Strong finish for NZME

AUCKLAND Friday: NZME is enjoying a strong finish to 2023. Jason Winstanley, NZME chief audio officer, says. “Two two key industry surveys showing it continues to be the country’s largest multi-media company, with more than 8 in every 10 Kiwis, or 3.5 million people, connecting with its platforms.

Known by those in the media industry as ‘Super Thursday’, with the release of both the GfK Commercial Radio Survey and Nielsen Readership Survey on the same day, NZME has supercharged its audience across its audio, publishing and digital platforms.

“NZME has continued to grow audience share across its radio network. Newstalk ZB is once again the number one commercial radio network in the country, and Mike Hosking Breakfast has the most listeners at breakfast. Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley on ZM has the most listeners of any music station in the breakfast timeslot.

NZME’s podcast network has also been the top podcast network in the country since the Triton NZ Podcast Ranker was introduced more than two years ago, with an audience of more than 1 million and more than 7.5 million monthly podcast downloads#. 

NZME also recently announced the addition of Megan Papas to Jono & Ben’s breakfast show on The Hits, and Polly ‘PJ’ Harding and Matty McLean as new co-hosts of The Hits Drive show for 2024, further bolstering its extensive list of talented presenters across all its radio networks.

NZME’s publishing business, which incorporates its digital platforms and print products, is also celebrating strong results, with its publishing brands reaching 2.4 million Kiwis weekly. The NZ Herald website reaches more than 2 million Kiwis monthly, up 13 percent on the same period in 2022^^, and NZME remains number one for daily newspapers, with 53 percent more readers than its nearest competitor.”

Murray Kirkness, NZME Chief Content Officer, says NZME continues to accelerate digital transformation to meet the changing needs of readers and audiences nationwide.  

“The changes sen the appointment of several senior journalists across NZME into new senior newsroom roles.”

“We’re proud to reach more than 2.4 million Kiwis across our publishing brands.  High-quality trusted journalism continues to be our absolute focus and a critical driver of our business, and our audiences nationwide continue to engage with our platforms, knowing that they’ll find the news worth knowing,” he says.

NZME also recently made changes to its newsroom operating model, with the separation of its digital and print operations to ensure a sustainable, high performing digital news operation, whilst also delivering its many print publications nationwide.

Senior appointments
The changes have seen the appointment of several senior journalists across NZME into new senior newsroom roles:

• Alanah Eriksen – Live News Managing Editor
• Hamish Fletcher – Premium Content Development Managing Editor
• Stephanie Holmes – Lifestyle and Travel Editor, Premium
• Jenni Mortimer – Lifestyle and Travel Editor, Audience
• Stuart Dye – Head of Print Content
• Oskar Alley – Head of Editorial Digital Acceleration
• Matt Martel – Managing Editor, Audience and Platform Curation

Along with Lois Turei – Head of Cultural Partnerships and Newsroom Diversity, and Duncan Bridgeman – Business Managing Editor, they make up NZME newsroom’s senior leadership team.

“I’m really pleased to have now confirmed our senior leadership team, who I’m confident will lead our newsroom to success, ensuring we continue to deliver on our promise of keeping people in the know and delivering news worth knowing. With such an experienced, talented group of leaders, and our high performing team of journalists in our newsrooms across the country, I’m confident we will meet our strategic target to be New Zealand’s leading news destination,” says Kirkness.

Michael Boggs, NZME CEO, said: “Today’s Super Thursday results build on the recent success. Just last week at our NZME Investor Day, we shared our new three year digital-led strategy, clearly setting our strategic priorities for the business.”

• nzme.co.nz