Browsing: APN

News
The screen guild: how the big outdoor players are hitching their wagons to the digital gravy train
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The outdoor industry is in the middle of a golden run in New Zealand, with 11 consecutive quarters of growth and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ten percent since Jan 2013 making it second only to online as the fastest growing media channel. Digital screens are driving most of that growth. And things are changing rapidly as all the big players invest heavily to try and get a piece of the pie, so here’s a rundown on what they’re all up to.

News
NZME financial results flat; paywall speculation re-emerges as plans for registration move ahead
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NZME contributed AU$203.7 million revenue and a net profit of AU$30.7 million to APN’s financial figures, but the performance of the various arms—publishing, radio and ecommerce—of the organisation was relatively flat when compared to the figures posted in the previous year. And while Hastings confirmed that digital registrations for the Herald were going to be launched, she said that there were no plans to introduce a paywall this year.

News
Horse’s Mouth: Jane Hastings, NZME
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After a few years running The Radio Network, Jane Hastings took over as chief executive at APN in May and she’s shaken things up since her arrival, hiring a new exec team, embracing cross-selling and cross-promotion across its channels and launching a new brand for the multimedia beast called NZME. Here’s her take on what’s been a whirlwind few months.

News
APN christens its multimedia beast NZME
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Since taking over as the chief executive of APN New Zealand in May, Jane Hastings has been pulling together the discrete threads that make up the conglomerate in an effort to create a seamless entity that can be used to deliver commercial partners’ messages across all the available media properties. And all new things require a name, so for this reason APN sent out a release this morning saying that its print, radio, digital and e-commerce brands will from now on be unified under the moniker NZME (pronounced ‘en zed me’), which stands for New Zealand Media and Entertainment.

News
APN makes hay while the native advertising sun shines with launch of commercial content hub
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Back when newspapers (and, to a lesser degree, magazines) were happily floating down their rivers of gold, the church and state of editorial and sales were kept very separate. But desperate times call for what some may see as desperate measures and as publishers search for new revenue streams, many of them are increasingly offering their skills to help tell the stories of businesses. Now APN has joined that club with the launch of Brand Insight.

News
APN bets on business, follows international publishers’ lead with big site update—UPDATED
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The changes are coming thick and fast at APN NZ under new chief executive Jane Hastings, with a new exec team announced this week, a more integrated sales approach across its media portfolio and some clever new products like ShopViva. And now the Business Herald is getting in on the action, with more tools, more content and more interactivity added to the website in an effort to deliver “more relevant digital news to New Zealanders”.

News
Hauraki breakfast team follow in successful stations’ footsteps, APN gets in on the cross-promotion action
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Radio Hauraki has fully embraced its 13th most-listened to breakfast show tag in recent months, with Jeremy Wells’ brilliant ‘Like Mike’ section being born out of a desire to replicate Mike Hosking’s morning success and a new online video series showing the team heeding memos from on high and doing a few things guaranteed to move them up the rankings, such as using t-shirt cannons and adding some sexual tension to the mix. And, as per usual, they’ve done it in slightly unusual, self-deprecating and moderately NSFW fashion.

News
APN unveils ShopViva, aims to monetise audience
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On Sunday, 17 August, APN launched ShopViva, a fashion e-commerce collaboration between GrabOne, the third biggest e-commerce platform in New Zealand, and Viva, the New Zealand Herald’s flagship lifestyle magazine. The new venture is based on the premise that readers should be able to purchase the items that are displayed editorially in the popular inserted magazine, which is circulated every Wednesday.

News
APN sweeps up MediaWeb’s mess, wins Deloitte Top 200 partnership rights
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Following the receivership of MediaWeb, NZ Management Magazine was bought by the NZIM and given to Adrenalin to publish alongside its existing title NZ Business. MediaWeb used to own the Deloitte Top 200 Awards, which celebrate New Zealand’s most outstanding large businesses and their people, and the event was seen as a “cash cow and jewel in the crown” of the company. But it’s thought the IP was transferred to Deloitte when MediaWeb couldn’t pay the bills, so, without anyone to run this year’s awards, it recently put that business on the block and APN New Zealand has won it. PLUS: Toni Myers’ LinkedIn profile gets a slap from a former MediaWeb employee.

News
APN launches commercial property site, but does it differ from services already available?—UPDATED
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On Monday, APN Media launched TrueCommercial, a digital hub dedicated to commercial property and ‘businesses for sale’ listings. For the most part, the initiative serves as an online extension of the Herald’s Commercial Property section, which has until now been published twice a week. The section, which according to Nielsen has a readership of approximately 138,000 Kiwis, will now also be rebranded TrueCommercial from 6 August to give the offering uniformity across the print and digital channels. But how does it differ from the services already offered by Trade Me and RealEstate.co.nz. Updated with additional comments from TrueCommercial brand manager Maria Zolezzi.

