For more than a decade, Mia Freedman has been one of the defining forces in Australian media, shaping how millions of women consume news, culture and commerce.
When she talks about how she builds hits, she does not describe herself as a trend forecaster, but as a proxy for the audience, someone who senses what women want just before they know how to ask for it.
That instinct is now being turned into a business strategy with the launch of Unleashed, Mamamia’s new Gen X-focused content brand and podcast.
“Look, you’ve got to always, you know, identify a gap in the market and then establish that there is a market in that gap, right?” Freedman told Mediaweek.
“Because it’s not just about me – you always walk in your audience’s shoes. So instead of thinking about what you want to put out there, you think about what they’re looking for.”
In this case, she saw a cohort slipping quietly out of the media conversation.
“We’re always audience-led, and it became really clear that the content marketed to Gen X women and the way Gen X women were sort of spoken to was either very midlife heavy,” she said. “And overlaid onto that, Gen X women are moving away from the news. They also have a lot going on in their lives.”
Left to right. Mia Freedman Co-Founder Mamamia, Producer UNLEASHED,
Mary Coustas, Sally Hepworth, Dr Ginni Mansberg, Cath Mahoney, Bruna Papandrea and Grace Lam
The CFO of the household
That audience is now at the centre of the largest wealth transfer Australia has ever seen, with trillions set to move into the hands of women who are simultaneously funding children, caring for ageing parents and managing their own peak earning years.
It is a commercial force that Mamamia believes has been hiding in plain sight.
“Well, it’s a woman, no matter what household it is,” Freedman said.
“What’s interesting about our business is that we’re moving to a House of Brands, reaching almost eight million Australian women every month. That covers three generations, sometimes four. So that’s why theHouse of Brands strategy has been so successful for us, because it means we can target and help marketers target specific demographics and generations of women.”
For Chief Content Officer Zara Curtis, that demographic has a name.
“The woman we’re talking about is someone we call the CFO of the household,” Curtis told Mediaweek.
“She’s not only about to inherit the money, but she’s looking at the three generational spendings, usually with teenage children, usually with her and a partner, and sometimes with parenting as well. So the money is there.”
Curtis said the commercial case was impossible to ignore, adding a reason for pursuing a story or a creative endeavour that every writer can relate to.
“There was the research, but originally, Mia just had the feels for it. She knew that this was what women wanted. Then, looking at the statistics and where brands are playing, we had to make a business case. And the business case stacks up.”
The feels. The vibe. Sure, it sounds ephemeral, maybe even a little bit woo-woo, but that sense of just knowing what works is a talent you simply can’t teach.
Turning instinct into a commercial engine
Unleashed sits squarely inside Mamamia’s house-of-brands strategy, giving advertisers a way to speak directly to Gen X women without diluting into a broad female demo.
It is designed to be funny, cultural and community-driven rather than anxious or purely informational.
“There’s no show for Gen X women that’s funny, positive, not angsty, not about just about menopause,” Freedman said.
“And where women can sort of be with other women their age, along with all the cultural references and lifestyle references that go on.”
The project was not effortless.
“God knows I didn’t get it right first attempt,” she said.
“I worked with [Mamamia’s former Director of Podcasts] Monique Bowley, and she really pushed me. Then we listened, and it didn’t work. And then we had to cast it. It’s very different to Out Loud, but we think there’s nothing like it in the market at the moment.”
For Curtis, the payoff is already showing up in the sales conversations.
“We’re taking that to market, and it’s really resonating because our brands are built around bullseye audience segments,” she said.
“For us, the House of Brands strategy is a deliberate approach to build relevance for that audience, and my job really is to get them top-of-funnel into the brand, and then right through that ecosystem to as deep as we can take it.”
That includes giving marketers more precision in how they spend.
“We’re able to unpack brand briefs a lot better and customise those to the needs of the brand and the needs of the CMO,” Curtis said.
“So it allows us to triage through that space, and often we’ll stitch them together, because we can see crossover audiences and crossover intersections.”
Why Mamamia is confident
Freedman believes Unleashed works for the same reason many of Mamamia’s biggest successes have.
“I’m very basic and very, very ordinary,” she laughed. “I’m not a futurist. I’m not exceptional. But I’m sort of like at the front of the sheep. Like, I’ll just get there a little bit earlier.”
The idea came together as she stepped back from the relentless news cycle and undertook a creative reset.
“The more I looked into it and talked to other women, we landed on that timeline for Gen X women who need a laugh right now,” she said.
And, unusually in podcasting, the market bought it immediately.
“We pretty much sold it in the room. Doesn’t happen often in the world of podcasting,” Freedman said.
For Mamamia, Unleashed is not just a show. It is a signal that Australia’s most powerful spending cohort is finally being given a media product and an advertising platform built just for them.