Newspaper Works rebrands to NewsMediaWorks, partners with SMI to launch ad revenue index
The industry body for Australia’s major newspaper groups, The Newspaper Works has officially ditched the newspaper title, rebranding as NewsMediaWorks as the body launches its own index to report industry advertising revenue.
The newly-named News Media Works has partnered with Standard Media Index (SMI) in an effort to “enhance commercial transparency for advertisers and investors”. The deal means publishers will now reveal details of direct ad bookings to SMI, which accounts for the major media agency spend, which publishers claim has undervalued their commercial performance.
Michael Miller, chairman of NewsMediaWorks and chairman of News Corp Australia, told a media briefing today: “The News Media Index addresses requests from advertisers and investors that the Australian news media sector has been significantly undervalued by independent analysts.
“The results reinforce the health of the industry and reinforces our confidence in its future as we grow digital revenues.”
Congrats NewsMediaWorks and SMI. Great to see the value of media transparency upheld
Way to go Australia… great to see better transparency of the total spend data allowing newspapers to show digital growth offsetting the declines in traditional print revenue. Maybe it will encourage other media owners to follow suit with SMI.
New Zealand – take note… we can’t even publish an annual set of industry data at all, let alone believable data… time to get heads out of sand on the revenue transparency issue!