News Australia puts trust at centre of new health push
Better Men, The Happiness Project and Health of the Nation lead News Australia’s expanded health pitch.
News Australia has used its Beyond '27 upfront to make a case for credibility over volume in health, wellness and beauty, unveiling new commercial platforms built around sustainable wellbeing, expert-led content and trusted editorial environments.
The publisher introduced Better Men and The Happiness Project, alongside an expanded, video-first Health of the Nation 2027. The initiatives form part of a broader push to help advertisers connect with consumers who are increasingly overwhelmed by conflicting health and wellness advice.
The announcements were made during the Health, Wellness and Beauty instalment of Beyond '27, News Australia’s five-session intelligence series for marketers.
Sustainable progress replaces transformation
The Growth Distillery General Manager Leigh Lavery told the audience that growth in the category would increasingly come from sustainable progress rather than dramatic transformation or constant optimisation.
Research presented at the event found 57 per cent of Australians are content to maintain their current health status. At the same time, 65 per cent are looking for new health goals that could put them in a better place.
The leading media trade publication in Australia.
Get our top stories straight to your inbox daily by signing up to our Newsletter
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services.
The findings suggest the two ambitions are not mutually exclusive. Rather than chasing radical change, News Australia argues consumers increasingly want realistic improvements they can maintain.
“Perfection is a transaction. Sustainable progress is a subscription,” Lavery said, arguing that brands built around achievable, repeatable progress have an opportunity to create longer-term relationships with consumers.
Choice overload is also becoming a problem. Some 59 per cent of Australians said there is so much conflicting wellness advice that it is difficult to know what, and who, to trust. That figure rises to 65 per cent among women.
Credibility becomes a commercial signal
News Australia also used the session to argue that visible expertise is becoming more important as consumers encounter more health claims through social platforms and AI-generated content.
Internal audience data presented by The Growth Distillery showed content containing a clear credibility signal generated 64 per cent more subscriber pageviews, on average, across the News Australia network than content without one. Those signals included a named expert, a stated qualification or a specialist byline.
“Credibility is a format, not a tone,” Lavery said. “Anyone can sound authoritative.”
His argument was that increasingly sceptical consumers are looking for expertise they can verify, rather than simply confident language or ambitious claims.
The consumer research was drawn from The Growth Distillery’s Lighthouse Consumer Sentiment Tracker from May 2026.
Better Men targets an underserved audience
Better Men will focus on fatherhood, mental health and modern family life, combining editorial content, practical resources and support for new fathers.
news.com.au Deputy Editor Liz Burke said the initiative will initially focus on new dads, with News Australia aiming to make mental health checks standard for fathers during the early stages of parenthood.
Burke said research showed men are at their highest risk of suicide when they become new fathers, yet most formal support during that period remains focused on mothers.
She illustrated the gap through her own experience after becoming a parent. Burke recalled a difficult night around nine weeks after the birth of her child, when both she and her husband reached breaking point after hours of trying to settle their baby.
The following morning, a maternal and child health nurse unexpectedly called Burke to check on her wellbeing. The nurse offered another appointment and reminded her of the support services available to new mothers.
Her husband had been through the same night, but received no equivalent call or proactive check-in. Burke said he ultimately sought support himself, but argued many fathers do not.
Better Men is intended to address that gap, beginning with mental health support for new dads before expanding into other issues affecting Australian men.
Happiness moves up the health agenda
The Happiness Project will address what News Australia says is a shift in the way Australians define health, with happiness emerging as a leading goal ahead of areas including healthy ageing, diet and stress reduction.
The commercial platform will bring together editorial content, expert advice and brand opportunities across mind, movement, food, travel and relationships.
Health of the Nation will also return in 2027 with a greater emphasis on video and sustainable wellbeing. The annual research-led initiative will be supported by a four-week cross-platform content program focused on practical health habits.
Across its wider health, wellness and beauty portfolio, News Australia says it reaches 13.9 million Australians each month through brands including Body+Soul, news.com.au, Escape, Kidspot and Taste.
Glamour and Myer take beauty beyond media
The event also put a spotlight on the Australian launch of Glamour and its partnership with Myer, with both businesses positioning the relationship as more than a traditional media buy.
Glamour Australia Editor Remy Rippon said the title had been designed primarily for Gen Z and younger millennial audiences, launching first on Instagram and TikTok before expanding to its website.
Myer General Manager Beauty Isobel McNally said the partnership would extend into the retailer’s physical environment, including its Sydney store, as Myer looks to put more emphasis on service, discovery and a new generation of beauty customers.
The two businesses are planning content and retail activity together across the year, including editorial talent, social content, in-store experiences and opportunities to tell brand stories through founders, ambassadors and trainers.
For Rippon, the approach means adapting content to each platform rather than replicating the same creative across TikTok, Instagram, web and print. McNally said the bigger opportunity for brands was to think beyond visibility and focus on relevance to the audience at the moment they encounter the content.
From attention to belief
News Australia Chief Revenue Officer Lou Barrett said the commercial proposition ultimately comes back to where consumers form trust before making a decision.
“Decisions in health, wellness and beauty are deeply personal and people are looking for clarity over noise,” Barrett said.
“In a category where action is driven by belief rather than impulse, simply buying attention is no longer enough. Real growth comes from building authority in trusted editorial environments where consumers go for guidance because attention is easy to buy, but belief is where the growth is.”
More from Mediaweek
The leading media trade publication in Australia.
Get our top stories straight to your inbox daily by signing up to our Newsletter
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services.
