Kerry Stokes' Seven West Media, from it headquarters in Perth, is going national with a news website, The Nightly, focused on quality journalism.
The digital news title will publish at 6pm, Monday through Friday. Seven says the response from advertisers has been strong but launch partners haven't been revealed.
"We think that there is a opportunity for a mainstream middle publication to disrupt the East Coast market," says Anthony De Ceglie, editor-In-chief of West Australian Newspapers, who is adding editor-In-chief of The Nightly to his roles.
The focus will be on politics, business and culture. The Nightly also has licensing deals with the New York Times, the Economist and CNBC.
"And so our global news coverage will also be really, really strong," De Ceglie told AdNews.
"It's not often you get to launch a new national masthead. Yes, it's stressful and, yes, there is a lot of work involved. But it is also very exciting."
Seven West Media WA CEO Maryna Fewster says The Nightly was created in response to a clear consumer need.
“People’s lives have never been busier, and their mornings have never been so chaotic," she says.
"Your ‘me time’ is now at night. That’s when you can sit back or lie down and read the news to get ahead of the next day.
"The catchline for The Nightly says it perfectly: ‘Get in front of tomorrow, spend your night wisely’.
“The response from advertisers has been very strong and we appreciate the great support we’ve received so far. Now we can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on. We’re passionate about helping Australians get ahead of the news by spending their nights wisely – with The Nightly.”
The editorial team includes former editor-In-chief of The Australian Christopher Dore and experienced editors and journalists including Sarah Blake, Matthew Quagliotto, Kristen Shorten, Wenlei Ma and Ben McClellan.
Contributors will include David Koch, Seven Network’s Mark Riley, Michael Usher and Gemma Acton, and sporting greats including the AFL's Leigh Matthews and cricketing icons Justin Langer and Mitchell Johnson.
“We’ve built an amazing team of Australian reporters and contributors to launch The Nightly and we will keep adding more great voices," says De Ceglie.
“The Nightly’s philosophy is to inform our readers through quality journalism. We won’t be swamping them with one thousand stories in the hope that they might click on a few. We're going to give them only the best and only the stories they need to read.”
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