The glossy Nouveau is the ‘grand ladyof the magazine shelf. The magazine is celebrating its 35th anniversary this month and the editors are celebrating this with an anniversary issue. And there is more to celebrate. Despite the fact that many magazines are losing their subscribers, Nouveau’s paid circulation is growing.
Editor-in-chief Claudia Straatmans made the switch to Nouveau five years ago, having previously been editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Fab and Beau Monde. “When I joined Nouveau five years ago, the assignment was to involve the new 50-year-old in Nouveau. The group of 50+ is now demographically the largest group in the Netherlands”, says Straatmans.
Freshen up for Nouveau
She looked critically at Nouveau’s DNA, which was in need of a makeover. “Nouveau was a magazine with taste and with a somewhat classic look. I have given the word classic a different meaning: class and quality. That way you don’t compromise on taste and style, but it all sounds much more modern,” says Straatmans.
Service journalism for the elderly woman
Nouveau has always been a magazine for an older target group. The casual buyers are in their fifties, the subscribers are older. Straatmans opted for the strategy of strong women (power women) and invested heavily in service journalism. “That means that we want to unburden this target group in terms of lifestyle. Like curators of a sparkling 50+ museum, we put together answers to questions that 50+ women have: how to dress, how to make up, how to live, how to feed and how to move. But we also give tips about which books you should read and which hotspots you really want to visit.”
Digital growth to 3 million per month
In the past five years, Straatmans has also ensured that Nouveau has started to develop digitally as a brand. “Five years ago there was hardly a site, while at the end of 2016 it was already clear: 50+ people are also booming online.”
She was right. Nouveau.nl has gone from 32,000 page views in 2016 to 3 million page views per month in 2021.
One of the success factors online appears to be content about Queen Maxima. “We immediately said: we are going to claim Máxima. If anyone comes from classical music and, as a 50-something, can still give it freshness and fluency, it is Máxima. We have at least two Máxima news items online every day. Besides the fact that Royalty scores like a charm, our homemade content from the magazine is also doing very well,” says the editor-in-chief.
Nouveau readers are real magazine fans
Nouveau is doing well, circulation has increased in 2019. Could you say that Nouveau readers are still true magazine fans? “Yes”, replies Straatmans. “We have loyal subscribers. The restyling from classic to class and quality has therefore worked well. Nouveau’s subscription circulation has grown slightly since 2019. The expectation based on internal figures and forecasts is that we will still achieve small growth next year.”
If we look at the entire glossy segment, where the total paid, targeted circulation falls by an average of 6.6%, Nouveau manages to increase its circulation by 13% compared to the same period last year (table is based on figures from the NOM).
“If you look at the numbers, you can see that most other glossies (Beau Monde, Cosmopolitan, Grazia, JAN, LINDA) are showing a downward trend. We are very proud of the fact that Nouveau is doing well”, concludes Claudia Straatmans.
