Fairfax Digital to launch Business Day online and in print

National business and finance news site to go live March 19

SYDNEY, 13 March 2007: Fairfax Digital, a division of Fairfax Media, today announced the March 19th launch of Business Day online and in print. Business Day is a significant national news site for investors and the Australian business community with reach, news, analysis and investor information that will surpass standards set by existing non-subscription business news sites. To coincide with the first phase of the launch, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will rename their award-winning business sections Business Day. smh.com.au and theage.com.au business sections will also be renamed Business Day.

Business Day will be a must-read online destination for anyone wanting the most well-informed view on business news as it happens. Breaking news will supplement in-depth reporting and analysis from a range of publications and live market data.

Jack Matthews, CEO, Fairfax Digital said, “The launch of Business Day will provide business readers with an unparalleled national news service in the online business and finance arena. As Australia’s biggest news and information publisher, we are proud to introduce such an informative and up-to-date online offering that will appeal into our existing 1.5 million unique browsers** of financial news and information. Importantly, it will also attract a wider national audience of business decision makers, executives and investors.

The rebranding of the business sections in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age builds on the recent successful re-branding of the business sections of Fairfax’s New Zealand newspapers – a move which has been met with strong reader support – and signals an even stronger commitment from Fairfax to business news and comment.

“The launch of Business Day, along with the re-naming of Sydney Morning Herald’s and The Age’s business sections, illustrates the next step in our ongoing integration of business reporting and demonstrates Fairfax Media’s commitment to online and print,” said Matthews.

Business Day will attract Fairfax Digital’s existing business audience – the largest in Australia. This audience, strategically secured through Fairfax Digital’s broad base of business products (including smh.com.au and theage.com.au’s business news sites and equities orientated sites like Trading Room) and enhanced through the company’s mass-reach partnership with ASX.com.au, will present a host of opportunities for advertisers targeting business and finance environments.

The first phase of Business Day will see Fairfax Digital's ground-breaking NewsBreak* technology aggregate business and finance news from a select list of quality news sites globally, including a range of Fairfax New Zealand properties. This will give readers an all-round view of business developments from around the world, with more depth and breadth than in any single media outlet.

The website will be promoted to Business Day’s target business and investor audience using several communication channels to create strong brand awareness, build traffic, and acquire newsletter subscribers. This will include outdoor advertising, radio and online advertising. Search engine optimisation will also feature in the marketing activity.

Business Day users will eventually be able to access a personalised premium offering where they can select expanded content, data and tools that suit their particular investment needs.

In subsequent phases, Business Day will expand its coverage through a specialist team of reporters, analysts and commentators to ensure that the most relevant events – both in Australia and abroad – are comprehensively and expertly covered for an Australian audience.

Mike van Niekerk, online editor-in-chief, Fairfax Digital, said: “With a team of expert reporters and commentators on board, our mix of quality editorial, breaking news updates and aggregated news will ensure that readers have access to multiple articles on topics of interest to them, re-enforcing Fairfax Digital’s reputation at the market leader in online news.”

Please click here to download media release pdf.

Source: Fairfax Digital
Release Date: 16 Mar 2007 00:00