Six of the UK’s largest publishers have banded together to launch a programmatic advertising platform, Atria, that gives brands access to larger, addressable audiences in one place.
Atria is designed to let advertisers reach targeted readers of a wealth of premium online magazine environments all through one marketplace. Publishers Bauer, Future, Hearst UK, Hello!, Immediate and Time Out are all taking part, which Atria says will bring in a combined reach of 33 million consumers.
Cath Waller, managing director for advertising at Immediate and chair of PPA Magnetic, told MediaCat that each publisher might have a handful of readers in an advertiser’s desired audience, but through Atria, all of those smaller groups can be reached through just one platform.
‘You get a bigger targetable, addressable audience, which makes it much easier for the client,’ she explained. ‘Instead of the advertiser, via their agency, going to six different websites trying to find those people and setting up different deal IDs, this is set up as a premium programmatic buy. This is about saving time, making it much more easy, and much more scaled. In the digital ad world, people are always looking to scale.’
According to Atria, 48% of UK adults can be reached at one or more of these websites, with a range of specialist magazines from Empire to Good Housekeeping taking part. Atria is hosted by Permutive, which turns publishers’ first-party audience data into a platform where advertisers and agencies can plan and book across trusted editorial environments at scale.
‘Permutive categorises our users that are coming to all our different sites into different targetable categories,’ Waller said. ‘Say someone is coming to Good Food and also Good Housekeeping, and they look at three vegan recipes in a period of time, Permutive would categorise them as interested in vegan recipes. Not necessarily vegan, but interested in vegan recipes. They would go into a vegan segment and then if a client’s target audience is vegans, it would target those people across the whole portfolio.’
She described the data collection as ‘really robust’ and based on ‘strong data signals’ that consumers are placed in the correct categories — as opposed to relying on one visit to one article years ago.
‘We can guarantee that we’re targeting exactly the right person,’ she concluded.
Charlotte Taylor, head of non-AV trading at PMX Publicis commented: ‘Magazine brands have always been built on trust and credibility, qualities that matter more than ever. For advertisers, having access to responsible, high-quality environments means confidence that their campaigns are landing in the right context and making a real impact.’
Magazines are already known as a trust-rich environment for advertisers, and Waller pointed out that for hobbyist titles, like cooking publications, readers are likely to stay on-page for much longer than other websites. When following a recipe, for example, readers will keep the recipe open the entire time they are cooking to keep checking next steps.
‘The overarching thing that connects magazine media is that it’s very focused around passions and special interests — from food to gardening to cars to travel to cycling to golf,’ Waller explained. ‘Our readers are deeply connected to their passion. They come to us for advice which they know is accurate, verified, accountable, and hits all the editorial standards we would expect. In a world of AI content where no one knows what to believe, our readers come to us knowing that what we have is accurate and verified. You have that very real trust.’
‘This will make it simpler for agencies and advertisers to plan with confidence, ensuring quality, transparency, and scale in one place,’ added Michelle Sarpong, head of activation at The7Stars. ‘In a market where context and credibility matter more than ever, having easier access to premium, brand-safe inventory from trusted editorial environments is a real advantage. This kind of initiative is a win for everyone.’
‘There are no brand safety issues,’ Waller asserted. ‘All of these sites are premium. From an advertiser point of view, getting your products in that environment, there is no better place to do that. That’s what all our members do with their own brands, but with Atria, it’s easier to buy at scale.’
