About us
The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd
The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Ltd is the publisher of four market-leading publications – the Herald Sun, Sunday Herald Sun, The Weekly Times and mX.
The HWT newspapers dominate their market and, in terms of circulation and market penetration, are among the most successful in the world.
These days, with the advent of a range of new platforms on which to deliver news, readership of HWT publications is soaring.
Herald Sun / Sunday Herald Sun
The Herald Sun brand – in print and digital formats – is now consumed each week by 2.5million Victorians (Roy Morgan, Apr 10-Mar 11) highlighting that the Herald Sun’s relationship with its readers has never been higher.
The Herald Sun was established in 1990 as an amalgam of the afternoon daily, The Herald, and the morning daily, The Sun News-Pictorial. It is Victoria’s paper of choice – on any given day, 49 per cent of the adult population of Victoria reads the newspaper and, in the course of a week, 48 per cent of Victorians will read at least one issue.
Latest readership figures confirm the Herald Sun is Australia’s favourite daily newspaper, read by 1.3 million Victorians every weekday and 1.4 million people every Sunday.
And from a circulation perspective, more than 3.4 million copies of the Herald Sun are sold every week (ABC Jan-Mar 2011).
Traffic at heraldsun.com.au continues to grow weekly. Each week we continue to stamp ourselves as the leading website for news, sport and entertainment in Victoria.
In 2010, the Herald Sun launched its first iPad App and each day creates specific and unique content for thousands of iPad subscribers.
Mobile phone Apps have also been created to support specialised sporting products including SuperCoach, SuperFooty and SuperRacing.
This year we also introduced SuperKick – Australia’s first football-related 3D, multi-platform game for iPad, iPhone and website.
The Weekly Times
The voice of the country since 1869, The Weekly Times is Australia's biggest, best and most comprehensive rural news service across print and online. It combines Australia's most influential and largest circulating rural newspaper with an energetic and dynamic website that sets the pace as the country's most visited newspaper-backed rural website.
mX
In 2011, mX celebrates its 10th anniversary. Over the past decade there has been continued growth in the appetite for mX. In fact, CAB audited circulation figures for mX Melbourne released in May showed 3.4% growth year on year. mX national readership is currently 738,000 with 309,000 of those readers in Melbourne (Nielsen IMS Clear Decisions, National, April 2010-March 2011).
mX remains the third highest circulating daily newspaper in Australia, behind the Herald Sun and Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph. The paper is now under the leadership of new editor Claire Sutherland.
History
HWT's newspaper interests date back to the launch in 1840 of The Port Philip Herald, and the company over time developed into Australia's largest media organisation, with broad investment in newspapers, television, radio and magazines.
Since 1987, HWT has been a division of News Limited, which in turn is part of The News Corporation Limited, whose chairman and CEO is Mr Rupert Murdoch.
With a $340 million print site at Port Melbourne and headquarters in Melbourne's Southgate precinct, the company has a huge stake in newspapers as a communications medium.
Community
HWT plays an important role in the Victorian community as a sponsor or supporter of numerous events and causes. Since 1931 it has funded the annual Good Friday Appeal that has raised more than $226 million for the Royal Children's Hospital.
Since 2006, the Herald Sun has also conducted the iconic Herald Sun / CityLink run for the Kids, a fun run event which allows unprecedented access to Melbourne’s toll roads and which has so far raised more than $3.5 million for the Appeal.
Other signature Herald Sun events include the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, attracting top cyclists from around the world, and the Herald Sun Aria, which enjoys international recognition as a showcase for young operatic talent.
Many hundreds of other events and organisations benefit from the company's support.
Our brand
The Herald Sun introduced a new brand campaign in 2011 with the positioning line: Stories start here. It highlights our strength as the leading news breaker in Victoria and deliberately does not differentiate between print and digital products as it signifies where we are headed; Victorians can now enjoy the Herald Sun on many platforms, at any time. And no matter what the packaging, one thing remains the same: our unique and engaging journalism.
