Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media is celebrating 100,000 digital subscribers, following year-on-year growth of 49 per cent.

The executive chairman was ecstatic: “This is such an important achievement in a relatively short period of time and shows the power of our trusted mastheads and our quality journalism that has helped us become one of the fastest growing media companies in Australia.”

The regional media network’s leading news sites include the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, the (Albury Wodonga) Border Mail, Ballarat’s The Courier and Warrnambool’s The Standard.

Thanking digital subscribers who were helping support journalism across the country, he added, “Your support is helping us keep our communities strong, informed and connected. As more and more people move to the thriving regional centres across Australia, demand for quality local content has never been higher and we take pride in delivering the quality independent journalism our 6.4 million readers enjoy each month.”

He also congratulated ACM team members on “the great work they have done to deliver such a compelling proposition that is attracting and retaining so many readers.

“Slow uptake for digital subscriptions can occur in some parts of Australia but our innovative approach to content, product and marketing has changed this,” said Catalano.

Following a 2016 pilot of digital subscriptions on two small local news websites on the NSW South Coast – the Bay Post at Batemans Bay and the Milton-Ulladulla Times, ACM began rolling out digital subscription packages on its key regional news sites in 2018 and 2019.

ACM managing director Tony Kendall said the growth had been fantastic, with the digital subscriber base up 49 per cent and revenues up 54 per cent year on year. “It's a testament to the great work our teams have been doing to bring quality content to our audiences across the country.”

He said while the Canberra Times and daily mastheads in major regional population centres across NSW, Victoria and Tasmania were the key drivers of subscriber growth, smaller news sites such as the South Coast Register, Armidale Express, Port Macquarie News and Wimmera-Mail Times were also proving popular.

The company recently launched a national campaign, ‘ACM ConnectNow’, to encourage major advertising agencies and their clients to use the nationwide reach of ACM to connect with its highly-engaged print and digital audiences of 6.4 million a month.

ACM is celebrating the ‘ton-up’ milestone with with a prize of a complimentary three-month subscription for a friend or family member for new digital subscribers from each major masthead.