BabyCenter Baby Center Mag PR 6 6 Page 1
BabyCenter to Launch Pioneering, Print Magazine for the 21st Century Mom
Breaking New Ground In Its Category, BabyCenter Magazine Will Offer Moms
Customized Content Based on Their Stage of Pregnancy or Motherhood
BabyCenter Press Releases - 05/09/05 05/09/05
San Francisco, CA (April 4, 2005) -- BabyCenter is expecting.
Launching a major expansion into print media, the web's most popular resource for new and expectant parents today
announced it will publish BabyCenter magazine, the first and only publication that gives pregnant women and new
moms the critical information and insights they want exactly when they want it.
Building on the enormous success of BabyCenter's "stage-based" content online, BabyCenter magazine will debut
as a quarterly in September 2005.
The magazine will break new ground in its category by publishing customized issues with editorial focused on
moms-to-be and new moms during specific phases of pregnancy and motherhood. The first issue of the magazine
will serve prenatal moms in their second trimester, with three more personalized editions set to roll out through
2006.
BabyCenter magazine plans to deliver a high-quality controlled circulation of 2 million annually, with a rate base of
500,000 subscribers for each of four editions over a 12-month period. BabyCenter will distribute the magazine to
members who request a subscription online.
The launch marks an ambitious move into traditional media for BabyCenter (www.babycenter.com), which
launched in 1997 and is now one of the web's most successful businesses. More than 3.5 million pregnant and new
moms come to BabyCenter web sites every month, according to comScore Media Metrix. BabyCenter also operates
ParentCenter (www.parentcenter.com), the leading online resource for parents of children ages 2 to 8.
"Traditional magazines in this category aren't serving the customer well at all. There's a lot of waste for readers and
for advertisers -- a lot of the content is either too early or too late," said Mari Baker, BabyCenter's president. "We
know from talking to customers and our years of experience with our web site, that a stage-based approach is the
key to serving the parenthood category."
According to SVP/group publisher David Blair, the new magazine represents a unique opportunity for marketers.
"The success of our online advertising model has been our ability to work with marketers to craft advertising that is
delivered in contextually relevant content and stage-based email. This magazine is so exciting because we bring that
model to print and for the first time an advertiser can deliver their message at exactly the right time, to the right
person, and in the right place. The power of this targeted, cross-platform approach is unmatched."
Earl Justice, senior product manager at Beech-Nut, agreed. "BabyCenter magazine allows us to reach moms with a
stage-relevant message in a totally new environment," he said. "It opens the door to integrated marketing campaigns
with babycenter.com that have the potential to really help build the Beech-Nut brand."
BabyCenter has a significant advantage over others in its category because of its ability to reach women very early
in pregnancy. More women sign up for BabyCenter's personalized newsletters in month two of their pregnancy than
