News Corp Australia has lifted the lid on an expansion of its Eat Out offering with both delicious. and News Corp’s state-based mastheads teaming up to bring readers national info across multiple channels. With the delicious. 100 returning and a minimum of fifty new reviews and dining out stories to be published every month, it’s all hands on deck.
Mediaweek spoke to News Corp Australia’s editorial director of premium food and travel Kerrie McCallum about what the expansion will mean for both readers and brands.
After a tough few years for restaurants and cafes, McCallum says that expanding Eat Out as the world begins to bounce back made perfect sense.
“We launched Eat Out pre-Covid. It was a growth area for the brand, in that the audience of delicious. was growing – particularly in digital, social, and video.
“When consumers were able to rebound from Covid, demand was going to balloon. There was going to be change in the industry, change in the market, as well as change in consumer habits, but we knew that it would rebound. So for the last 12 months, we’ve been working on this on the back end, to build out the model. We wanted to do it bigger and better.
“delicious. as a brand has a lot of flex in that we cover everything from local cafes, right through to the fine diners. So there’s a lot of flex, there’s a ready market, and there’s a big network to tap into. On every level, it made sense to do this.”
With the expansion comes the return of the delicious. 100, complete with a shift from its usual October/November home.
“I’m excited that delicious. 100 is back on the agenda,” says McCallum. “It’s the 100 most delicious restaurants – particularly in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, but nationally on delicious.com.au. That ends up being close to 500 reviews that get done, and we couldn’t do that for the last two years.
“It’s back on the agenda for late July, or early August. We’ve brought it forward this year – traditionally, it would come at the back end of the year. The masthead editors are correct in saying we needed to bring it forward because people want this information.”
Led by delicious. national restaurant editor, Erina Starkey, the Eat Out offering will be joined by a team of reviewers including Melissa Leong, Joanna Savill, and Magdalena Roze. Taking on a minimum of 50 reviews a month is no small job, and McCallum says there is one major thing that connects all the contributors.
“For delicious. a really important part of our brand is credibility, so it was about getting a mix of diverse viewpoints that had credibility on a national scale. That’s where we started, with that list. There are really, really great reviews and writers on that on that lineup, and it’s a joy to read.”
For brands, McCallum says that the expansion will appeal to both existing partners and new ones.
“It’s definitely something that we think will attract out-of-category lifestyle clients – that’s an important area for growth.
“It’s going to be a great asset for existing clients like American Express to have all this supplementary content that’s linking in with these consumer events. It complements what we’re doing for existing clients, but will attract a raft of new clients who want to position around this type of content and this type of consumer.”