INfluencia: Since your arrival as the editor-in-chief of Gala in June 2025, you have orchestrated the “premiumization” of the weekly as desired by the Figaro group. What were the objectives and results?
Erin Doherty (pictured on the left): In the newsstand, our readers have a few seconds to decide whether to buy a magazine or not. If the cover photo is not impactful or inspiring, the punishment is immediate. Gala’s reputation needed to be restored.
The covers have become more aesthetic and attractive to appeal to readers as well as to celebrities or actors.
This allowed us to feature personalities on the covers who had never accepted to be on Gala’s cover before: Pierre Niney, Laurent Lafitte, and Laetitia Casta. Sharon Stone liked us after her cover.
Gala is an editorial bubble, which allows to follow the entertainment news and to unwind. New appointments have been created to offer a journal that is increasingly entertaining, inspiring, hedonistic, and influential.
We have reintroduced long formats, with real reading time, added analysis and investigations, which allow addressing societal issues through entertainment news.
I also wanted to invest in lifestyle. A special Evasion issue on the most beautiful hotels in the world, launched in December as a one-shot, was profitable and will return this year.
The print is the brand’s ambassador, but we also have a strong presence on social media that many envy. Everything we conceptualize in print has a corresponding presence on social media.
IN: How do you leverage this social media power?
E.D.: Gala’s strength on social media is linked to the editorial team’s presence at fashion and cinema events, on red carpets, but also in content editorialization and content embodiment. Gala garners 800 million views during fashion shows. It’s colossal!
The video on “The Enchanted Vexin” by Pierre Sauvage, the founder of Casa Lopez, reached 800,000 views. Behind-the-scenes content at the Cannes Film Festival has garnered over 380 million views.
40% of the Cannes Film Festival views on social media come from Gala’s accounts.
IN: The Cannes Film Festival has been an important event with Gala Croisette for 16 years. This year, you’re investing even more in it…
Louise-Anne Raimbault: The brand’s profitability allows us to invest and take risks. Cannes represents a substantial investment with about fifty people descending for 15 days, but it’s profitable and a significant part of the annual business.
Gala has become an essential player at the Festival. The event is also a crucial diversification axis, allowing us to venture into event management. Last year, we partnered with Vega La Plage and their private beach at the foot of Calton.
In 2026, we will be co-partners and co-producers of all events on the Vega beach during the Cannes Film Festival. A Gala studio will be set up.
With our partner, Initial Consulting, we will organize official film and partner evenings, showcases with Waxx, editorial formats with a “Cannorama” hosted by Michel Denisot, and an exclusive collaboration with makeup artist and influencer Charly Salvator.
Breakfasts will be offered by guest chefs who resonate with us, including Céline Pham, who has created a specific menu for the duration of the Festival.
IN: How will this Cannes presence also contribute to the brand’s YouTube revival? And why invest in this platform now when Gala has only 28,000 subscribers compared to 17 million on TikTok?
L-A.R.: Gala’s YouTube channel has been around for years, but the social media team mainly focuses on TikTok and Instagram. Seeing our strength on other platforms, YouTube doesn’t understand why we have so few subscribers. They want us to invest in creating content tailored to their TV-like platform, which is growing rapidly.
This necessitates a structure and teams dedicated to longer formats than what we currently produce with YouTube Shorts.
I wanted to start on YouTube with television-quality content. Cannes will be the right time to offer new formats with the expertise of TV professionals like Michel Denisot.
E.D.: Expanding on YouTube is also a way to solidify our readership. The possibilities are vast: interview formats on fashion, featuring cover personalities – finding an angle that characterizes us because Gala is about emotions.
Our journalist, Candice Nedelec, did this with her film podcast “The Day My Life Changed,” where celebrities share their stories. The interview with Sylvain Tesson had 126,000 views.
IN: What are the monetization sources for this ecosystem, and what new initiatives are you working on?
L-A.R.: We are developing many advertising formats and special operations are a key part of social media. Online, commercial campaigns that combine the group’s femin…
[Note: The article discusses how Gala magazine has undergone a premiumization process under Erin Doherty’s leadership, focusing on improving content quality, cover design, and social media presence. The gala events and festivals like Cannes have become significant for brand promotion. The article also features insights from Louise-Anne Raimbault regarding brand monetization, international expansion, and collaborations with influencers.]
