Bauer Teen Group Websites See Record Organic Growth Of 300% In Unique Visitors Since Relaunch

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Jun 23, 2014, 01:00 ET

NEW YORK, June 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bauer Media's teen digital division today announces significant organic growth: a 300% increase in unique monthly visitors across all websites over the last year.*

In the last 12 months, unique monthly visitors quadrupled, now attracting nearly 4 million hyper-engaged readers every month. Page views are also up across Bauer's teen websites by an astounding 455%, climbing from 9.7 million to more than 54 million. The Teen Group's digital success year over year is indicative of a major digital push by Bauer Media, initiated with the relaunch of core teen websites J-14.com, M-magazine.com and Twistmagazine.com in June of 2013.

As part of the relaunch, each site was redesigned with a sophisticated yet age-appropriate layout that lends itself to image-driven features, encourages audience engagement and works well on smaller screens.

"The impressive growth proves that we're delivering the compelling and exciting content our users are looking for," Caroline Stanley, editorial director of Bauer Teen Group's digital division, said. "My team of talented young editors realizes the importance of trying new things and thinking in ways that our competitors are not – we're focused on posting highly visual, original features rather than secondary news items from the magazines."

Bauer Teen Group sites are engaging readers through all of the brands' digital assets, optimizing each of the magazines' social media channels. The success of this strategy is reflected in the growth of the brands' Facebook pages. With more than 6.5 million total fans combined, Bauer Teen Group is the leading destination for teens on Facebook. J-14 has nearly 4 million fans, up 543% from the same time last year. M magazine's Facebook fans rose to nearly 1.3 million, up 1,090%, and the largest growth was seen on Twist magazine's page, increasing by 6,571% over the last year to 1.4 million fans today.

"With the relaunch of J-14, M and Twist, we not only created a very successful digital future for our trusted print brands, we also set the path for their market leadership in the teen digital space," Christian Baesler, vice president of New Media, said. "Everyone on our team has a passion for creating something remarkable by constantly questioning the status quo. I'm thrilled to see that our strategy of disruption – going against industry standards in all areas – is honored by our users at such a high scale, in such a short period of time."

"Marketers are realizing the value of our users – who are emotionally connected to our brands through fun, engaging and trusted content," Christopher Yates, vice president of digital sales for Bauer Media Group, said. "We're incorporating unique targeting capabilities and native solutions that align a marketer's brand within relevant content, a strategy proven to generate significant brand lift and ad recall for our advertising partners such as Coca-Cola and Office Depot."

*Source: Google analytics, comparing Bauer Teen Group's websites May 2013 vs. May 2014:
- unique monthly visitors: 930,712 vs. 3,726,792 = 300%+
- page views: 9.7m vs 54.2m = 455%+

*Source: Facebook Insights data analysis, comparing May 30, 2013 vs. May 30, 2014:
-   J-14: 600,018 vs. 3,801,726 = 543%
-   M magazine:  104,696 vs. 1,246,107 = 1,090%+
-   Twist: 20,669 vs. 1,378,877 = 6,571%+

About Bauer Teen Group digital division
The Bauer Teen Group's digital properties reach nearly 4 million unique users monthly and is comprised of J-14.com, M-Magazine.com, TwistMagazine.com, 4TNZ.com, MissLiterati.com, QuizFest.com, and Blingee.com

J-14.com gives teens a mixture of breaking entertainment news and list-style features. Readers are able to customize their experience, putting the stars that they care about the most into focus.
TwistMagazine.com is a style-focused site that keeps a younger reader, and her limited budget, front of mind.
M-Magazine.com is the online destination for inspiring celebrity features, focused on creating a sense of community and providing helpful life advice that will help girls navigate their teen years.
MissLiterati.com is a social networking website for reading and writing enthusiasts.
Quizfest.com is an interactive destination featuring fun and engaging quizzes and polls.
Blingee.com is an interactive site that allows the user to add glitter, graphics and comments to personalize their images, then share with their friends.