture into publishing in the UK. In 1990, H Bauer launched a weekly women's magazine named Take a Break. H Bauer also has a sister title, that's life! which launched in 1995. The H Bauer Publishing brands also include puzzle magazines that carry the Take a Break name.
TV listings titles
1991 saw H Bauer's first TV listings publishing with the launch of TVQuick magazine. (Prior to the deregulation of TV listings in March 1991, BBC listings had been restricted by law to Radio Times and ITV/Channel 4 listings to TVTimes.) TVQuick ceased publication in July 2010. In 1999 H Bauer launched TVChoice at a much lower price point than other titles on the market. TVChoice overtook its main competitor in the February 2008 audited ABCs and has been the number one weekly newsstand magazine in the UK ever since. In September 2003, H Bauer launched Total TVGuide to cover the increasing number of programmes available on Freeview and satellite or cable services.
H Bauer Media Brands
Bauer Media is a multi-platform media group, with locations across the UK. Following their purchase of Emap in 2007,[3] The Bauer Media Group acquired a collection of media brands, including heat and Grazia as well as a radio portfolio of national radio brands including KISS FM UK and Magic, and regional radio brands across major UK cities. In 2013, Bauer Media also acquired the Absolute Radio Group from Times of India.[4]
Bauer Media also broadcasts TV music channels including The Box TV, in a joint venture with Channel 4. In the UK Bauer Media is the sister company of H Bauer Publishing, who publish titles including Take a Break .[5]
Music publications
Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. In spring 2010, Bauer caused controversy with its attempt to unilaterally impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, which takes away their copyright and off-loads liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto the contributor. 200 photographers and writers from Q and Bauer's other music magazines, Kerrang! and MOJO were reported as refusing to work under the new terms.[6]
Kerrang! is a brand that specialises in Rock Music.[citation needed] It originally began as a magazine and in 2004 Kerrang Radio was launched. A Kerrang TV channel also exists and as of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist.[citation needed]
Other publications
The Debrief is an online magazine aimed at ABC1 women in their 20s launched in 2014 in competition with Mail Online and Stylist.
Empire is a monthly film magazine, originally launched in the UK in 1989 but now also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia and Portugal. Empire also organises the annual Empire Awards, currently sponsored by Jameson.[7] The awards are voted for by the readers of Empire.
Closer was launched by Bauer Media in 2002. It specialises mainly in celebrity news and gossip, real life stories and television/entertainment. It is currently edited by Lisa Burrow.[8]
The UK edition of Grazia was launched in 2005 as the first glossy woman’s weekly magazine in the country. [9]Currently edited by Jane Bruton, Grazia is a multi-platform brand, working online, in print and digital. The iPad edition was launched in 2012.
Launched in 1999, heat is a British celebrity weekly, edited by Lucie Cave. [10]Its main focus is celebrity interviews, gossip, fashion advice and entertainment. heat has a presence on four main in print, radio, television and online at heatworld.co.uk .
Yours is a fortnightly lifestyle magazine and website targeting women aged 50 and over. It covers issues including health, relevant news, fashion and beauty. It is currently edited by Sharon Reid[11] and was launched in 2012.
Motor Cycle News (MCN) launched as a newspaper in 1955. The brand now has an online presence at mcn.com motorcyclenews.com and is a digital business with sub-brands including MCN compare, a motorcycle insurance comparison service and MCN classified Bikes for Sale. MCN covers news on all major motorcycle sporting events as well as bike and equipment tests and reviews and has been edited by Andy Calton[12] since 2012.
Parker's Car Guide is a monthly magazine and, more recently, a website listing prices for new and used cars in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1972 and is the longest-running print price guide in the UK. The website was launched in 1999 and it provides news, advice information as well as cars for sale and additional services such as insurance, to car buyers. Parkers has been edited by Kieren Puffett since 2006.[13]
Bauer Radio
Box Television
Bauer Media Group has a 50% stake in the British television company Box Television, the other half owned by Channel 4. Box Television acts as the content subsidiary that produces several popular music television channels, which include:
Bauer Media Group USA
Bauer Media Group entered the U.S. market in 1981 with the launch of Woman's World magazine. Today, Bauer Media Group USA has a portfolio of 13 magazines, 5 special interest publications and 16 websites across several distinct consumer segments: celebrity/entertainment, women’s, teen and science/technology.
In 1989, the company introduced its second publication, First for Women, a women's magazine. Alliance for Audited Media reports that Woman's World and First for Women are the #1 and #2 selling magazines at retail, respectively. [14]
The company's popular teen brands include Twist, launched in 1997; J-14, launched in 1998; M, launched in 2001; and Girls' World, launched in 2013.
In Touch Weekly was introduced in the U.S. in November of 2002, . The company debuted Life & Style Weekly, the first celebrity and fashion weekly, in 2004. Adding its third celebrity weekly in October of 2013, the company launched Closer Weekly, a celebrity and lifestyle weekly for women 40+.
Bauer Media U.S. launched Bauer Xcel Media, a digital division, in August of 2014. [15]
The company is headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, NJ with satellite offices in New York City and Los Angeles.
U.S. magazines and special interest publications
Woman’s World, First for Women, CBS/ABC Soaps in Depth, Celebrate! With Woman’s World, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style Weekly, Closer Weekly, J-14, M, Twist, Yikes, Astrogirl, Quizfest, Girls’ World, LifeStory, Animal Tales, ID
References
- ^ Family tosses a lifeline as gloss wears off ACP | Colin Kruger, Miriam Steffens
- ^ Welcome to Bauer | HBauer Publishing
- ^ "Bauer Media Group purchase emap". Independent.co. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Bauer Media acquired Absolute Radio Group". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Bauer Media Group offers music channels". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ Bauer's freelancers up in arms over new contracts | Media | The Guardian
- ^ https://www.oximity.com/tag/Empire-film-magazine-1
- ^ http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/12/emap.pressandpublishing
- ^ http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/mar/11/features.woman4
- ^ http://www.ppa.co.uk/news/industry/2011/09/heat-appoints-lucie-cave-as-editor/
- ^ http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/content/sharon-reid-appointed-editor-yours-magazine
- ^ http://www.featuresexec.com/bulletin/news_article.php?id=17241
- ^ http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/news/articles/bauer_medias_wwwparkerscouks_abc_e_results.aspx
- ^ | AAM's semiannual periodical Snapshot report
- ^ | Behind Bauer Media U.S. new digital division