The document summarizes the Australian newspaper's website and digital innovations over the past year. It highlights growth in unique audience and engagement, new storytelling tools like podcasts and interactive graphics, improved mobile and social media presence, and efforts to build a premium digital subscription experience across platforms. The website has seen major enhancements to become the anchor of the audience's news experience through authoritative journalism available on any device.

1. WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
NEWS AWARDS

2. NEWS AWARDS 2016 2
INTRODUCTION
THE AUSTRALIAN HAS ENJOYED A TRANSFORMATIVE YEAR ONLINE. OUR TEAM’S PURSUIT OF A
TRULY PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER EXPERIENCE HAS SEEN EVERY PILLAR OF OUR SITE ENHANCED – A
SYMPHONY OF OPTIMISATION – ENABLING OUR CULTURE OF BREAKING NEWS THAT MATTERS
AND SETTING THE NATIONAL AGENDA, WHILE CRAFTING BEAUTIFUL, INTUITIVE PRODUCTS.
During the past year we added innovative storytelling
tools and new channels to diversify our offering
more widely than ever before. We now engage more
customers – paid and anonymous, on site, on social and
emerging platforms – than at any time in our history.
The Australian aims to be the anchor of our target
audience’s news mix across all channels and devices,
available when and where it serves them. Authoritative
content that ‘just works’, whether our readers interact
with us via our website, m-site, social media,
newsletters or multiple apps for smartphone, tablet
and wearables.
Our journalism has long been our masthead’s strength.
Today, our digital product has never been stronger, nor
our collective voice heard more clearly.
It was a fantastic year. Collected here are some
highlights.

3. NEWS AWARDS 2016 3
AUDIENCE GROWTH
UNIQUE
AUDIENCE
ENGAGEMENT
39
%
26
%
THE AUSTRALIAN’S UNIQUE AUDIENCE INCREASED TO
1.7M READERS ACROSS WEB AND MOBILE CHANNELS
BETWEEN APRIL 2015 AND APRIL 2016.*
TOTAL ENGAGED MINUTES ROSE BY 26 PERCENT
ACROSS OUR WEB AND MOBILE CHANNELS BETWEEN
APRIL 2015 AND APRIL 2016.*
PAID DIGITAL
SUBSCRIPTIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA
FOLLOWERS14
% 83%
45%
495K
540K
OUR OUTSTANDING AUDIENCE GROWTH WAS ACHIEVED
WHILE EXECUTING THE AUSTRALIAN’S CORE DIGITAL
OBJECTIVE - GROWING PAID DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.
THE AUSTRALIAN’S MAIN SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
INCREASED BY 225K FOLLOWERS ON FACEBOOK, AND
170K ON TWITTER – THE LARGEST AT NEWS CORP.
*Nielsen Digital Ratings Monthly

4. NEWS AWARDS 2016 4
LIVE BLOGGING
Flexible, responsive and SEO-optimised, our platform
sits at the heart of our site. Whether it’s the federal
election campaign, Florida nightclub massacre or State
of`Origin, it’s live, clear, and delivered to readers in
moments across all devices.
WE BREAK NEWS 24/7 AND NOW HAVE
SOPHISTICATED TOOLS TO SHOWCASE
THAT EFFORT – A CUSTOM-BUILT
BLOGGING PLATFORM THAT CHAPTERISES
AND ORGANISES POSTS TO HELP READERS
KEEP TRACK OF THE LATEST UPDATES AND
KEY MOMENTS.
SEE THE LIVE BLOG
IN ACTION ͕
NEW STORYTELLING TOOLS

5. NEWS AWARDS 2016 5
NEW STORYTELLING TOOLS
STATE OF PLAY
WITH A FEDERAL ELECTION LOOMING, THE
AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPED A POWERFUL
INTERACTIVE PLATFORM TO HARNESS NEWSPOLL
AND BRING THE NUMBERS TO LIFE.
State of Play maps every federal seat in parliament,
tracking margins, candidates and future predictions.
Not only can readers compare past elections with
the latest polls, but they can also model their own
preferred swings in individual seats or across the
nation. On election night, the tool will be used to
display seats in real-time as they are called.
STATE OF PLAY
INTERACTIVE
͕
EXPLORE THE

6. NEWS AWARDS 2016 6
BOWRAVILLE
THE AUSTRALIAN CHOSE A NEW MEDIUM TO TELL
THE STORY OF A 25-YEAR QUEST FOR JUSTICE
INVOLVING THE UNSOLVED MURDERS OF THREE
ABORIGINAL CHILDREN.
The result was Bowraville, an enthralling five-part
podcast series that became the country’s most popular
audio download in May (with more than 280,000
plays) and helped force the NSW government to
reopen the case. It was powerful journalism matched
with flawless production that has redefined audio
storytelling – and the first of many to come.
280KPLAYS
LISTEN TO THE
PODCAST͕
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL EXECUTIONS

