About Lisa

Lisa

Lisa is a German weekly women's magazine from Hubert Burda Media, published since 1994 with an editorial office in Offenburg. Covering lifestyle, beauty, fashion and cooking, it addresses the versatile, multi-interested woman between work and family with creative ideas, travel dreams, culinary pleasures and wellness tips. Per IVW figures for the fourth quarter of 2024, Lisa sold 105,541 copies per issue with a spread circulation of 105,750 — a decline of 85 percent since 1998. The magazine is published by the M.I.G. Medien Innovation GmbH; editor-in-chief is Kai Winckler, with Jennifer Schwengers as deputy.

Overview

Lisa is Burda's weekly for the younger mainstream: where freundin addresses the established adult woman and Bunte the celebrity enthusiast, Lisa speaks to the 20-to-39-year-old juggling job and family, seeking relaxation, inspiration and practical help in a single weekly package. Its historic positioning — "simply switch off and relax between job and family" — captured the life stage of its readers precisely: the magazine as a weekly hour of one's own.

History

Lisa was first published in 1994 — developed, remarkably, within just three months, a testament to Burda's newsstand instincts in the booming 1990s women's market. The launch came as the German women's weekly segment was expanding rapidly: reunification had enlarged the market, prosperity was rising, and the appetite for service journalism seemed insatiable. Burda positioned Lisa as the young, lively alternative in a portfolio that already included freundin (in the house since 1960) and Bunte (since 1948/1954) — a title for the daughters of freundin readers, priced for the newsstand and paced for busy lives.

The magazine grew quickly. By 2007 it reached 1.96 million readers (MA 2007/II) — "tailored for the versatile woman between 20 and 39," in the publisher's portrait — with exciting reportage, practical advice pages and lifestyle content. A 2008 TNS Emnid survey commissioned by the Lisa editorial team captured the magazine's playful service journalism: asking 224 women aged 20 to 49 how much grooming they expected from men — 100 percent found bad breath and unkempt teeth impossible, 96 percent expected daily deodorant — the kind of relatable, conversation-starting content that built the brand's relationship with its readers. The Lisa family expanded into spin-offs: Lisa Kochen & Backen (cooking & baking), Lisa Wohnen & Dekorieren (home & decorating), Lisa Blumen & Pflanzen (flowers & plants) and Lisa Fit + Gesund (fit + healthy) — each carrying the parent brand's approachable service journalism into a specialist niche.

The editorial leadership changed in March 2023, when Maria Sandoval — editor-in-chief for the preceding years — left the post; Kai Winckler took over as editor-in-chief with Jennifer Schwengers as deputy, publishing through the M.I.G. Medien Innovation GmbH. The M.I.G. structure — a dedicated publishing vehicle within the Burda group — reflects the industry's adaptation to shrinking circulations: leaner organizations, shared services, and editorial teams sized for the market as it is, not as it was. The circulation decline — 85 percent since 1998, to 105,541 sold copies in late 2024 — reflects the segment's structural crisis, though the title remains above the 100,000-copy mark that defines viability for a national weekly, and the only direction the industry still respects is survival.

Content and concept

Lisa's pillars are lifestyle, beauty, fashion and cooking, supplemented by travel features, wellness tips, reportage and advice pages offering "practicable tips and life help." The tone is upbeat and participatory — "join in" is the implicit invitation: recipes to cook, trips to dream about, wellness routines to try, the magazine as a weekly dose of optimism for readers whose lives leave little room for it. The spin-off family extends the concept: Kochen & Backen for the kitchen, Wohnen & Dekorieren for the home, Blumen & Pflanzen for the garden, Fit + Gesund for health — a modular brand architecture that lets readers assemble their own Lisa universe, buying only the parts of the lifestyle they want.

Coverage and audience

Lisa addresses women between 20 and 39 — the life stage of career-building, partnership and young families — with content designed for limited time and broad interests. The 2007 portrait's phrasing — "full of creative ideas on fashion, cosmetics, home and society," offering relaxation "between job and family" — captures an audience that reads in stolen moments and wants maximum reward per minute: the young mother on the sofa after bedtime, the career woman on the train, the reader who wants the magazine to deliver its pleasures efficiently. The magazine's continued presence above 100,000 sold copies suggests that audience, though smaller, remains loyal — and that the weekly hour of one's own still has buyers.

Ownership

Lisa is published by Hubert Burda Media — within the BurdaVerlag division — the family-owned media group based in Offenburg and Munich. Founded on Franz Burda's printing business (roots in 1903 Philippsburg) and built into a European empire under Hubert Burda (publisher since 1987), the group spans some 500 media products in 18 countries with revenues of 2.664 billion euros (2025), more than half from digital businesses. Lisa is published operationally by the M.I.G. Medien Innovation GmbH, with the editorial office in Offenburg — the Burda home town where Burda Moden was born in 1950 and where the group's printing operations remain. Within Burda's women's portfolio, Lisa sits alongside freundin, Bunte, InStyle, Burda Style and Mein schöner Garten — the young-weekly complement to the house's established women's titles, and the title that proved Burda could launch a new women's weekly in three months flat.

Digital presence

lisa.de extends the magazine's lifestyle journalism online, where beauty, fashion, cooking and wellness content competes with influencers and platforms. The spin-off brands give the digital operation natural content verticals — recipes, home, garden, health — each with its own audience logic and its own digital potential: the Kochen & Backen recipes as searchable content, the Wohnen & Dekorieren ideas as visual inspiration, the Fit + Gesund tips as service journalism. The challenge is the segment's universal one: converting the weekly print ritual into digital habit without losing the readers who still buy the paper magazine. For Lisa, whose readers are digital natives by age, the transition is both more urgent and more natural than for the titles serving older audiences — the 20-to-39-year-old already lives online; the magazine's job is to be worth visiting there. The Burda group's digital scale — one of the industry's largest, with more than half of group revenue from digital businesses — gives Lisa infrastructure that smaller publishers cannot match: e-paper editions, social channels, and the data capabilities to understand what the young mainstream wants next.

The Lisa family — Kochen & Backen, Wohnen & Dekorieren, Blumen & Pflanzen, Fit + Gesund — remains the brand's growth logic: each spin-off a specialist magazine in its own right, each carrying the parent brand's approachable tone into a defined interest. Together they form a modular publishing system rare in the German women's market: one brand, many rooms, and readers free to furnish their own Lisa universe. Thirty years after the three-month sprint to the newsstand, the promise remains: a weekly hour of one's own, in print or on screen — for the versatile woman, between job and family, always. Published by Burda from Offenburg, Lisa remains the group's weekly for the young mainstream — approachable, practical, and unmistakably its own. The spin-off family keeps the brand growing sideways, into every room of the reader's life.