Mamamia goes fewer, bigger, deeper for 2027

In a market drowning in content, Mamamia has decided the answer is to do less.

The network will unveil its 2027 strategy at its UpClose events in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney this month, and the pitch to advertisers fits on a tote bag: fewer, bigger, deeper. Translated from upfronts-speak, that means putting the money behind the shows that already work, turning them into franchises, and giving brands a seat inside the show instead of a spot near it.

“Content has been commodified. There’s infinite content right now, and most of it is noise. The scarce thing is trust, and in our business trust lives in our shows,” said Mamamia CEO Luca Lavigne. “So, that’s what we’re building the whole business around.”

How Mamamia got to House of Brands

Mamamia moved to a house of brands model at its 2025 upfronts. Instead of selling one masthead, it would sell a portfolio of distinct, audience-led brands, each with its own following.

Twelve months on, the network says the bet has paid off. Out Loud hit 1.2 million monthly listeners on the Triton Australian Podcast Ranker in March 2026, the biggest monthly audience any Australian podcast has recorded. It then grew monthly listeners 46% year-on-year in August.

“Out Loud took 10 years to become the biggest podcast in the country, and it’s still growing,” Lavigne said. “That’s what happens when you concentrate your investment in the shows that have earned it.”

A year of records

Out Loud wasn’t the only show to grow. No Filter lifted downloads 16.5% year-on-year in August 2026. The Spill more than doubled its downloads over the same period and grew unique listeners by 45%. Across the network, lifetime podcast downloads have passed half a billion, and Mamamia’s social platforms pull more than 100 million organic views a month.

Content Director Ruth Devine said the more useful number is what listeners do after they hear the ad. Mamamia’s own research shows that 82% of listeners trust recommendations from its podcast hosts.

“Women who listen to Mamamia podcasts place genuine trust in our hosts. We know they purchase recommendations, share ideas and perspectives in their group chats and invite their friends and families to be a part of the show community as well,” Devine said. “Being trusted like that is not something we take lightly.”

X, Y and Z, and the Household CFO

Mamamia says it is the only Australian media company with brands built for each of Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z.

For Gen X, Unleashed has passed 1.5 million downloads since launching in early 2026 and sold out its first live event, Spring Fling. Millennial women make up the largest audience for Out Loud, The Spill and You Beauty. Gen Z gets In The Comments, which launched in July 2026 and passed 10 million organic views across TikTok and Instagram in its first three months.

The commercial argument leans hardest on Gen X, the generation Mamamia calls the “CFO of the household” and says advertisers keep overlooking. According to the network, 71% of its podcast listeners have bought a product after hearing about it on a Mamamia show, and 81% of the audience is involved in household financial decisions.

What the advertisers say

The UpClose pitch comes with three clients on the record.

Škoda Australia’s Marketing Communications Manager Chloe Chan said the Mamamia campaign for the new Elroq lifted the model “from sixth to equal second within its competitive set among exposed audiences.”

Uber Eats Senior Marketing Manager Rebecca Macciolli said the partnership pushed “the boundaries of traditional brand integrations,” with grocery consideration uplift beating targets.

Youi Media Strategist Cameron Law said the insurer’s Out Loud tie-in, “What would you do next?”, moved “hard-to-move metrics such as Positive Impression, Trust, Consideration and Recommendation.” He added that campaign ROI rose steadily, “multiplying by over 4x from the start of the partnership.”

What’s Coming in 2027

Out Loud is the template. It already has live events, special episodes, merch, newsletters, social communities and spin-offs. In 2027, Mamamia wants the same model running across the network, and it revealed new extensions of existing brands at UpClose.

Video plays a big part. Mamamia moved its shows to vodcast early, and 36% of network downloads are now video.

For advertisers, bigger ecosystems mean deeper integrations and more category exclusivity, sold through what Mamamia calls Platinum Partnerships.

“Every brand extension you’ll see at UpClose is a new way for a brand to sit inside a show the audience already trusts, rather than around it,” said National Sales Director Lanai Wiadrowski. “And we want partners building with us.”

The insight behind the launches comes from State of Women, Mamamia’s annual longitudinal study of Australian women. In its fourth year, the sample has grown from 1,500 respondents to more than 6,000.

Fewer shows, more respondents. Somebody at Mamamia clearly knows when to go small and when to go big.