7. NEWS AWARDS 2016 7
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL EXECUTIONS
THE WEEKEND
AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE
THE RELAUNCH OF OUR AWARD-WINNING
PREMIUM PRINT PRODUCT SPURRED A
BOLD NEW APPROACH ONLINE – AND AN
INTERNATIONAL NEWS CORP PARTNERSHIP.
The Australian pioneered the use of Deck, a platform
developed in-house at The Times in London, to
change our production process, allowing us to build
out the entire magazine into long-form, digest-style
special features, rendering the weekly showcase
more intuitively for the digital landscape. The
result, gorgeous as befitting our best writing and
photography, has seen engagement improve by a
factor of three.

8. NEWS AWARDS 2016 8
Our mobile article page was relaunched to create a
cleaner, faster-loading experience, with ‘read more’
reveal buttons and more effective rendering of
additional assets.
MOBILE SITE
OUR MOBILE PRODUCTS HAVE EVOLVED TO
KEEP PACE WITH INCREASING DEMAND. NEW
FEATURES INCLUDE A REFRESHED MOBILE SITE
HOMEPAGE WITH LIVE COVERAGE, KEY IMAGES,
SWIPABLE MENUS AND UNIQUE EDITIONS TO
REFLECT WEEKDAY AND WEEKEND CONTENT.
ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS

9. NEWS AWARDS 2016 9
NEWSFLASH
WE LAUNCHED AN INNOVATIVE NEW PRODUCT DESIGNED TO REFLECT THE WAY CUSTOMERS
INTERACT WITH SMARTPHONES.
Newsflash is an iPhone and Apple Watch product
that delivers three daily editions, each featuring five
stories designed to be read in a few minutes and leave
the user up-to-date with the major issues of the day.
It was devised with two primary objectives: to provide
utility to customers by making news consumption
easy and intuitive; and to introduce new audiences to
The Australian’s journalism and innovation agenda.
Customers are alerted to each new edition and
breaking news via notifications. This groundbreaking
product also represents News Corp Australia’s first
foray into wearables.
PLATFORMS BUILT FOR PURPOSE

10. NEWS AWARDS 2016 10
NEWSLETTERS
EMAILS ARE A VITAL AND VALUED TOOL IN THE
DAILY CONVERSATION WITH OUR READERS,
CONNECTING WITH A COMBINED AUDIENCE OF
300K+ EACH DAY AND PLAYING A KEY ROLE IN
SUBSCRIBER CONVERSIONS.
A year ago they were also clunky, auto-generated,
ugly and inconsistent – but no longer. Through the
development of a new WordPress design platform
and specialist editors, we relaunched our newsletters
to allow personalised messaging and hand-crafted
content, delivered consistently on time and adaptable
to suit the daily offering. The result is a product that
serves as a powerful brand ambassador, and a system
that also allows for nimble, niche products – like our
daily federal election campaign wrap High Noon,
which boasts an industry-leading open rate of 52%.
ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS

11. NEWS AWARDS 2016 11
READYMAG
NOT ALL CONTENT IS CREATED EQUAL – NOR
SHOULD IT BE CONSUMED THE SAME WAY.
The Australian regularly publishes a range of specialist
reports and editions, from our monthly luxury brands
destination Wish, business bulletin The Deal and
prestige property magazine Mansion Australia, to
one-off reports about Defence spending or regional
development at Toowoomba, to Review Magazine’s
annual Hot 10 People to Watch – and many more. We
introduced a new method to produce and promote
these high-quality, commercially important printed
products online, to ensure they reflected a premium
reader experience and stood apart from the daily news
cycle. The result has been beautiful-looking editions
and a massive spike in engagement.
100KPAGEVIEWS
51KPAGEVIEWS
PER MONTHAV
READ THE
MAGAZINE ͕
READ THE
MAGAZINE ͕
PLATFORMS BUILT FOR PURPOSE

12. NEWS AWARDS 2016 12
ORIGINAL VIDEO
WE DELIVERED ON AN AMBITION TO CREATE
UNIQUE, COMPELLING VIDEO TAILORED FOR OUR
HUGE SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIENCE.
From powerful one-off vignettes to our daily Business Now
series to embracing innovations such as 360 cameras, our video
production reflects best practice in the industry. More than
18,000,000 views on Facebook alone since July 2015 – a ten-fold
increase – prove we’re hitting the mark.
MORE THAN WORDS AND PICTURES
WATCH
THE VIDEO ͕
WATCH
THE VIDEO ͕
WATCH
THE VIDEO ͕

