Time Inc. is taking a mobile-first stance on two new Web sites that focus on beauty and career content, furthering the brand's appeal to women. 

British beauty retail site Powder and career-centric Motto are Time Inc.?s new digital brands, which hope to draw in a younger crowd of women by relying on a mobile-first strategy to reach the audience where they spend the most time. Time Inc. is focusing on not only creating content which fits with what these individuals are looking for, but also providing them with seamless reading experiences on devices they are using most to continue its evolution into the modern age. 

"Mobile is where readers are spending more and more time, and we want to make sure we are delivering them news and information in the format they prefer," said Callie Schweitzer, editorial director at Motto. "We feel similarly about why social media and social sharing are so important to highlight on the site. 

"We want to be where our readers are," she said. "Over the last two years, we have seen a huge expansion of our digital audience at TIME. 

"Nearly half of that is millennials. When we looked more closely at the popularity of our self-improvement content, we discovered that it was millennial women who were the most passionate and most engaged with that content, and they were looking for more."

Millennial women on mobile
Powder is a new beauty Web site which launched in Britain and provides readers with editorial content surrounding hair, nails, skincare, makeup etc., but also incorporates a retail strategy creating a one-stop shop for fans. The Motto publication was created for the US, and focuses on more serious content for women on important topics in the workplace such as unfair wage gaps. 


Time Inc.'s new beauty retail site

These Web sites? interfaces were designed with a mobile-first mindset, to make sure the significant traffic seen on smaller devices will not have a lesser or frustrating experience. It is now imperative for brands to think of content in terms of how it will come across on different devices, while also catering to information readers will want to see. 

Mobile market growth
Publications that cater to women should not be the only ones moving to a mobile-first strategy. Hispanic and millennial consumers are proving to be the most active mobile readers for publication content, as media brands with these audiences are experiencing significantly higher traffic on untethered devices, according to a study by SimilarWeb (see more). 

?I have seen older publishing houses struggling with the move from print to desktop, which objectively has not happened too long ago,? said Gil Regev, chief marketing officer at Marfeel. ?From layouts and user experience, to how to monetize without charging subscriptions for content consumption, desktop was challenging enough. 

?Mobile poses new challenges, which most publishers are still struggling to cope with,? he said. ?The size of screens has proven extremely challenging for many, with most going for a mobile-friendly version, which simply stacks content pieces one on top of the other, disregarding user experience, engagement and monetization. 

?When it comes to a mobile-first approach you basically build your strategy upside down. You let go of your subscription efforts, tap into the mobile advertising world, and also need to come up with a layout that fits branding, content, navigation and monetization into a tiny screen, and while creating a visually-appealing experience that loads fast and pushes for deeper engagement.?