News
The ad blocker threat: what media owners are doing to stop ad avoidance
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In the traditional media channels, advertising couldn’t be avoided. When viewers listened to a radio broadcast or watched a television show, ads were an inevitable part of the experience and often provided a momentary break to run to the bathroom or make a cup tea. But with the growing tendency of online viewing, this coerced ad-watching is no longer a given. Simple software downloads, such as AdBlock, now give viewers direct access to the content that they want to watch. So what are media owners doing to protect their advertising?

News
APN joins the hunt for rural readers, launches The Land across the land
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The rural sector has helped keep New Zealand afloat over the past few fairly difficult years and, as the amount of spending done at Fieldays shows, it’s a sector with a fair bit of confidence (and cash) at the moment. And, in an effort to better reach that sector, APN NZ has launched The Land, a new weekly rural publication sandwiched between the pages of APN’s six regional newspapers that are read across the North Island by town and country dwellers alike.

News
APN and Fairfax near printing agreement – are there job cuts on the horizon?
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Earlier today, Fairfax Media Limited and APN News & Media Limited announced a proposed printing agreement that will see a consolidation of the pair’s printing processes in the upper North Island. Under the arrangement, APN will provide printing services to Fairfax in New Zealand for several newspapers at its Ellerslie facility, including the Waikato Times, Sunday Star-Times, Sunday News and other community titles. “The deal has not yet been finalised although the high-level terms have been approved,” says an APN spokesperson.

News
APN embraces auto-play with new video ad unit
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For some consumers, auto-play video is an annoyance that has them searching for the x or mute buttons. For many publishers, it’s a good way to tap into the rise of online video, which, according to the IAB’s numbers for the last quarter, has increased its share in New Zealand from 12 percent to 17 percent YoY (with a total of $120 million last quarter, that equates to around $20 million). And APN is aiming to get a bigger slice of that pie with the launch of In-Read video, a new advertising unit that shows video within its editorial environments.

News
Blurred lines: MediaWorks embraces channel agnosticism by merging direct sales teams
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About a week after APN opened the door to cross-channel collaboration across its media properties, MediaWorks announced the conflation of its radio and TV direct sales teams.The unified team will be led by Paul Hancox, who has been appointed to the newly created position of commercial director of MediaWorks Radio and TV. Hancox will also work closely with The Radio Bureau and their agency team, ensuring the Radio agency business is well aligned with its TV and interactive counterparts, led by Nicole Jones and Graeme Underwood, respectively. And while initial speculation suggested that this move came as a knee-jerk reaction to the moves made at APN, the MediaWorks TV director of sales and marketing Liz Fraser countered such claims.

News
APN strokes its INMA trophies lovingly
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While editorial and sales have long been uneasy bedfellows in the world of newspapers, they’ve been forced to get a bit cosier in recent years. That’s exactly what APN and Tourism Australia did for the ‘Explore Your Australian Passions’ campaign and the content-led initiative caught the eye of the judges at the International News Media Association Awards (INMA), winning first place in the ‘Best Marketing Solution for an Advertising Client’ category.

News
APN and TRN open the door to cross-channel collaboration with advertisers
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With last week’s announcement that Jane Hastings would take on the newly created chief executive role, APN centralised control of its offering across its publishing, radio and digital properties. And now, in continuing this trend of cross-channel collaboration, APN has launched an initiative called Collaborative Media Solutions (CMS), which will provide media agnostic advertising services to clients across the available platforms.

Movings & Shakings
There can be only one: Jane Hastings takes on newly created chief executive role at APN—UPDATED
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APN is centralising management of its radio, publishing and digital business interests in New Zealand with the appointment of Jane Hastings in a redefined chief executive officer role. Previously, the Kiwi arm of APN had dual chief executive roles, with Martin Simons being in charge of the publishing and digital side and Hastings holding the reins at TRN. Updated with comments from Hastings.

News
Health on the high seas: Entries now open for APN McNally Classic
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Andrew McNally, New Zealand Herald’s group advertising director, died unexpectedly in June last year. But his legacy will live on, not only because of the acknowledgment he has recently received by having his name attached to the trophy that will be given to the winner of APN’s Advertising Challenge, but also with the establishment of the inaugural APN McNally Classic, a charity fishing tournament that aims to raise funds for men’s health. And entries are now open.