13. NEWS AWARDS 2016 13
SPREADING THE MESSAGE
SOCIAL MEDIA
THE AUSTRALIAN’S COMBINED AUDIENCES
ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER TOP 1 MILLION
FOLLOWERS – GROWING AT 5K EACH WEEK.
Our offering is constantly evolving, shown through
our recent use of live Facebook Q&As, showcasing
our snappers on Instagram, newsletter sign-up
widgets, original video and branded Twitter cards.
Our 24/7 presence generates 20% of our total traffic
(despite a strict paywall) and countless interactions.
And it’s push-pull: social media editors are embedded
in the newsroom, sourcing rich content to support
stories and alerting producers as news breaks.
540KFOLLOWERS
TWITTER ͕
495KFOLLOWERS
FACEBOOK ͕
11.6KFOLLOWERS
INSTAGRAM ͕
50KFOLLOWERS
LINKEDIN ͕

14. NEWS AWARDS 2016 14
INTERACTIVES
WHY TELL WHEN YOU CAN SHOW? INNOVATION
BEGINS INSIDE OUR ARTICLES PAGES.
Key improvements include a new ‘sticky’ video player
that follows the reader and widespread use of sophis-
ticated ‘thinglink’ interactives that display more on
hover. Both increase engagement and understanding.
142,343VIEWS
US ELECTION GUIDE ͕
136,653VIEWS
FEDERAL BUDGET 2016
͕
22,618VIEWS
GANGLAND EXPOSED
͕
NEW STORYTELLING TOOLS

15. NEWS AWARDS 2016 15
ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS
BUSINESS
WE REBUILT OUR OFFERING, SUCCESSFULLY
MERGING TWO TEAMS TO FORM A COMPREHENSIVE
ONE-STOP DESTINATION FOR ALL MARKETS AND
COMPANIES INFORMATION.
The Australian Business Review was bolstered by
specialist commentary portal Business Spectator,
resulting in a new site with data at its heart.
Interactive widgets and our daily live markets blog
were expanded for the relaunch. And our readers
are always the first to know, thanks to three daily
newsletter alerts, a custom video series and a new
focus on social media, which has seen off-platform
audiences double. Plus, we supply the News Corp
network with valued, syndicated content.

16. NEWS AWARDS 2016 16
POLITICAL COVERAGE
NO MASTHEAD REPORTS ON POLITICS MORE EXTENSIVELY THAN THE AUSTRALIAN. OUR NEWS,
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS ARE SECOND TO NONE ACROSS NEWSPAPER AND DIGITAL EDITIONS, BUT
THERE ARE MANY ADDED DIMENSIONS ONLINE.
Consider our 2016 Budget night coverage, which
included live blogging, custom video, at-a-glance
interactives, social media, plus special editions of our
apps and newsletters, triggered by breaking news
notifications.
We’ve brought the same energy to the Liberal
leadership spill and every day of the federal election
campaign, which harnesses our new State of Play
tools, live blogging platform, custom newsletter High
Noon and on-the-run video updates from the trail.
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL EXECUTIONS

17. NEWS AWARDS 2016 17
IN-DEPTH
POLITICS MAY BE OUR CORE BUSINESS, BUT OUR JOURNALISM EXTENDS INTO EVERY ISSUE OF
NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE.
CRONULLA RIOTS 10 YEARS ON
A LOOK BACK AT ANGER, TOLD THROUGH CUSTOM
VIDEO AND INTERACTIVES READ NOW
BLOODY DRUGS BATTLE
A BRILLIANT INTERACTIVE LONGFORM
PACKAGE READ NOW
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
SEE A 3400-YEAR-OLD PARCHMENT
BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE READ NOW
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL EXECUTIONS

18. NEWS AWARDS 2016 18
HAVING FUN WITH READERS
404 PAGE
WE TOOK THE WORST PAGE ON OUR SITE AND
MADE IT THE MOST POPULAR!
A decision to produce unique, entertaining content
(courtesy of resident satirist James Jeffrey of Strewth
fame) to repurpose a traditionally dull broken links
page caused a media storm of approval.
BUZZFEED
“The Australian’s 404 pages
are a hilarious satire of Aussie
politicians”
MASHABLE
“If you hit the wrong key while
reading The Australian you’re in
for an awesome surprise.”
REDDIT
“The Australian’s 404 Error Page
Is Now A Treasure Trove Of
Hilarious Quotes”
SEE MORE
404 FUN ͕

19. NEWS AWARDS 2016 19
CONCLUSION
THE AUSTRALIAN USES TECHNICAL
INNOVATION TO ENHANCE WONDERFUL
STORYTELLING TO CONNECT WITH A
GROWING, PREMIUM ONLINE AUDIENCE.
Our digital offering complements and deepens a relationship
with newspaper readers who value authoritative, professional
journalism. We never stop seeking to improve our offering,
leading the way at News Corp and beyond.
THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING THEAUSTRALIAN.COM.AU FOR WEBSITE OF THE YEAR.