Browsing: Fairfax

News
Horse’s Mouth: Sinead Boucher, Stuff
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Sinead Boucher’s career on the Fairfax digital team started in what she describes as a “broom cupboard” at a time when the site was seen as a nice-to-have tag-on to the print business. Now, as she sits in the chief executive chair at Stuff, she reflects on how much things have changed.

News
NZME’s commitment to print pays off, readership figures grow
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In good news for NZME, the New Zealand Herald has seen strong year on year print readership growth, up 4,000 readers to 430,000. We take a look at NZME’s readership figures and talk to NZME’s weekend editor Miriyana Alexander about the myth that print is dying. PLUS: Fairfax and Otago Daily Times’ have a mixed bag of results.

News
Neighbourly’s mission to keep communities connected
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While the online world allows people to connect with those on the other side of the world, it can also be the perfect place to connect with those down the road as Neighbourly has shown. Following the site’s third anniversary last month, we talk to co-founder and managing director Casey Eden about its sustained growth, the lessons he’s learned and how journalists can use it to facilitate change.

Opinion
Anarchy in the New Zealand media landscape
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Amidst the sea of change sweeping over the media industry, the Commerce Commission has the temerity to stand like King Canute – doing its best to thwart the waves of progress by saying ‘no’ to mergers like this one, writes JustOne’s Ben Goodale.

News
Simon Tong on Fairfax’s voyage into fibre
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Fairfax Media managing director Simon Tong has stressed the need to diversify the streams of revenue feeding into the business. And today, the company has taken a rather unorthodox step in this direction by announcing the launch of Stuff Fibre, a joint venture with New Zealand Fibre Communications Limited selling high speed, unlimited fibre connections.

News
Are Sky’s Olympic restrictions justifiable or is it fighting against the future?
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This week, Sky provoked ire in the nation’s news publishers by applying a range of conditions on those wanting to use highlights as part of their reportage. Sky is, of course, within its rights to limit the use of footage, which it paid handsomely for. But in an era of rampant live streaming and social media use, is this an example of sticking their finger in the dyke? And what can we learn from the NFL and the NBA?

News
RNZ scraps its online comment section
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After 18 months of having its comment section switched on, RNZ has announced it will no longer allow comments on its website and it will phase out the capability on its site by the end of the week, instead encouraging comments on its social media channels, we chat to RNZ’s Megan Whelan about why it made the decision and what it means for its audience. PLUS: how technology might improve comment sections in the future, and Fairfax’s approach to its comment sections.

News
Chucking out the old Stuff
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Big changes are afoot for Fairfax if the ComCom approves the application to merge with NZME. But small changes are also afoot, judging by the slightly modified Stuff logo.

News
Media experts say NZME-Fairfax merger would make commercial sense
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This morning, Fairfax and NZME verified industry speculation when they confirmed that talks on a potential merger between the pair have commenced. We talk to OMD chief executive Kath Watson, ZenithOptimedia group business director Alex Lawson and IAB chief executive Adrian Pickstock about commercial repercussions of the move.

News
Fairfax and Microsoft call on a doctor, a scientist, a DJ and other interesting Kiwis to push the Surface Pro 4
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Microsoft is doing a pretty good job of reaching younger people through its marketing. It’s obviously noted that filming an ad of a laptop, slow panning over all of its sexy angles isn’t quite going to cut it anymore, at least not for all audiences. Recently it teamed up with Fairfax for a content partnership called The Change Makers to spruik its Surface Pro 4, which saw it reach out to a younger audience through the stories of New Zealanders-cum-influencers doing great things.

News
You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours: Fairfax and TVNZ partner to attract more eyeballs—UPDATED
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Last year Fairfax underwent some massive changes, restructuring its editorial staff into local teams and specialist areas, shifting a large part of the focus away from newspapers and over to the digital realm. This emphasis on digital seems to have paid off, as Stuff managed to grow its audience and has now used it to leverage a partnership deal with TVNZ, where Stuff readers will be able to view One News video from the site as of Thursday, which might mean more time spent on the site and in return TVNZ gets a taste of Stuff’s audience.

News
Green Ideas and FishHead call it a day; Fairfax sheds another title
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Despite great circulation growth and increasing subscriber numbers Healthy Life Media’s Green Ideas magazine has had to cease production this year. And this isn’t the only magazine to do so in recent times. Quintessential Wellington publication FishHead also called it a day, and this news comes as Fairfax sells on another one of its own magazines. We chat to Healthy Life Media publisher Pip Mehrtens about the end of Green Ideas and what it takes to succeed in the magazine industry when audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented, and opting for digital over print.

News
Protestors, F-bombs and vox pops: TPPA coverage shows the ups and downs of live streaming
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On 4 February, thousands of TPPA (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) protestors filed onto Auckland’s city streets carrying signs, chanting and blocking off access to motorway access points to mark their objection to the agreement as our government was putting pen to paper. And among all the chaos were the nation’s media outlets, all competing to get the best coverage of the event and live-streaming it directly to thousands of online viewers. Here’s a rundown of how the media used live-streaming to create a more immersive experience for viewers, and a look at what the dangers are of live-streaming events like these.

News
Fairfax’s quest for scale sees six of its magazines sold off—UPDATED
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A few months back we asked Fairfax if rumours that its magazine portfolio was on the block were true. Given the company had just put its magazine content under the Stuff umbrella, it seemed like a surprising move. But while Fairfax said no at the time, an email to staff today from group executive editor Sinead Boucher has confirmed six of its “smaller niche” titles—including reigning magazine of the year NZ Life & Leisure—have been sold as it continues to focus on its “core audiences and verticals”.

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