News corp Australia will launch more than 50 digital-only publications over the next three years, as the company continues to move its publishing business online.
Making the announcement in The Australian this morning, News Corp’s national community masthead network editor John McGourty said the move was to ensure readers stay up to date with local news.
“Hyperlocal journalism is the engine room of News Corp’s subscription business, close to 50 per cent of our subscriptions come from hyperlocal content, its content that readers can’t get anywhere else,” he said.
The new titles will cover local crime and court stories, planning and development in the area, schools, health and lifestyle.
It comes after News Corp announced it would be shifting 76 of its community and regional newspapers to online-only.
News has launched 16 new digital-only local mastheads over the past 19 months.
Of the new titles, News plans to launch the first 15 by September. Eight will be in Victoria, five in NSW and two in South Australia.
McGourty said he expects the new titles to generate 90 per cent of their revenue through subscription, with the rest coming from advertising.
According to company figures, 640,000 Australians are currently subscribing to News Corp’s digital news content, with subscriptions growing at an annual rate of 24 per cent.
Local news has seen subscribers double in the past year.
