Bath magazine publishing company Anthem has acquired the multi-award-winning Women’s Running magazine from London-based Wild Bunch Media.
Launched in 2010, Women’s Running was named Consumer Magazine of the Year 2011 and Consumer Media Brand of the Year 2015 at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards, as well as winning four other industry awards.
It is the UK’s only running title dedicated to helping women enjoy and improve their running. In 2013 it launched women’s 10K races in Bristol, Nottingham and London.
The deal includes the Women’s Running website, which has more than 90,000 unique users a month, as well as 220,000 Facebook followers. It does not affect Men’s Running, which remains a Wild Bunch Media brand.
Anthem Publishing was launched 16 years ago by three former executives at Bath media group Future. It publishes consumer magazines focused in the music, food and craft sectors with titles including Food Heaven, Free-From Heaven, Classic Pop and the multi-platform Music Tech, which was the first title it launched and now the music-making magazine with the biggest multi-platform audience in the UK,
Other Anthem titles include Long Live Vinyl, and Ultimate Dot2Dot, the world’s best-selling title in its sector.
CEO Jon Bickley said: “We’re delighted to bring Women’s Running on board at Anthem to join our emerging group of women’s wellness brands. Women’s Running is a title I’ve admired for many years for its powerfully strong editorial proposition and the unique relationship it enjoys with its readers and advertisers.
“We can’t wait to immerse ourselves in this market and bring the same levels of investment and focus to it that have proved successful with our own titles such as Vegan Food & Living and Colouring Heaven .”
Wild Bunch Media managing director Nick Troop added, “We are incredibly proud of what Women’s Running has achieved. Since our launch, we have welcomed thousands of women into running with a strong ethos of inclusivity and empowerment. We believe Anthem is the perfect fit to take the brand to the next level and continue to reach women across the UK who want to make running part of a healthier lifestyle.”
