Think of a relaunch or redesign, and you tend to think of a physical, printed product. When Nine Publishing repositioned the Financial Review, the main changes were digital.

In an INMA ‘satisfying audiences’ blog, Tessa Maughan and Lauren Vadnjal told how the publisher moved its professional offering beyond corporate subscriptions and positioning the AFR as an essential partner for corporate clients seeking deep, curated insights.

Maughan, who is the masthead’s marketing lead of brand and acquisition, and Vadnjal, head of audience engagement, say the "needs of the modern enterprises we work with were rapidly evolving.

“As Australia’s most-read premium business masthead, the Australian Financial Review provides essential business, finance, and investment news to key corporate decision makers each day,” they say.

The Financial Review has offered corporate subscriptions to companies and institutions for eight years, with the B2B product a thriving part of the Nine Publishing business, consistently delivering double digit revenue growth year-on-year.

“But while businesses have a continued need for the verified, trusted and authoritative journalism our newsroom produces, simply accessing it online, via our app, or in print is not enough,” they say. “With increasing reliance on automation and machine learning, businesses also need that information to be embedded within their AI systems and workflows.

“To meet these evolving needs, the Australian Financial Review undertook a significant strategic evolution of its professional offering.”

Financial Review for Business launched in October 2025, complete with a fresh rebrand and a new model for content integrations. This moved the professional offering beyond corporate subscriptions and positions it as an essential partner for corporate clients seeking deep, curated insights.

A key part of the new model includes new enterprise licensing capabilities. Through direct feed integrations, enterprise subscribers can now customise and integrate timely, relevant content directly into their platforms.

Recognising businesses use multiple AI tools, the model is designed to be large language model (LLM)- and tech platform-agnostic. This facilitates real-time access to news and insights. It also assists with rapid decision-making, effectively turning the Financial Review’s journalism into a core business utility, no matter what technology an organisation is using.

“To ensure responsible use of our intellectual property in AI and maintain journalistic integrity, we put clear guardrails in place, including limiting the license to internal use and implementing clear labelling and citation for all AI-generated output.

This strategic step forward acknowledges how quickly the Australian workplace is changing.

Director of B2B subscriptions and licensing Agos Garola said the focus was on innovation, quality, and control – “maximising the utility and value of our content by offering enterprise subscribers new ways to integrate AFR intelligence into their existing technology for an indispensable edge.

“Moreover, the model positions our content as an essential part of the AI ecosystem; instead of our journalism being scraped or misused for free, we become a paid, indispensable part of businesses’ systems. It also ensures our content isn’t excluded from controlled, licensed environments, a factor that affects our core subscriptions business and future revenue streams.”

The evolution of AFR for Business also came with a fresh rebrand, including:

-a new brand name, Financial Review for Business was designed to reflect the broader suite of professional offerings that extend beyond traditional subscriptions;

-a refreshed visual identity, which uses ‘pixels’ as a metaphor for curated insights, underscoring the Financial Review’s promise to deliver clarity and focus in a complex landscape;

-a new, dedicated micro-site, launched to effectively communicate the full scope and sophistication of the expanded offering. It also details the comprehensive suite of products now available to corporate clientele under the revitalised Financial Review for Business banner.

Maughan and Vadnjal say the market has responded to the rebranded offering and content integrations with a keen interest. Within the first month of Financial Review for Business launching, the new micro-site delivered a 46 per cent increase in time spent on-site and 17 per cent increase in quality leads through to the sales team compared to the previous three-month average.

“Financial Review for Business builds on the Financial Review’s seven-decade legacy of editorial quality to transform access to its trusted journalism, open up future business-to-business revenue streams, and provide tangible, innovative value to our enterprise subscribers.”