Katie Davies, executive editor, nine.com.au, & Ashleigh Thomas, commercial director, Nine Publishing
We need journalism more than ever, not only to verify the world, but to make sense of it. And for brands looking to cut through the noise, there is no more powerful place to be seen than right alongside the facts.
The media landscape is facing a defining moment. As generative AI and social media algorithms create a crisis of clutter on the web, audiences are being flooded with an onslaught of unverified content, deepfakes and noise.
But out of this chaos comes a great awakening: AI won’t kill journalism. It is only making free and factual media more valuable than ever before.
As the digital ecosystem sits in a crisis of clutter, nine.com.au continues to thrive as the ultimate anchor of truth for nearly 10 million Australians. For nine.com.au executive editor Katie Davies, this shift highlights a truth she has witnessed firsthand since her very first day in the newsroom.
A newsroom revelation
About 18 years ago, I sat in a newsroom in England as a fresh-faced cadet. I had just landed my first job as a reporter. A sub editor, about 30 years my senior, shouted across the office: “Why did you choose journalism? It’s a dying profession. We’ll be all gone in five years.”
His comments rattled me. It’s all I’d ever wanted to do, the only thing I’d trained in. What if it was only going to last five years? Today that masthead still exists, likely with more readers than it did then.
Yes, the industry has gone through significant changes over the past 20 years and is facing probably its biggest yet with AI. However, one core principle has not changed, trust.
The recent inaugural News Nation report from ThinkNewsBrands highlighted a stark reality: 78% of Australians see national news publishers as trustworthy, compared to just 36% who feel the same about social media content creators.
In fact, nearly two in five Australians now actively turn to premium news media specifically to fact-check the chaos they encounter on social platforms.
The need for free and factual news sites like nine.com.au has never been greater.
A faster, cleaner, more powerful ecosystem
From today, we are officially unveiling the new nine.com.au. This relaunch is a comprehensive upgrade of our digital ecosystem designed to drive deeper engagement and meet audiences exactly where they are.
Our team of outstanding digital journalists brings trusted breaking-news to Australia 24 hours a day.
We have streamlined to focus on the absolute best of entertainment, sport, lifestyle, travel, and shopping under a single, unified, and premium nine.com.au brand. A key focus for our team remains original, relatable and entertaining content that builds a genuine connection with readers, the very same principles we were taught at the start of our careers.
Despite what that sub editor told me many years ago, journalism has stood the test of time. People still value trust, and I believe that makes our industry as vital as it’s ever been.
More detail on the new nine.com.au here.
The foundation of brand impact
It is the very foundation of trust that commercial director Ashleigh Thomas believes represents the single greatest opportunity for brands looking for true impact.
When consumers use nine.com.au to anchor themselves in the facts, that feeling of trust doesn’t stop at the editorial. It rubs off on the advertising next to it. We are delivering a highly engaged, high-intent audience in a uniquely receptive state of mind.
When readers trust the environment, they trust the brands within it.
When we looked at redesigning the site, our absolute priority was creating a quality digital environment where brands can truly perform. We’ve built a faster, cleaner user experience that is intentionally engineered to cultivate strong daily habits with our audience.
By streamlining the UX and extending their time on site, we are giving more meaningful, sustained opportunities to connect with Australians in a highly receptive state of mind.
Maximising audience attention
We’ve also elevated our storytelling formats to maximise that audience attention. There is nothing quite like the collective energy of a breaking-news story, and our high-impact live blogs are fast, dynamic, and keep eyes absolutely glued to the page as events unfold.
Alongside this, we’ve taken the friction out of video by embedding premium video natively into the editorial flow, capturing consumer attention naturally and driving massive engagement without disrupting their experience.
These enhancements have been implemented across both web and app, extending our engagement across these formats.
We’re incredibly proud of our new architecture, because it not only protects the integrity of our journalism and of your brand’s creative, but intentionally strips away the clutter so an advertiser’s message can be felt and acted upon.
Your campaigns deserve to be showcased in the highest-quality digital real estate in the country, and this relaunch delivers exactly that; unparalleled viewability in an environment we know Australians trust.
We want your brands to own the moment
Whether it’s the moment a major story breaks, inspiration strikes, a new trend sets everyone talking, or the entire country holds its breath, nine.com.au owns the moment. We are there for the moments that matter to Australians, and through our sophisticated display and integration capabilities, your brand can be there too.
Hear more about the power of news journalism through Nine Publishing’s ‘The News Effect’ series, featuring editors and journalists from our mastheads.
Source: Ipsos iris Online Audience Measurement Service, Average November 2025 – March 2026, Age 14+, PC/laptop/smartphone/tablet, Text only, Brand Group, News Tier 1 Category, Audience (000s)