Katie Vanneck Smith, CEO, Hearst UK, celebrates the wins from 2025 and sets her sights on the year ahead.

Looking back on the past year, what have been some of the standout moments or achievements for your business?

2025 has been a year of innovation and growth, with Hearst UK now reaching almost 17 million people in the UK. 

We remain customer obsessive, and have been focused on expanding our membership offerings, with Made Club, Club Cosmo and Runner’s World Club now sitting alongside ELLE Collective, GH VIP, Harper’s Bazaar Privé, Men’s Health Squad and Women’s Health Collective. More to come next year.  

We’ve launched new live event franchises, podcasts, licensing collaborations and video series, and our world-class magazines delivered +2% headline growth across the portfolio.

It’s also been another standout year for the giant that is Good Housekeeping, which grew its total audience reach by +50% across all platforms. To capitalise on this, the brand unveiled its new state-of-the-art test kitchens located at our London HQ, and we delivered GH’s first TV advertising campaign in its 103-year history.  

Which commercial partnerships or collaborations from this year have been particularly exciting or impactful?

Where to begin… Through our events, we’ve partnered with BOSS on the launch of Esquire UK’s Better Men event, bringing to life the new brand vision under recently appointed Editor-in-Chief, Teo van den Broeke. We’ve collaborated with The Platinum Card® By American Express on a number of high-profile experiences, including the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards and the inaugural Esquire Sessions franchise. We also welcomed L’Oréal Paris as headline partner of Good Housekeeping Live with Country Living Christmas Market, and partnered with Topshop on the ELLE Style Awards to help celebrate ELLE UK’s 40^th anniversary.

A recent campaign we’re proud of sees Women’s Health partner with England Netball and the Netball Super League as part of a drive to create more meaningful change for women and girls in sport. This year-long partnership crosses multiple touchpoints including content, campaigning, membership and marketing initiatives. 

I’d also like to give a special shoutout to Samsung, Jaguar Land Rover, Sainsbury’s, DFS, and LVMH who have collaborated with our brands on a whole host of exciting multi-channel campaigns. 

As you plan for the year ahead, what priorities or opportunities are at the top of your agenda?

The question behind everything we do is ‘how do we build communities to which customers want to belong?’ Known audiences, trusted ecosystems, and content for connected people remain essential to unlocking unique opportunities for our partners. 

We’ll continue leveraging AI to help streamline workflows and eliminate drudgery, freeing us to focus on storytelling and creativity. What we call ‘innovation with integrity’.

With this in mind, as PPA Chair, I’m energised to build on the excellent work the PPA and its CEO, Sajeeda Merali, are doing to ensure our industry continues to provide a collective voice into AI consultations – safeguarding copyright and ensuring publishers are properly compensated. 

And on a more personal note, what are you most looking forward to during the festive season?

Christmas is my favourite time of year, so I’ll be celebrating as much as possible. I always do. From reflecting at Hearst UK with tree lighting, singing, Christmas jumper-wearing for Save the Children, and other end of year celebration activities, I’ll also be entertaining at home with friends and family. Anything involving singing always brings me joy.