Australian Community Media (ACM) is celebrating a digital milestone as its major mastheads reached a combined 100,000 digital subscribers.
The figure represents year-on-year growth of 49% with leading subscription news sites including The Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, The Border Mail, Ballarat’s The Courier and Warrnambool’s The Standard.
“This is such an important achievement in a relatively short period of time and shows the power of our trusted mastheads and our quality journalism that has helped us become one of the fastest growing media companies in Australia,” says ACM executive chairman Antony Catalano.
“As more and more people move to the thriving regional centres across Australia, demand for quality local content has never been higher and we take pride in delivering the quality independent journalism our 6.4 million readers enjoy each month.”
“I’d also like to congratulate the ACM team on the great work they have done to deliver such a compelling proposition that is attracting and retaining so many readers. Slow uptake for digital subscriptions can occur in some parts of Australia but our innovative approach to content, product and marketing has changed this.”
ACM, which was sold by Nine in 2019, began rolling out digital subscription packages on its key regional news sites in 2018 and 2019. This followed a 2016 pilot of digital subscriptions on two small local news websites on the NSW South Coast, the Bay Post at Batemans Bay and the Milton-Ulladulla Times.
“The growth has been fantastic with our digital subscriber base up 49 per cent and revenues up 54% year on year,” says ACM managing director Tony Kendall.
“It's a testament to the great work our teams have been doing to bring quality content to our audiences across the country.”
The Canberra Times and ACM’s daily mastheads in major regional population centres across NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania were the key drivers of subscriber growth.
However, ACM says smaller news sites such as the South Coast Register, Armidale Express, Port Macquarie News, and Wimmera-Mail Times were also driving growth.
“With the unfolding challenges of Covid, it’s a complex time for many of the communities we serve, and they know who to trust for timely, reliable information,” Kendall says.
“As more people swap the big cities for a whole new lifestyle of working and living in regional Australia, the ACM network is keeping those thriving cities and towns connected.”
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