Seven West Media's The Nightly secures major advertising deal for launch
Seven West Media's new evening online paper The Nightly aims to take on News Corp's dominance.
Seven West Media's new evening online paper The Nightly, has secured a major advertising deal with Hancock Prospecting, the company owned by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
The publication, which is being led by editor-in-chief of West Australian Newspapers Anthony De Ceglie and headquartered in the offices of The West Australian, aims to take on the east-coast news titles with a national focus on politics, policy, business and culture.
The Nightly will publish a digital newspaper each evening as well as maintaining a news website. The publication will launch with advertising from Rinehart's company, with the WA-based billionaire and Australia’s richest woman reportedly providing "some security for the publication’s launch in an increasingly challenged ad market," according to reports in The Sydney Morning Herald.
The publication has recruited a strong line-up of talent, including The Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph associate editor Sarah Blake as chief correspondent, and Daily Telegraph associate editor Matthew Quagliotto is also chief correspondent.
The West Australian’s business editor Sarah-Jane Tasker is editor, the former editor-in-chief of The Australian Chris Dore, is a senior political columnist. The Australian's investigative journalist Kristin Shorten, news.com.au culture writer Wenlei Ma, The West Australian’s chief of staff Kate Phillips and sports editor Ben McLellan are also part of the new team.
The Nightly will target mainstream Australia and will also draw content from Seven's news websites. It has reportedly secured deals with The New York Times and The Economist to republish content in its editions. The title aims to take on the dominance of the News Corp titles on Australia's east coast.
The launch comes as news media continues to experience drops in advertising revenue; last week, News Corp reported a 9% decline in its Australian News Media advertising revenues caused by lower digital advertising and declining traffic to digital mastheads.
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