Independents Day presented the ultimate Upfront challenge. Fourteen publishers presenting their 2025 plans. Not just one TV network or a streaming company, or a specialist publisher like Mamamia. Fourteen (14) separate publishers. It could have been even bigger – the Digital Publishers Alliance has 60 members.
Join us on the Mediaweek quick guide to Independents Day
Venue: Locomotion Street
Event: Third annual Independents Day
Start: 3.15pm. Finish: 5.35pm
Format: Seven publishers gets seven minutes each. A panel halfway and then another seven publishers. Then another panel. Then a party.
Host: Tim Duggan, Chair of Independents Day
Sponsors: Google News Initiative, Daily Motion
“It’s been a big year,” said Tim Duggan as in introduction. “It’s been a tough year. There’s been a lot of noise. But today we are going to cut through the noise. We will leave you with on clear message today…we are strong. Strong relationships, strong trust, and strong at adapting.”
Duggan is the co-founder of Junkee. He’s stepped back a bit these days. Now based In Majorca, he returns to Australia four times a year. He’s also an author and is about to publish his third book.
Tim Duggan onstage
Broadsheet
15 Years of Broadsheet in October. Founder Nick Shelton has been lobbying the government about support for the sector. Points of view were presented about Gen Z; TikiTok, and Meta.
“Our strength lies in the relationship we have with our audience.”
Presented a video case study about a Melbourne bakery.
“Throughout the 15 years our role in culture in unchanged.” Talked about the Broadsheet effect where a business immediately feel the impact after working with the publisher. Example of a Mastercard dining event in Melbourne that worked both for Mastercard and the restaurants involved.
The Squiz
Your shortcut to being informed. Unveiled a new logo. Australia’s go-to news source for more than half a million Australians. The presentation profiled some of their audience.
Preferred news from independent sources. Get news from podcasts…not social media. More likely to spend with brands that are Australia made. Indie media supplies a balances news diet.
For one of them TV was still #1 news source.
“The audience are made up of very different people, but share a similar outlook. Compared to mainstream we are far more trusted. Australians really care about us and what we do.”
The Daily Aus
How to pitch TDA to your boss.
Who the hell are the Daily Aus. “Australia’s fastest-growing news service. Factual, accurate and engaging information. 76% of the audience is female and under 35. A newsletter with over 230,000 subscribers with 53% open rate and a TikTok with over 125,000.
“We are our target audience.” Staff photo of 15 people.
Are newsletters old-fashioned? We strive to make them really personable.
GALAH magazine
Annabel Hickson, founder of Galah. Started with a montage of covers and double page spreads. Published three times a year…more like a book than a magazine.
Also hosts events. A focus on regional Australia.
“I was happy in the city…until I fell in love with a farmer. Regional Australia is underestimated. Regional Australia is strong and vibrant with 10 million people.
“Not all of us who live on a farm live in regional Australia. We are educated, cultured and we spend money. We live in suburban houses, sheep stations and in beach shacks.
To quote Bernard Salt: “This is a market worth pursuing.”
“It started from my kitchen table on a pecan farm. It’s like Country Style meets The New York Times.”
Have regular newsletters with 14,000+ subscribers. Coming soon is a podcast as many of the readers spend a lot of time in the car.
“There are limited ad opportunities. The less is more offer works for us and our partners.”
Reader profile is women 45+ with children. 75% have university degree and they love travelling.
Urban List
Urban list CEO Ben and CCO Jackie.
“I have long admired how this challenger brand set out to do things differently.
“Rather than compete, we cooperate and collaborate. We have built what we call the Urban List WIN WIN WIN.
“It has allowed to grow and build our reach. 90% client retention. One in every three readers have transacted through Urban List.”
Jackie: “Strength in hospitality collabs. We co-create branded dining experiences.” Gave an example of work on Emily in Paris with Netflix where French restaurants offered special events that sold out promptly.
Strength in creator collabs. Proof of the concept was Bondi event for Jim Bean reached over 3.2m accounts.
Strength in Urban List+. Merging industry strengths. Example of collab with Harvey Specter Suits.
Shameless Media
Anjana Khallouf, Cassie Bardoel and Emma Beevor presented.
“This is a story about tomato soup. On one episode of the podcast was a recommendation about a tomato soup recipe…with a secret ingredient – celery salt. There was a lot of reaction about where to find the salt and how to get the recipe (which was behind a paywall).
“This wasn’t a surprise to us, it happens often. Our community is our bread and butter. Bespoke partnerships with brands like Disney+, Swisse, ebay, Michael Hill, ING, Dan Murphy’s and more.
“We reach 20m people across different platforms organically without relying on other people.” (They didn’t pay a cent).
“Getting bigger with a new format podcast. An interview format. A weekly show called Inherited.”
DMARGE
Alex from DMARGE
A network of men…couldn’t hear Alex very well. Luckily he soon played a video.
No other publisher is addressing the topics that Aussies men care about most. Rresearch initiative called Men’s Matters. Returning in 2025 with more studies.
Expanding DMARGE men’s network to reach 4m Australian men. Executive Traveller is the first publishing partner.
Final message: “Stop ghosting our sales guy and grab a beer with him.”
***Panel***
Discussion about newsletters: Kate Watson (The Squiz commercial director), Luca Lavigne (Mamamia COO and CPO), Annabelle Hickson (GALAH) and Tim Ashelford (We Are Explorers).
