| Type | Private (KG) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing, Broadcasting |
| Founded | 1875 |
| Headquarters | Hamburg, Germany |
| Area served | Europe, USA, China, Russia |
| Revenue | / Turnover €1.79 Billion Euro (2006) |
| Employees | 6,400 |
| Subsidiaries | Bauer Radio Box Television (50% stake) |
| Website | www.bauerverlag.de |
The Bauer Media Group (Bauer Verlagsgruppe) is a large German publishing company based in Hamburg, which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately-owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer.
Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week.[1]
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Bauer Verlagsgruppe has been managed by four generations of the Bauer family. Originally a small printing house, The Bauer Publishing Group has grown into a worldwide publishing and media company. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. Bauer started in the UK with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987 and as H Bauer Publishing became Britain's third largest publisher. Bauer further expanded in the UK with the purchase of Emap Consumer Media and Emap Radio in 2008 to become the UK's biggest publishing group. The companies continue to trade as H Bauer Publishing - MD David Goodchild, and Bauer Consumer Media - CE Paul Keenan.[2]
H Bauer brands include women's weekly and TV listings magazines; namely Bella, Take a Break, that's life! TVChoice and Total TVGuide as well as a number of puzzle magazines.
In 1987 Bella was H Bauer's first venture into publishing in the UK. Bella sought to make an impact in the UK magazine market by mixing previously unseen real-life editorial with the classic elements more traditionally associated with women's magazines such as fashion and beauty, cookery and practical home features. Today's Bella has evolved with the changing shape of society to reflect the role played by modern women.
In 1990, H Bauer gained attention with the launch of Take a Break magazine. Take a Break sits in the true life market of the women's weekly sector and quickly became market leader with an ABC audited circulation of over one million sales. Up until 2005 there were only three women's magazines dedicated to delivering true life editorial, one of which was H Bauer's sister title, that's life! (launched in 1995). Since then the sector has become increasingly competitive with a series of high profile launches that saw the number of titles in the market expand to seven magazines all fighting for market share. Take a Break has retained its lead position in the market, and a number of brand extensions have seen H Bauer's business expand to include puzzle magazines that carry the Take a Break name.
1991 saw H Bauer's first foray into TV listings publishing with the launch of TVQuick magazine. The UK is a nation of TV lovers and traditionally the TV listings magazine market was divided between buyers of Radio Times (launched 1923) and TV Times (launched 1955), depending very much on people's viewing preferences. In 1991 there were two launches into the sector What's on TV was launched by IPC media and H Bauer launched TVQuickwhich sought to provide readers with a listings magazine that combined women's weekly magazine features, TVQuick ceased publication in July 2010. In 1999 H Bauer launched TVChoice at a relatively low price, to provide an alternative to the then market leader (according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations ) What's on TV. TVChoice overtook its main competitor in the February 2008 audited ABCS and has been the number one magazine sold in the UK ever since, reflecting the UK's continued interest in all matters TV related. TVChoice runs an annual TV awards in which readers are encouraged to vote for their favourite TV programmes and personalities. As developments in UK television progressed, H Bauer launched Total TVGuide in September 2003 to cover the increasing number of programmes available on freeview.
Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt the music press of the time ignored a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modeled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing, with an emphasis on style.
The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicized music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behaviour of the celebrities who attend the event.
In spring 2010, Bauer caused controversy with its attempt to unilaterally impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, which takes away their copyright and off-loads liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto the contributor. 200 photographers and writers from Q and Bauer's other music magazines, Kerrang! and MOJO were reported as refusing to work under the new terms. [3]
Kerrang! TV specialises in Rock Music. As of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist. It is based on format of Kerrang! brand from Bauer which also exists in Kerrang Radio and Kerrang! magazine.
See: Bauer Radio.
Bauer Media Group has a 50% stake in the British television company Box Television, the other half owned by Channel 4. Box Television acts as the content subsidiary that produces several popular music television channels, which include:
Bauer Verlagsgruppe has offices located all over the world, they are located in the following countries:
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