Bauer Media strengthens digital strategies, noting significant growth in the segment, hiring seasoned multi-media sales executive Christopher Yates as VP of digital operations to further expand digital presence

Aimee Bellah

NEW YORK , March 5, 2014 (press release) – Bauer Media today announced that David Perel will join the company as Editorial Director of the Bauer entertainment titles In Touch and Life & Style, effective immediately. We thank Dan Wakeford for his invaluable efforts in maintaining Bauer’s leadership position in the celebrity newsstand category.

Most recently Mr. Perel served as the President of Next Act Media, Inc. where he specialized in innovative cross-platform solutions for content creation and revenue enhancement. Previously he served as the Executive Vice President of Digital Content for American Media Inc. where he helped to build significant digital presence for their print brands in addition to developing new revenue streams.

“David is an extraordinary editor and we are thrilled to have someone of his caliber join the company, to continue our newsstand success,” said Sebastian Raatz, Executive Vice-President of Bauer Publishing. “His strong relationships in the entertainment industry as well as his success in developing digital platforms will be invaluable to our business efforts moving forward.”

As part of his digital responsibilities, Mr. Perel conceived and executed the successful re-launch of RadarOnline.com, increasing its unique visitors from 1 million to 10 million and turning the site into a “media powerhouse” (as described by the Daily Beast) while winning 10 journalism awards in the process. A magazine industry veteran, he began his journalism career at The Washington Post.

The appointment of Mr. Perel reflects Bauer’s emphasis on digital for both the editorial and advertising sides of the business; in a separate move Christopher Yates was introduced as the VP Digital for the Bauer Media Group.

“We’re very excited to have Chris join our team,” said Marc Richards, VP/Group Publisher of the Bauer Media Group. “He is a seasoned multi-media sales executive with proven success building businesses. Chris will help us expand our presence in the digital arena which is seeing rapid growth, as evidenced by the successful re-launch of our J14 teen website which is the fastest growing entertainment brand on Facebook, adding more than 100,000 organic fans per week at its peak. Having started with 500,000 Facebook fans in June 2013, J-14 now has more than 2,750,000 fans, making it the second largest US teen brand on Facebook.”

Mr. Yates prior experience includes stints as the Vice President Digital for Time Inc. as well as senior-level sales positions at Wenner Media, Scholastic and Viacom.

About Bauer Publishing Bauer Publishing is the No. 1 seller of magazines on the newsstand, connecting with a nationwide audience of active, engaged newsstand consumers at every life stage – from tweens and teens (M, J-14, Twist, Quizfest, Astrogirl, Life Story, Girls World) to young women (In Touch Weekly, Life & Style Weekly) to baby boomers and beyond (Woman’s World, FIRST, Closer, Soaps In Depth, Celebrate! with Woman’s World)..

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