Luca: Newsletters are back. There are media buyers out there who put newsletters in the same category as display advertising. Being invited into someone’s inbox can’t be underestimated. Mamamia has combined 400,000 newsletter subscribers.
Annabelle: I love newsletters and it is such an intimate format. We have a real community and we get a lot of engagement. One of the newsletters we have is We Bought a Hotel by Neil Varco about his story of the hotel he bought with his wife Edwina Bartholomew.
DPA members have 3m subscribers to their newsletter collectively. DPA will soon publish a newsletter directory.
Part 2 Independents Day
Man of Many
Australia’s largest men’s lifestyle publication.
Specialisation is important for indie publishers. It builds engaged audience and is key to success.
Trust is fundamental – trust that is earned is a core company value. Trust equals transparency.
Reinvention is essential for staying ahead of the times and meet the changing needs of our audiences.
Website redesign coming in October 2024.
Original content is our lifeblood and key to building relationships that last.
Networking is essential for a sense of belonging.
Holds immersive in-person events, movie premieres, product launches etc.
Kiindred
Emmy Samtani founder.
Mission to make sure no parent or child is left behind. My husband is my business partner. We have three children with special needs – we are a loud and wild bunch.
Why inclusion matters – helps individuals feel connected and build community understanding. Inclusion is part of an ongoing conversation at Kiindred.
Neurodiversity in the media. Spoke about portrayals of autism in the media – Love on the Spectrum, The Assembly.
Commercial partnerships with Club Med, Faber Castell, Shoes & Sox, HP, Duplo, LEGO.
“We have simple ways to make content more accessible. Layout, audio accessibility, multilingual, subtitles, simplified messaging, multiple ways to engage.”
Star Observer
Karl – Sales gay at the Star Observer.
Gave a quick history of gay liberation movement. What does it mean to be LGBTQI+?
What assumptions are being made. Star Observer has been serving the community for many years. LGBTQI+ makes up about 9% Boomers, Millennials 16%, Gen Z 35%.
Complexities include marketing moves like pinkwashing, tokenism and queerbaiting.
80% look to social media for inspiration. Over 50% are wary of brand authenticity.
Think outside the binary box to gain the attention of the growing audience.
Market in Australia is valued at $692b and they spend $4.5b on groceries.
Kylie Merritt
ausbiz
Kylie Merritt, Founder and MD
Only TV service covering the local sharemarket. Interview 25 market experts each day. 5 hours of live content daily. 2 newsletters and 2 podcasts daily.
Bespoke content for client platforms. Big tech is eating the publishing industry.
Funding journalism with a more sustainable model. We are close to finishing building new product Ausbiz (intel)
Launching also Ausbiz Capital, a separate standalone business. Both open new revenue streams for us.
We reach Australians who are taking control of their retirement investments.
Equity Mates
Co-founders – we are speaking to the next generation of investors. Australia’s financial literacy is going backwards. Median savings across Australia are just $3,500. One in three couldn’t cover a $500m emergency. Young people are being left behind. They feel left behind and over 50% think they’ll never buy a home.
“It’s pretty grim out there. But there is good news. Many are fighting back and doing something about it…through digital media.
“80% use social media or educational video.
“Our mission is to empower the next generation to take control of their financial future. The core of the business is a podcast network for all types of investors. 3.5m impressions a month. 502,000 young Australians monthly 65% male.
“We work with brands who align with our mission of providing strength and who are prepared to join us on this journey.”
RUUSH
Mia – digital strategy director.
Indie publisher with a focus on fashion and art.
20th anniversary year. We’ve outlasted many of our bigger competitors. We have remained true to our core values.
Showed a video with photo shoot highlights and video clips.
All original content – we don’t licence. We foster community. Diverse and pure from the beginning.
Podcasts, literary showcase, also RUUSH Home publication.
Reach 8m people monthly across all channels.
Tertiary educated women who invest in things that are important to them.
Time Out
Kaylie Smith, Asia Pacific Time Out
Deliver passionate audiences at scale. Hyper local coverage – “we know because we go”.
Content: Food and drink, things to do, travel, art and culture
Have an audience across every state across Australia.
Melbourne and Sydney audience very similar. But what matters to those audiences is very unique.
Editorial topics resonate in different ways. There can be deep engagement on very different types of content at the same time in both cities.
75% coming to Time Out engage commercially with something they see.
***Final panel of the day***
Deep relationships with audiences.
Tim Duggan (DPA chair) with Alice Griffin (Editor-in-chief, Junkee Media), Cara Anderson (CEO, Limelight Arts Media) and Helen McCabe (Founder and MD, Future Women).
Limelight is still in print after 47 years with 11 editions. Also digital audience too with daily news, newsletters, podcasts and events. Have a sister company which is a travel business. Arts coverage is shrinking across mainstream media which has been an opportunity for us to grow.
FW represents professional women – an audience of 2m women and we help to improve their career prospects. We have three membership tiers which are being relaunched and we are in the process of talking to potential partners about the relaunch.
Junkee Media reaches its readers via social first strategy. We don’t mind how people engage with us, as long as they do engage with us. Fun and creative voices across Junkee and Punkee. We still have a very loyal Gen Z audience.