Stuff wins bid to run the 6pm news

Stuff Group and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) today announced they have reached an agreement for Stuff to provide a daily news bulletin to WBD.

The new Stuff-made 6pm news will begin on Saturday July 6, the day after the final Newshub bulletin airs on Friday July 5. It will broadcast for an hour Monday to Friday with a 30 minute programme on the weekend.

Stuff will exclusively license and deliver the bulletin to WBD’s free-to-air broadcast platform Three as well as ThreeNow.

The announcement follows WBD’s confirmation last week of a new structure which meant the closure of its newsroom, the Newshub website and ending AM and the 6pm TV news bulletin.

Stuff will create the bulletin through a transition period with WBD, using its large national newsroom, New Zealand’s largest digital news website stuff.co.nz and by bringing in specialist skills and talent.

“Our proposal to WBD was to deliver high-quality news now and a news product for the future,” says Stuff owner and publisher Sinead Boucher.

“We will look to innovate not replicate the 6 O’Clock news, building on our expertise in digital audiences and engagement and our ability to deliver live and lively news 24/7 all over Aotearoa.

“Newshub and Three, over an incredible 35 years of journalism, has been known for gutsy, independent, non-partisan reporting, values that we share and will proudly continue to uphold.”

Glen Kyne, WBD’s Senior Vice President and Head of Networks in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, thanked those who submitted proposals and confirmed that Stuff offered the most compelling option for the daily bulletin as well as strong editorial and cultural alignment.

“We received a number of options and I’d like to give sincere thanks to all those who spoke with us,” says Kyne.

“Stuff put a lot of thought into not just the bulletin but also a broader partnership with a real future focus which would benefit both parties and New Zealand.”

“Quite simply, I see this as the future of news,” says Kyne. “Today’s announcement is undoubtedly the beginning of a strong, future-focused partnership between WBD and Stuff – a model which will thrive in the modern media era. We’ll work together to drive innovation around delivery of the bulletin, including using multi-platform integration of digital assets to offer brand new, data-driven advertising and sponsorship opportunities. We’ll be working with current and future commercial partners to discuss new opportunities presented by this agreement with Stuff.”

Boucher says the WBD agreement brings the power of Stuff’s scale digital audiences together with a nightly news proposition which will be a compelling mix for advertisers.

“There has never been a better time for brands to support local media and today’s announcement provides a new vehicle for that, adding another channel into Stuff Group’s large integration ecosystem.”

It is also the next step in Stuff’s five year transformation strategy, she says, since a management buyout in 2020.

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