News Australia is turning to artificial intelligence to help drive its 2026 Black Friday campaign, building shopping content designed to be discovered across generative AI platforms as more Australians turn to chatbots for buying advice.
The month-long Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaign, led by news.com.au Checkout, comes as research from YouGov found 60 per cent of Australian shoppers plan to use AI to guide their purchasing decisions during the sales period.
In response, News Australia has developed its shopping content for discoverability across AI platforms, where it claims to be the most-cited commercial Australian publisher on ChatGPT, according to Semrush data from September 2026.
The campaign is anchored by the tagline ‘Checkout before you check out’, positioning news.com.au as a source of trusted shopping advice and deal verification amid the sales rush.
News Australia GM eCommerce Sophie Miura said the company had evolved its approach to reflect the growing role of AI in the shopping journey.
“This year marks Australia’s first truly AI-shaped Black Friday and we have evolved our approach to meet shoppers wherever they research, whether on social feeds or through generative AI tools,” Miura said.
“By shifting our focus to trusted, expert curation with our ‘Checkout before you check out’ campaign, we are helping consumers cut through the sales noise while delivering measurable results for our retail partners.”
The campaign will also introduce a suite of shopping tools across News Australia’s digital ecosystem, including automated digital catalogues that update merchant prices four times a day, one-tap mobile wallet reminders and editor-led shoppable videos across social platforms.
The push will extend into print, with 11 state and community mastheads, including The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier-Mail and The Advertiser, running 10 consecutive days of promotional wraps highlighting Black Friday deals.
The retail campaign will then feed into News Australia’s Travel Tuesday initiative on 1 December, targeting the shift in consumer spending from retail purchases to holiday bookings.
The campaign is supported by YouGov research, The bots and the basket: AI’s role in Black Friday and Cyber Monday, published in October 2026.
