Independent media company ACM is celebrating a key digital milestone this week with its major mastheads reaching the 100,000 mark in digital subscribers.
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"For an independent Australian media company in a very competitive landscape, this is such an important achievement in a relatively short period of time," ACM executive chairman Antony Catalano said.
"It shows the power of our trusted mastheads and our quality journalism that has helped us become one of the fastest growing media companies in Australia."
The publisher of this masthead, the ACM network's leading subscriptions news sites include The Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, The Border Mail, Ballarat's The Courier, and Warrnambool's The Standard.
Once part of the former Fairfax Media group that was absorbed into Nine Entertainment in 2018, ACM is now privately owned by Mr Catalano and Alex Waislitz's ASX-listed Thorney Investment Group.
It shows the power of our trusted mastheads and our quality journalism that has helped us become one of the fastest growing media companies in Australia.
- Antony Catalano
Mr Catalano thanked the more than 100,000 digital subscribers who were showing how much they valued ACM's journalism.
"Your support is helping us keep our communities strong, informed and connected," he said.
Following a successful 2016 pilot of digital subscriptions on two small local news websites on the NSW South Coast, the Bay Post at Batemans Bay and the Milton-Ulladulla Times, ACM began rolling out digital subscription packages on its key regional news sites in 2018 and 2019.
Managing director Tony Kendall said ACM had grown its digital subscriber base by 49 per cent over the past year.
While The Canberra Times and ACM's daily mastheads in major regional population centres across NSW, Victoria and Tasmania were the key drivers of subscriber growth, smaller news sites such as the South Coast Register, Armidale Express, Port Macquarie News and Wimmera-Mail Times were also proving popular.
"With the unfolding challenges of Covid, it's a complex time for many of the communities we serve, and they know who to trust for timely, reliable information," Mr Kendall said.
"As more and more people swap the big cities for a whole new lifestyle of working and living in regional Australia, the ACM network is keeping those thriving cities and towns connected."
The company recently launched a national campaign, ACM ConnectNow, to encourage major advertising agencies and their clients to use the nation-wide reach of ACM to connect with its highly engaged print and digital audiences of 6.4 million a month.
To celebrate its 100,000 milestone, ACM is offering some of its new digital subscribers from its major mastheads the chance to give a friend or family member a complimentary three-month subscription.
