30 November 2010

Indaily is a specialised platform that delivers crafted news and information to an audience, free of charge. Subscribers receive an email at midday, alerting them that the free newspaper is ready to view at www.indaily.com.au

The move from print to digital is the logical result of the significant growth in Indaily's audience over the past two years. Indaily already has a subscriber base of 30,000, compared with The Independent Weekly's recent sales figures of under 8,000.

Indaily and The Independent Weekly are published by Solstice Media, a South Australian-based media company owned by more than 100 South Australian investors who created the company to introduce media diversity for the state.

Solstice Media also publishes a number of specialist newspapers and magazines including The Southern Cross, Sportsbeat, Tempo, The SA Mines and Energy Journal, SA Defence Business and Place Magazine.

The company started publishing The Independent Weekly in 2004, initially as a broadsheet newspaper distributed on a Sunday. It moved to tabloid format and Saturday distribution one year later.

The company has recently hired one of Adelaide's best-known and most experienced editors Des Ryan, as editor- in-chief.

Earlier this year the company re-launched Indaily as a substantial daily digital newspaper to capitalise on its growing popularity among readers and advertisers.

Solstice Media managing director and publisher, Paul Hamra, said the company’s mission to provide fierce independent local journalism and commentary has not faltered -- “we have simply changed the delivery vehicle”.

“For us it seems senseless to crush trees, print on paper overnight and deliver our journalism in trucks to a shrinking print-reading market,” he said.

“All of a sudden, with the proliferation of news on the internet, we are perfectly positioned to deliver our brand of independent journalism and advertising as a unique media product to a market with an appetite for something different, on their desktop at lunchtime,” he said.

Solstice Media engaged digital publishing developers, Realview, to create an exciting platform which took the iPad reading experience and delivered it on PC’s - where 95 of the company’s market source their online news.

“We can get our product to a bigger and growing audience, faster and cheaper. It is a very exciting phase of our company’s evolution,” said Hamra.

The transition has been assisted by the company’s new board member, Eric Beecher, who had a successful media career, more recently in digital publishing through crikey.com.au, businessspectator.com.au and eurekareport.com.au.

Indaily has its own team of local journalists working under the direction of editor, Des Ryan.

Key features from The Independent Weekly will be transitioned into Indaily, including writers such as political journalist, Tom Richardson and wine writer Philip White, as well as syndication from The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, Domain Real Estate section, arts and cultural information, etc.

Indaily has established a revenue model based on advertising, which ensures Indaily will remain a free publication for its subscribers.