Leading Over-50s Website Takes Big Prize At Awards

Media Release May 2008

LEADING OVER-50S WEBSITE TAKES BIG PRIZE AT
2008 NETGUIDE AWARDS

Leading online lifestyle magazine www.grownups.co.nz now has a prize to reflect its booming readership figures, having claimed the People’s Choice award for Best Lifestyle Site in New Zealand at the 2008 NetGuide Awards.

The award follows months of growing success for the site, New Zealand’s only website exclusively for over-50s. It enjoyed 14% growth in April alone, to reach more than 58,000 unique users, and the forecast for May – in the wake of awards attention – is a further increase, to approximately 65,000 users.

Director Richard Poole said his team was delighted at the acknowledgement from New Zealanders. “We get a lot of positive feedback through the site itself and the forums, but it’s very gratifying to be recognized on a wider level and by those people who use the site on a daily basis, feeling passionate enough about the site to vote.”

Now with over 21,000 members grownups.co.nz is the number-one website in New Zealand (excluding blogs) for average page duration. “This tells us that when people are on the site, they’re finding plenty to read and spend time on,” Mr Poole said.

It helps that grownups.co.nz has been designed to serve a broad variety of interests, including travel, cooking, health, hobbies, gardening, and financial information for every stage of the over-50 life. There is an up-to-the-minute news section, and in a hugely popular recent addition to the site, a Find a Friend section, which helps members find like-minded people to chat online with in a safe and trusted environment.

“The growth of this section exceeded our expectations,” Mr Poole said, “even though we knew from our members that there was a demand for it.” Following the success of Find a Friend, an offline mix n mingle evening has been held.

The site also offers special deals on travel and accommodation exclusively to www.grownups.co.nz users, through one of the largest online accommodation booking agents.

About GrownUps

GrownUps was set up in 2006 by marketer Richard Poole and his business partner, finda.co.nz founder Shane Bradley. It is the only online resource specifically designed to meet the entertainment, information and lifestyle needs of 50+ New Zealanders. It is a free lifestyle website, committed to sharing valuable information with its users and listening to their needs.

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