News Releases

Feb 24, 2016
Parents Magazine Launches "Pregnancy Confidential" Podcast
Brand Expands Mobile Strategy Targeting Expectant Millennial Women and New Parents

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents magazine and Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com), the leading media and marketing company serving over 100 million American women and 60 percent of U.S. millennial women, today announced the launch of "Pregnancy Confidential," a podcast for pregnant women. The 32-episode real talk, what-to-expect podcast combines the brand's years of research on pregnancy, reader feedback and questions and delivers a week-by-week guide to expectant moms and dads. The full series is available now on iTunes, via podcast applications, and at Parents.com/PregnancyConfidential.

Meredith introduces an updated market positioning and logo that reflect the strength of Meredith's national and local consumer media brands as well as its expanded portfolio of marketing solutions.

"A pregnancy podcast is a natural extension for the Parents brand," says Carey Witmer, EVP/President, Meredith Parents Network. "Parents is already a go-to digital resource with a monthly print publication and robust social community for expectant millennial moms. A podcast adds another dimension to our brand's mobile strategy and provides our advertising partners with topical, relevant content to meet their own marketing goals." 

Hosted by Parents magazine Editor in Chief Dana Points and featuring a rotating group of editors, the series begins at week nine of pregnancy with, "OMG, I'm Pregnant." The first episode is an open discussion between two moms and a newly pregnant woman about their own personal experiences, and covers topics such as the exciting first moments of a positive pregnancy test, revealing the news to friends and family, and battling symptoms like morning sickness. All 32 episodes will be released at once, allowing expectant couples to begin listening to the series at the episode matching their week of pregnancy and to skip ahead if they want to see what's coming up in the weeks ahead.

"At Parents we have your back and your bump through all 40 weeks," says Points. "Pregnant women are information gatherers, and with this podcast we offer our own hard-won advice and anecdotes. We've really tried to anticipate the questions our listener has about her body and baby."

"Pregnancy Confidential," available on demand at Parents.com and FitPregnancy.com, enhances Meredith's already robust digital offering for pregnant women. The podcast will be actively promoted to Parents digital audience via the daily pregnancy newsletter, where each day's message and content are customized based on a woman's due date. The relevant podcast episode will be paired with week-specific content from Parents.com and FitPregnancy.com to offer fully customized, relevant daily emails to women throughout their pregnancy.

The podcast is available for sponsorship, and includes Meredith Digital's first set of Native Audio Ads, produced by Meredith's in-house custom content team. Native Audio Ads is the latest extension of the suite of native advertising products Meredith has already introduced across the rest of its digital platforms, including native articles, images, and videos. The targeted nature of the podcast – with each episode tailored to a specific week of pregnancy – allows an advertiser to deliver a hyper-focused message that can evolve as the listener moves through pregnancy.

The full series was produced in partnership with Panoply, a podcast network from Slate magazine. Partnering with Panoply enables dynamic ad insertion and targeting for future podcast sponsors in real-time, instead of stitching ads into each podcast before it is released.

The Meredith Parents Network is a collection of parenting brands targeting millennial women – Parents, FamilyFun, Ser Padres, Parents Latina and Fit Pregnancy and Baby as well as FitPregnancy.com, Parents.com and Parenting.com – reflecting the multi-faceted experience of what it means to be a mom today. The brands reach moms through dynamic media platforms that engage them in ways they can personally relate to in the moments, places, and languages that are meaningful to them. The Meredith Parents Network reaches a combined audience of over 30 million readers, while the digital properties reach over 11 million unduplicated unique monthly visitors and have a social reach of over 5 million followers.

ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION

Meredith Corporation has been committed to service journalism for more than 110 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms – including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners.

Meredith's National Media Group reaches 100 million unduplicated women every month, including 60 percent of American Millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating and distributing content across platforms in key consumer interest areas such as food, home, parenting and health through well-known brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes, Parents and Shape. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities, including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is a leader at developing and delivering custom content and customer relationship marketing programs for many of the world's top brands, including Kraft, Lowe's and NBC Universal.

Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households. Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 – including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis and Portland – and 13 in Top 50 markets. Meredith's stations produce approximately 650 hours of local news and entertainment content each week, and operate leading local digital destinations.

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SOURCE Meredith Corporation

For further information: Patrick Taylor, 212/551-6984; Patrick.Taylor@meredith.com; or Meghan Heide 212/551/7072; Meghan.Heide@meredith.com