Australian Women’s Weekly turns 93-year archive into paid membership play

The Australian Women’s Weekly is moving into paid membership, turning its Test Kitchen archive, food authority and 93-year publishing legacy into a new subscription product.

My Women’s Weekly gives members access to premium content, seasonal weekly recipe plans, monthly digital masterclasses, dining events, digital magazine access, cookbook discounts and member offers.

The platform draws on more than 27,000 recipes from The Weekly Test Kitchen, while adding new food talent, live experiences and commercial partnerships around the brand.

The launch comes alongside a refreshed brand platform, with Australian Women, for life, which positions The Weekly across food, health, finance, travel and community.

Sally Eagle, CEO of Are Media, said the membership launch follows a "significant" investment in the company’s digital and audience infrastructure.

“This creates a more direct connection with our audience and reflects the significant investment we have made in our digital and audience infrastructure over recent years, allowing us to build richer, more connected experiences across our brands and platforms,” Eagle said.

The membership model gives Are Media a new way to build recurring revenue around one of its best-known publishing brands, while creating a more defined audience proposition for advertisers and commercial partners.

Food sits at the centre of the rollout. The Weekly is adding MasterChef Australia alumni Laura Sharrad and Depinder Chhibber, alongside food creator and author Karima-Chloe Hazim, to work with food director Fran Abdallaoui and The Weekly Test Kitchen.

Jocelin Abbey, general manager, homes and lifestyle at Are Media, said the new talent line-up is designed to broaden the brand’s food voice and reflect a more diverse Australia.

“We know that women need to see themselves represented in our audience, and that was a big part of this decision,” Abbey said. “How do we reflect different cultures, different cuisines and help to platform a far greater mix, so that we are representative of all Australians.”

Abbey said working on The Weekly meant dealing with a brand that had tracked major shifts in Australian life through the lens of food, family and practical support.

“When you think about everything that our society has been through - wars, different trends, themes, nutritional information, it’s a cultural commentary through the lens of food and really support systems for Australian women,” Abbey said.

“It just feels like such an honour to be able to work on what is this next evolution, what is this next phase for the brand for the next 100 years, so we can keep it sustainable for generations to come.”

The Weekly’s food archive is also being reshaped into more practical products. Abbey said one early focus is helping readers solve the weekly decision fatigue around what to cook for dinner.

The membership will include weekly meal plans drawn from The Weekly’s recipe archive and delivered to members’ inboxes. Are Media is also working towards one-click-to-cart integration, allowing readers to add ingredients from meal plans directly into an online grocery cart.

The move shows how legacy publishing brands are looking beyond page views and print circulation, using archive content and habit-forming utility to create deeper audience relationships.

The Weekly is also expanding its finance content, led by Effie Zahos, as part of its broader editorial structure across community, food, finance, health and travel.

Abbey said the audience profile is younger than many might expect, with an average age of 47 across platforms. The brand is also finding younger audiences through cultural touchpoints such as The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book, including renewed attention around the Duck Cake through Bluey, Hamish and Andy and creator-led activations.

The food strategy builds on recent brand partnerships. Abbey pointed to The Weekly’s Arnott’s cookbook collaboration, which she said contributed to a roughly 20% increase in Choc Ripple sales, with the book bringing two long-running Australian brands together through new content.

My Women’s Weekly will also launch with a new Smeg partnership, integrating the appliance brand across Test Kitchen content, seasonal recipes, digital masterclasses, social content, live events and member experiences.

Francesca Cissell, head of marketing at Smeg, said the partnership connects the appliance brand with Australian households through trusted food content.

For commercial partners, the membership model creates a clearer path into events, content, recipes, talent, shopping behaviour and first-party audience insight.

“Membership marks a new chapter for The Weekly, moving from a brand Australian women have read for generations to a community that they actively belong to,” Abbey said.

“My Women’s Weekly is built to deepen that relationship, giving women richer access to our Test Kitchen, our talent and the experiences they have told us they want more of.

The launch follows Are Media’s recent expansion into vodcasting through a partnership with iHeart and continues the publisher’s push to build more direct audience relationships across its portfolio.