You may not recognize the name Meredith Corporation but you have certainly heard of the magazines it publishes. Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Family Circle are some of its oldest and best-known titles. Meredith has been publishing magazines for more than 100 years and maintains many top-ten titles, both by category and overall. With a total of 21 subscription magazines, Meredith is also the creator of American Baby, Parents, Fitness, Midwest Living, and MORE. This powerhouse publisher also produces 150 special interest publications – the kind that are available only at retail outlets. Meredith’s magazines have a combined circulation of 30 million – Better Homes and Gardens alone reaches nearly 8 million paid readers each month.
If Meredith’s magazines sound like something your mom would read, that’s intentional. Meredith caters to women. In fact, Meredith has become the undisputed leading media and marketing company focused on women. It has earned this reputation by developing an expertise in managing deep relationships with female customers. With core categories of home, health, family, and personal development, Meredith’s goal is to touch every lifestage of women, from young adults and new parents to established families and empty nesters.
Print media is hardly a growth industry—in fact, it’s been declining in recent years. But building an empire on magazines doesn’t mean that Meredith has painted itself into a corner. In fact, Meredith no longer describes itself as a magazine publisher. It claims to be a creator of “content,” delivered to women “whenever, wherever, and however [they want] it.” Long before print media began its decline, Meredith expanded into television stations, cable programming, and Web sites. Today, Meredith has a strong foundation on the Web, with more than 50 Web sites that reach an average of 20 million unique visitors each month. Its Web empire