Southern Cross Austereo looks to digital to boost revenues

Digital and in particular mobile have been a boom area for Southern Cross Austereo in the past 12 months, with the company now reaping the rewards of social media and data investment according to its head of innovation Clive Dickens.

In the past year the company, which owns national radio assets including the Today Network and Triple M as well as regional TV stations, has more than doubled its digital audiences and is now the 16th largest online publisher in Australia with 151,234 unique daily browsers, according to the latest Nielsen Online report for March.

“Digital is the fastest growing part of SCA’s business,” said Dickens. “Is it big enough to be spun off as a stand-alone business yet? Probably not. But in terms of where new revenues are coming from it’s definitely where the future lies.

“There’s work to be done because people see us as a TV and radio business, and it’s a surprise to them we’re such a big digital publisher. We’ve worked hard on it as a focus. In the year I’ve been here we’ve moved from outside the top 100 publishers to 16th, and we are growing each month.”