Youth-focused publisher Sound Alliance has rebranded to Junkee Media, taking the name from its lead youth title, with more than half of the business's revenue now comes from native advertising.
CEO Neil Ackland said that the change more directly reflects the focus of the media company as innovations in mobile, video, social and native content pioneered by the launch of pop-culture title Junkee flow back over the rest of the publisher's titles.
“The change from Sound Alliance to Junkee Media comes at a defining moment in our company’s history,” Ackland said. “For the first time, more than 50% of our revenue comes from native content we create in partnership with brands and almost 70% of our audience comes via mobile, so Junkee Media is about positioning us as a new media company focused on the future, not the past”.
Junkee launched in 2013, with a focus on mobile-first, social-driven content funded by native advertising. In October of last year, native made up 30% of the publishers revenue, with Ackland telling AdNews at the time: “We've seen the market move on now from trying to define what native advertising is and explain it to clients. So now, lots of brands are moving beyond just trying native and actually starting to look at measurement and effectiveness and how to really make it work for them. The category is maturing a bit more now.”
Junkee Media’s other youth-focused titles include music sites inthemix and FasterLouder, and travel title AWOL, created in partnership with Qantas.
"The name change is the final step in the transition from a music only publisher a decade ago to the youth-focused lifestyle publisher producing amazing content with unique attitude that we are today,” he said. “The launch of Junkee helped us to reimagine our business model, and we’re excited to extend this thinking now to reinvent our entire company. What we do is constantly changing; we no longer really sell banner ads, we help brands to tell and share their stories in whatever format that takes."
“We fundamentally believe that brands need to stop interrupting what people are interested in, and be what people are interested in to truly engage with this Millienial audience. The market needs to think beyond banner ads, pre-rolls and click throughs and look at how they can create content that people actually care about.”
The rebrand will also see all Junkee Media titles consolidated under one master domain at Junkee.com.
Junkee Media employs 30 staff in Sydney and Melbourne, and is currently hiring for 13 new staff across all areas of the business.
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