• by Sara Guaglione , January 22, 2016

Bauer Media Group’s international digital business, Bauer Xcel Media, announced Thursday the launch of Web sites for print magazines Woman’s World and First for Women.

Although it may seem this digital launch is behind the times, both titles have relied more on newsstand sales than subscriptions, meaning readers were less likely to search online for the brands’ content.

(Woman’s World and First for Women are top-selling magazines at retail in the U.S., according to an Alliance for Audited Media report in June 2015).

For example, Woman’s World has around 925,000 readers, but less than 100,000 print subscribers. First for Women has over 195,000 print subscribers, but that only represents around 19% of their total circulation of 985,656, according to the magazine’s latest audit report.

Bauer Xcel Media claimed in a statement that it waited to launch Woman’s World and First for Women online until their target audience had moved towards accessing digital, mobile and social content.

“Now is the perfect time to add Woman’s World and First for Women to Bauer Xcel Media’s digital portfolio, as women of all ages embrace digital and especially social channels,” stated Christian Baesler, president of Bauer Xcel Media’s U.S. operations.

In November, Bauer Media Group USA announced the transfer of M and Twist to digital-only formats. The decision left J-14 and Quizfest as Bauer's remaining teen-focused print magazines.

Some observers speculated the move to launch Woman’s World and First for Women online came in response to both magazines missing their print rate base figures according to a MagNet report from December. However, Bauer Xcel president Christian Baesler emphasized that the magazines' digital operations are a separate business from the print publications, and the timing of the digital launches was influenced solely by their growing potential mobile audiences.

In August, the company hired Meredith Bodgas as executive editor, Women’s Group, to manage the digital platforms for Woman’s World and First for Women, among other titles. Bodgas has since assembled an editorial team to execute a combination of content from real-time trending stories to original long-form features.

Bauer Xcel Media’s collection of digital titles has an online audience of more than 25 million monthly unique users in the U.S., and 150 million worldwide.