AUCKLAND, Monday: School Road Publishing has appointed Joe France as managing director. Owner Greg Partington said: “The decision to pivot SRP to include a stronger digital play is the obvious future of publishing.”
“SRP is barely a year old and has already successfully delivered three new magazine titles into the New Zealand market and achieved significant readership growth particularly with Woman magazine with more than 100,000 readers estimated and growing.
“But with any start-up standing still isn’t an option.”
“ ‘France’ ”, says Partington,” has been working with publishers globally for the last seven years on their digital transformation strategies, particularly in advertising technologies and this unique knowledge will enhance the experience both for readers and advertisers.”
“He has spent two decades in early-stage adtech companies and learned first-hand about the challenges for publishers of earning income through content online.”
“To enable this access is so exciting. It brings a bigger meaning to the years learning in this space by encouraging diverse original content from talented Kiwis, writers, photographers and designers.”
Joe France said: “It isn’t so much a technology challenge that companies struggle with, as finding the right connections with users in digital media and online platforms.
“School Road has launched with a great platform and the potential is exciting for both print and online.
“In his previous role at Nasdaq-listed Taboola France worked locally with TVNZ and Newshub and with global publishers such as Newscorp, Daily Mail, and Yahoo Japan on digital revenue strategies.
“His work with Refinery29, a publisher focusing on similar topics to SRP, with a data-driven approach to content and platforms has many parallels.
“Refinery29 is known for creating different content formats for different platforms, such as web or social.
“From this month, we have opened digital access to all locked online content for print magazine subscribers.”
“With the diverse topics that School Road Publishing covers and its current content creation capabilities, a data-driven audience approach will lead to new, engaged audiences connecting with our stories”.
“The thing we learned from this year is that, while print magazines still form an important part of our readers’ lives, and are an effective way for our advertisers to connect with them, readers would like to know even more from us: to connect with our stories more often.
“From this month, we have opened digital access to all locked online content for print magazine subscribers. This means that a reader who wants to access articles they love reading, can see those now in print or on a device at any time.
“To enable this access is so exciting. It brings together a bigger meaning to the years working and learning in this space, by giving back a little and encouraging diverse original content from talented Kiwis, writers, photographers and designers.
“As well as opening up online access to the magazine for print subscribers, School Road is working on new digital-first content on topics that readers have been asking for more stories about, like gardening, beauty and fashion.”
The digital investment
Partington: “The digital transformation is already underway and we will further invest into digital platforms that enable content creators to submit original content for publication.”
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