• by Sara Guaglione , September 28, 2017

Meredith Corp. is launching a wellness and health vertical called Strive, which will be distributed on Facebook and on hubs across five of its titles, including Martha Stewart, Shape, Better Homes & Gardens, Parents and Eating Well.

“We wanted to specifically address the health and wellness questions we saw consumers seeking,” Marc Rothschild, SVP of Meredith Digital told Publishers Daily. 

Rothschild said there was an “influx of folks” who were searching for this category of content on Meredith's sites.

Topics covered by Strive will include health, nutrition, fitness and beauty for Meredith's female audience, which the publisher claims is 110 million unduplicated U.S. women and 70% of American millennial women.

When asked why the publisher decided not to give Strive its own dedicated site, Rothschild said the goal is to “incubate the brand in our own roots, rather than drive people to another URL.”

“You don’t want to drive people off your own site. We already have a very large audience interested in the topic. Why should we feel like we have to carry them somewhere else to deliver what they’re seeking?” he added. 

“You need to reach out and find consumers wherever they are."

Rothschild said this is a “smarter, short-term approach,” but as the brand grows, the publisher is “not adverse to give [Strive] its own site.”

Strive has a team of about 10 dedicated to the new vertical. Jennifer Braunschweiger, editor-in-chief of Strive, will work in collaboration with the editors of Meredith’s titles to create unique content to fit each brand's specific audience. Braunschweiger previously served as section editor for More, Good Housekeeping and Seventeen.

Editorial will include stories on aging, food recipes and interviews. Braunschweiger said video will be a large component of Strive, and it will begin to roll out next month. She said Strive differs from other health and wellness brands because all of its editorial will be backed by research and peer-reviewed medical studies.

“Our intensive review process means that every scientific claim is backed up with well-established medical studies—and we provide links to those studies in our stories so you can understand the science behind the recommendations,” she stated.

But Strive is not WebMD, she added, and neither is it Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle site often criticized for its bogus health advice.

“We will be exploring [health and wellness] from a personal perspective, but we are backing up everything with science," Braunschweiger said.

Going forward, Rothschild said the company will explore opportunities to partner with brands for Strive’s content.