This weekend News Corp Australia will unveil a new magazine in its four state-based Saturday mastheads, representing a major extension of its “Own The Weekend” strategy for audiences and clients by creating a new digital and print platform for advertisers.
The magazines, based on the successful and longstanding QWeekend in The Courier Mail and The Advertiser’s SAWeekend, which will retain their titles, will be refreshed in both states and also extended for the first time to the Herald Sun and The Saturday Telegraph, where it will be called VWeekend and Sydney Weekend.
The four news-based magazines will each retain their own state-based identities and will be overseen by national editor-in-chief Laura Chalmers (pictured). They will feature in-depth news reads about the biggest stories in each state, human interest stories and profile interviews, as well as practical tips on how to make the most of your weekend, including food and travel, books, tech, fashion and local events
National weekend editor Mick Carroll said the new magazines extended the company’s “Own The Weekend” strategy and would boost the amount of premium content available to readers both digitally and in print.
“This investment we’re making in our journalism means we can now offer our readers and advertisers a national suite of magazines across our weekend mastheads that allows them to own the weekend like never before,” Carroll said.
Carroll said the Saturday magazine would be a potent addition to the existing weekend magazines that feature in the company’s four Sunday mastheads: Body+Soul, Escape, Stellar, and The Binge Guide.
“Through the new magazine advertisers now have the opportunity to spread their messages to an audience of more than five million readers across the entire weekend both nationally and locally.”
Chalmers said the investment in the new Saturday magazines reflected the growing print and digital audiences for QWeekend and SAWeekend.
“We know there is an audience for premium, long-form journalism and that is what these magazines will do – tell the biggest stories in their state using a pool of award-winning writers from across the company,’’ she said.
“While delivering a premium print product, we will also be proudly digital-first, commissioning content we know will drive engagement and selling it throughout the week to our highly engaged online audience.”News Corp Australia will unveil a new magazine in its four state-based Saturday mastheads