Huffington Post and Techcrunch establish sales presence in Australia
AOL, parent company to major digital brands such as Huffington Post and Techcrunch, is to establish an Australian sales presence paving the way for an editorial launch for the brands.
The company has appointed digital media company Inception Digital to be its Australian sales representative in a move that is a first step to an Australian launch for its editorial operations.
Graham Moysey, head of international AOL said, in a statement: “I’m confident the combined strength of our great content brands and innovative ad solutions alongside Inception Digital’s expertise and scale will lead to engaging and exciting opportunities for brands wanting to connect with a premium audience.”
AOL claims its internal data shows it has an average of 31.7m monthly impressions in the Australian market with Inception Digital now charged to be the sales presence across the US company’s various titles that include The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Engadget, Games.com, StyleList, Kitchen Daily, Moviefone and Autoblog.
While the announcement of the appointment noted that no dedicated Australian editorial has been announced “at this stage”, The Huffington Post has been signalling its intention to enter the Australian market since 2012.
As Mumbrella revealed last year, these plans were later put on hold while the company focused on its expansion into Japan and Brazil.
“We are still planning to launch in Australia, but are currently focusing on launching The Huffington Post in Japan and Brazil,” a spokeswoman for the Huffington Post told Mumbrella at the time.
The Huffington Post’s founder Arianna Huffington, some months later, echoed these sentiments telling the International News Media Association World Congress in New York last year: “We want to launch in Australia… we really want to be in every important market in the world and Australia is definitely such a market.”
The Huffington Post is one of the last global online brands to look to enter the Australian newspace. In the last 12 months, Australia has seen a series of global media companies enter the landscape including The Guardian, Buzzfeed and the Mail Online.
Inception Digital’s co-founder and general manager Jade Harley said working with AOL added further strength to their portfolio which includes some representation for The Guardian and also full representation Glam Media
“AOL’s brands are a perfect fit for Inception Digital, adding to our existing high quality portfolio, delivering advertising solutions that drive engagement and conversation,” said. Harley.
“We already represent some of the country’s most influential publishers and platforms. This partnership significantly strengthens our position as the number one solution for reaching forward thinking and valuable audiences.”
Inception Digital has a sales team of ten staff.
Nic Christensen
