By Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks

For a long time, the traditional model for media companies was simple: capture attention, convert it, build an audience, package the content and sell the ads.

But over the past 12 months, it’s become clear that this model is breaking. Attitudes are shifting and at the centre of that shift is the Gen Z and Millennial female audience.

The power of this audience is undeniable. We witnessed it when women drove the cultural moment around Barbie back in 2023, with women aged 25-plus making up 38 percent of the audience in the weeks following its release. 

We saw it again in the sporting world, from the surge in female viewership during the Super Bowl amid the so-called Taylor Swift effect (after she went public with her relationship with Travis Kelce), to the groundswell of support for the Matildas following the FIFA Women’s World Cup (I recommend reading this recap here). The female audience had always been there – they just weren’t being catered to in a way that resonated with them.

But Gen Z and Millennial women are also the most marketed-to, over-surveyed, hyper-aware audience ever. They know when content has been engineered for them and delivered at them, rather than built with them – and, increasingly, it’s showing that they’re opting out, scrolling past and disengaging. 

Research backs this up: in Australia, the gap in news interest among women is one of the widest globally. And according to The Growth Distillery, only one in three Gen Z consumers feel accurately represented in advertising, while just one in five believe brands genuinely connect with people their age. Half say they disengage when brands try too hard to force a connection. Nearly half also reject campaigns built on stereotypes. A third switch off from overused, scripted partnerships.

Finding the right marketing mix

We’ve felt this shift in real time at Missing Perspectives. We’re an Aussie-founded women’s media start-up platforming stories that matter to young women. 

Alongside our editorial platform, we’ve scaled two flagship podcasts over the last year: Momentum, our women’s sports show hosted by Kat Sasso, and Booksmart, hosted by Allie Daisy King and Sunny Adcock. One lesson we’ve learned by building these two products is that attention doesn’t equal trust. And without trust, content doesn’t convert in any meaningful or lasting way for our predominantly young female audience.

Which is why this year, we’re doubling down on community, events and building offline experiences that build a sense of connection. The most powerful moments haven’t been the viral posts or high-performing articles – they’ve been the rooms, the offline moments and the conversations with our audience. The offline moments where our audience feels part of something – not just spoken to or being served native content, but included. 

Recently, we hosted a private dinner bringing together young Australian activists, founders and organisers with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his longtime chief of staff and gender equality advocate Katie Telford. There were no brand banners, no rigid content plan, just a room designed for connection and trust. To be in a room with an impactful group of young people and to be with our community in real time was a feeling that I’m going to be chasing for the rest of the year, and rebuild our strategy around. 

We’re seeing it in sport, too. Our women’s sports show Momentum has moved beyond the feed and into physical spaces – from live recordings at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion to AFL Gather Round in Adelaide. Because fans don’t just want to listen; we’ve found that they want to be there too. And we’re getting inbounds from brands across the country that are starting to learn this, too.

For years, marketing to women – particularly young women – has been framed as a messaging problem, and not getting the tone right. But the truth is: you can’t message your way into trust anymore, because it’s being built through connection, community and in offline spaces. 

We’re rethinking what a media company actually is in today’s world. Of course we’ll continue to publish content across our website, podcasts, socials and newsletters. But, increasingly, we’re focusing on the community layer that sits beneath it all – because community events aren’t just an extension of our brand; they’re becoming the engine of our entire mission and company.

It’s clear that the brands that will win with Gen Z and Millennial women won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets or the loudest messages or the most targeted ads on Instagram. They’ll be the ones that create spaces, physical or otherwise, where people feel something real and authentic.

Brands are going to have to build something worth showing up for.

Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks is the founder of Missing Perspectives 

Images: Supplied

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