How Australian news publishers are future-proofing for younger audiences

The Australian news media industry is thriving. Readership is up with Total News commanding a whopping audience of 20.5 million Australians over the age of 14 as Australian news brands continue to drive the national agenda.

The focus is now switching to the audiences of tomorrow to ensure they can engage with news in ways that suit their lifestyle.

Readership data shows nine in 10 under 40s engage with news every month. Of that, 97 per cent of 25-to-39-year-olds are reading news and 91 per cent of 14-to-24-year-olds engage with news on a monthly basis.

Tory Maguire, Executive Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, recognises the potential of tapping into this audience. For Nine, this means finding ways to repackage the journalism the brands are already producing. This sees The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald breaking news into bite sized pieces for social platforms and investing in the off-platform extensions of these great mastheads.

News Corp has taken a different approach with the launch of The Oz. The publication describes itself as “a news environment for younger Australians that assesses all angles, has difficult conversations and stays curious, while sharing The Australian’s fearless journalism and news values”.

Over in the west, The West Australian is future proofing with a heavy adoption of live streaming that drove massive audiences for the platform during Covid. From streamed press conferences to working with partners to live stream cultural events, these innovations are proof that Australia’s news media has moved well beyond the printed newspaper.