Junkee Media
Junkee Media, formerly known as Sound Alliance, is a digital media company based in Australia. According to the company, Junkee Media's websites attract a monthly audience of over 2 million unique browsers.[1] Nearly 70 per cent of the website's traffic comes from mobile devices and the biggest referrer to the network is Facebook.[2]
Type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Digital media |
Founded | 2000 |
Headquarters | Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia |
Key people | Neil Ackland, CEO Tim Duggan, Publisher |
Products | Junkee Punkee AWOL |
Parent | oOh!media (85%) |
Website | junkeemedia |
History
Junkee Media was founded in 2000 when Matt Callander, Libby Clark and Andre Lackmann launched their dance music website inthemix.[3] The website began as a part-time hobby for the three,[4] who were soon joined by Neil Ackland. Ackland discovered the site online and got in touch with its creators.[5]
Sound Alliance acquired Mess+Noise in October 2008 from failed media group Destra Corporation.[3] Mess+Noise had been operating since 2005 when it began as a bimonthly print publication.[6] In 2006, Tim Duggan co-founded national LGBT site Same Same with Sound Alliance.[7]
Sound Alliance launched Junkee in March 2013, an online title aimed at an audience aged 18 to 29 years.[8] The publisher told its audience that Junkee would be built on principles uncovered in a comprehensive youth survey of a few thousand 18- to 29-year-olds.[9] Sound Alliance used Junkee to trial native advertising which by October 2014 it used across all of its publications.[10]
Sound Alliance formally rebranded itself as Junkee Media in July 2015.[11][2] CEO Neil Ackland told media the name change reflected the company's transformation from being a music-only publisher to becoming a youth-focused lifestyle publisher.[12] In September 2015, Junkee Media told LGBT title Same Same to Evo Media.[13]
In 2016, oOh!media, a publicly listed Australian outdoor advertising company, bought 85% of Junkee Media for $11.05 million.[14]
In April 2017, FasterLouder was rebranded to Music Junkee,[15] and a new site targeting Generation Z, Punkee, was launched the following month.[16] In November 2018, Junkee Media closed down inthemix after 18 years.[17]
Publications
- Junkee, a pop culture and political satire site
- Punkee, an entertainment and pop culture site aimed at 16 to 24 year-olds[18]
- AWOL, a youth travel site produced in partnership with Qantas, founded in 2014[19]
Awards
Junkee was named media brand of the year at the 2014 Mumbrella Awards.[20] Qantas and Junkee Media's AWOL was named the content marketing strategy of the year in 2015.[21]
In 2011, Sound Alliance was named to the Digital Media Top 10 Power Index, lauded for disrupting their larger traditional media competitors.[22]
Sound Alliance was named one of Australia's best places to work in both 2010 and 2009 by the publication BRW.[23]
Punkee was named the media brand of the year at the 2018 Mumbrella Awards.[24] Junkee Media was named publishing company of the year - large publishers at the 2018 Publish Awards. [25]
References
- Sandev, Miro (19 April 2011). "Sound Alliance Boosts Network with 50 New Sites". B&T. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012.
- Mason, Max (3 July 2015). "Half of Junkee Media's ad revenue coming from branded content". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016.
- Sinclair, Lara (22 June 2009). "Sound Alliance beats advertising blues". The Australian. News Corp.
- McMillen, Andrew (7 August 2009), A Conversation With Neil Ackland, Sound Alliance Managing Director, archived from the original on 21 February 2014
- Shrivell, Denise (31 July 2009). "Digital People - Neil Ackland". Digital Ministry. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012.
- Toller, Annie (3 August 2015). "What went wrong at Mess+Noise?". Daily Review. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016.
- Miranda Ward (10 July 2015). "Junkee Media names Tim Duggan publisher following rebrand and appoints head of video". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- "Youth publisher launches mobile-first title Junkee.com". mUmBRELLA. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
- Duggan, Tim (11 March 2013). "Welcome To Junkee". Junkee. Sound Alliance. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.
- Micallef, Rachael (16 October 2014). "Sound Alliance formalises native advertising team". AdNews. Yaffa Media Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015.
- Christensen, Nic (2 July 2015). "Sound Alliance rebrands as Junkee Media, says half its revenue now comes from native". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 30 July 2015.
- Homewood, Sarah (2 July 2015). "Sound Alliance rebrands to Junkee Media". AdNews. Yaffa Media Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016.
- Miranda Ward (30 September 2015). "Junkee Media offloads LGBTI community hub SameSame to Evo Media for undisclosed sum". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- Hayes, Alex (24 June 2016). "Ooh Media buys Junkee Media in surprise move". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016.
- Miranda Ward (4 April 2017). "Junkee Media rebrands The Vine as Punkee while it retires FasterLouder in favour of Music Junkee". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- Samios, Zoe (31 May 2017). "Junkee Media officially launches Punkee". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- "A Farewell From inthemix: Thanks For All The Memories". Junkee. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- Samios, Zoe (5 September 2018). "Building Punkee: Moving beyond The Bachelor recaps". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- "Qantas and Sound Alliance launch youth travel title AWOL" (Press release). Qantas. 12 November 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015.
- "The Mumbrella Awards: 2014 winners". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.
- "The Mumbrella Awards: 2015 winners". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016.
- Priestley, Angela (8 November 2011), "Digital Media, no. 9: Sound Alliance", The Power Index, archived from the original on 6 July 2015
- Gardner, Jessica (24 June 2010). "Labour of Love". BRW. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012.
- Francis, Damian (28 June 2018). "Mumbrella Awards winners for 2018". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- Francis, Damian (20 September 2018). "Mumbrella Publish 2018 award winners revealed". Mumbrella. Retrieved 16 May 2019.