Web-only newspaper in Brisbane, Australia

In March 2007, Fairfax started the Brisbane Times (www.brisbanetimes.com.au), the first Australian metropolitan masthead that has been launched as an entirely online operation. We interviewed Mike Van Niekerk, editor in chief online for Fairfax Digital.

IFRA: The Brisbane Times is the first Australian newspaper website without a newspaper. What convinced from the beginning that this would work out? 

Mike Van Niekerk: South-east Queensland has long been an attractive market where Fairfax Media has not had a presence in the major city, Brisbane - which has a single major news brand (The Courier Mail / News Limited). A print venture was one option, but given the success of our other metro online sites in Sydney and Melbourne, our considerable experience in building them up and industry trends towards online in audience and advertising, we felt we had a strong platform to launch an online-only newspaper. We did research the market very carefully before committing ourselves.
 
IFRA: The BT has existed for almost a year now – are you satisfied with its overall performance? 

Van Niekerk: It has been for us an exceptional success – we reached our 12-month traffic targets in the third month and revenue is solidly on track. We are now averaging between 50,000 and 80,000 unique browsers a day. We believe we provide an alternative, independent voice to a market that has had the same single news brand for more than a century. It should be said though that there's nothing like competition to raise standards. Our major competitor quadrupuled their online staff overnight and poured in development resources to improve their site – it's actually pretty good now compared to what it was, and overall that's not a bad outcome for news consumers in Brisbane.
 
IFRA: As the BT doesn't have a newspaper as a constant reminder that there is a website, how do you drive traffic to the site? 

Van Niekerk: This is the hardest part, and requires dollars and a creative marketing spend. Our launch campaign offered a free trip into space for the winner of a competition to make the site your home page. Since then we have done other above-the-line marketing in billboards around town, we rely on click-throughs from our other big sites, we have expert search engine optimisation and, of course, we rely on the excellence of the site itself to build an audience.

IFRA: What is the BT's unique selling point? 

Van Niekerk: Firstly, we put a lot of emphasis on fast, local breaking news – general, sport and entertainment. Secondly, we differentiate ourselves from the other major media operation in town by including a lot of the quality content from our other online mastheads in Sydney and Melbourne. We give people a genuine alternative.
 
IFRA: What are some of the ways you are connecting with the Brisbane community? 

Van Niekerk: Apart from a very strong local news team, we also have a Good Food Guide for Brisbane restaurants, and then we have three very strong bloggers, well-known local identities who write about what's going on around town and in sport – and in relationships. But it comes back to covering the local stories. All 14 members of our news team are local and understand their town very well – that counts for a lot.
 
IFRA: Does Fairfax plan local websites in other Australian cities? 

Van Niekerk: Yes, we are looking at Perth as a strong possibility. 
 
IFRA: Do you think that the Brisbane Times should also become a newspaper operation?   

Van Niekerk: Personally, I think that now we have established the brand and developed an audience it would be a lot easier – but whether Fairfax thought it was strategic or worth cost is for others to decide. In the meantime, we are extremely happy with what we have achieved online.
 
 

Page first published: 01.02.2008