Guardian starts Australian edition with soft launch
The Guardian has quietly launched its Australian edition.
Australian-based visitors to the site are now being automatically redirected to the home page of the British publication’s new Australian edition.
The move does not yet appear to signal a full launch for the site. Most content is bylined to Alison Rourke, a Sydney-based journalist who has written for The Guardian since 2010.
The paper confirmed its launch of an Australian edition a fortnight ago with backing from entrepreneur Grame Wood. Katharine Viner, who is leading the project, said in the announcement that it would be launching later this year.
I load up The Guardian fine with no redirect?
And that Australia page has been on The Guardian’s site for years. It’s like saying this is a sneak-peak at the Thailand edition of the site: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/thailand
Hi Seahorses,
The redirect appears to be patchy. It’s happening to some of us in the office and not others. It would appear that if you have previously clicked on the UK edition tab or US edition tab, that overrides the redirect. That’s my theory anyway…
What’s different to your Thailand example is that Aus is now a third option in the dropdown along with the UK and US (again, not visible to everyone by the looks of it) which I’ve screengrabbed towards the end of the article.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I’m not getting redirected to anything? When visiting Guardian.co.uk, I’m taken to the Guardian UK homepage, and the ‘UK Edition’, filled with generally UK-specific stories.
And supposing I look at The Grauniad to see UK news and not a few rewrites of the SMH?
I’m afraid Seahorses is right – that page has been up for a while. But Tim’s right too – the re-direct started yesterday.
BTW Katharine Viner, Deputy editor, The Guardian left the UK for AU yesterday.
I’m getting reviews of Kevin Costner’s wonderful 2006 film of the same name….
So where does The Guardian launch leave Fairfax on paywalls?
Err…why is the Australian site running ads for halogen heaters and ice treads (that handily fit over your shoes) in January? Don’t they know its summer here?
@Claire Australian visitors’ ads are currently served through Rubicon’s ad exchange, so that’s just an ad buyer doing boneheaded automated targeting.