The Sydney Morning Herald

What The Sydney Morning Herald does

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a daily news masthead founded in 1831 and operated as part of Nine Publishing, the publishing division of publicly listed Nine Entertainment Co. (ASX: NEC), following Nine's ~$4 billion 2018 merger with Fairfax Media. Headquartered in Sydney, SMH publishes national and international news across politics, business, world affairs, sport, culture, travel, lifestyle, and technology via its flagship website smh.com.au, mobile applications, podcasts, and email newsletters.

The business operates a digital subscription model with premium content gated behind paywalls, supplemented by display and sponsored advertising, podcast advertising, and bundled subscription offers that grant access across sister mastheads (The Age, Brisbane Times, WAtoday, and the Australian Financial Review). SMH extends its product surface through integrated vertical sub-brands covering food (Good Food), travel (Traveller), lifestyle (Sunday Life, Good Weekend), motoring (Drive), and property (Domain), alongside daily puzzles and original audio content such as the 'Naked City' and 'Diagnosing Murder' podcasts.

SMH's GTM is direct-to-consumer, selling annual digital subscriptions to general news consumers and premium subscribers across Australia and internationally, while marketing through social channels, newsletters, podcasts, and editorial events. Revenue streams are split between recurring subscription income and advertising, with no SMH-specific revenue disclosed publicly; the publication operates under a Charter of Editorial Independence within the Nine Publishing portfolio.

Name

The Sydney Morning Herald

Legal name

Nine Publishing (operating name for Nine Entertainment Co. mastheads)

Website

https://smh.com.au

Company type

Public

Founded year

1831

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia's oldest national daily masthead (founded 1831), operated within Nine Publishing and serving general news consumers and premium subscribers across politics, business, sport, culture, lifestyle, and travel via digital subscriptions, advertising, and integrated sub-brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital News Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper Publishers (51311), Periodical Publishers (513120), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

National & General-Interest Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB), Newsletters & Email-Based News Publishers (B2B/B2C) (MPAJADAJ)

Keywords

• Daily newspaper publishing
• Digital news subscriptions
• Investigative journalism
• Lifestyle media content
• Multi-platform news distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: Premium digital subscription model with tiered access to content including exclusive articles, investigations, and analysis. Subscribers receive access across all Nine Publishing titles
2. Advertising: Digital advertising revenue through display ads, sponsored content, and targeted advertising across the website and newsletter offerings
3. Podcast Content: Podcast content including 'Naked City' crime podcast and 'Diagnosing Murder' four-part series in partnership with The Age

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Sydney Morning Herald operates a digital news platform at smh.com.au delivering breaking news, investigative journalism, and coverage across Australian politics, business, world affairs, sport, culture, and lifestyle. Its core product is a subscription-gated news website supplemented by specialized lifestyle sub-brands (Good Food, Traveller, Sunday Life, Good Weekend, Drive, Domain), podcast series, and daily puzzles, distributed across web, mobile, and podcast channels.

Product overview

The Sydney Morning Herald operates as a multi-platform digital news organization offering a unified digital news product supplemented by specialized lifestyle sub-brands. The core smh.com.au platform provides comprehensive news coverage across politics, business, world affairs, sport, and culture. This is complemented by specialized vertical sub-brands including Good Food (culinary content), Traveller (travel), Sunday Life (lifestyle magazine), Good Weekend (features), Drive (automotive via Drive.com.au partnership), and Domain (property via Domain.com.au partnership). Additional offerings include podcasts, daily puzzles, and a subscription-based premium access model. The portfolio is owned by Nine Entertainment, part of a broader network including The Age, Brisbane Times, WAtoday, and AFR.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Good Food: Food and dining section covering recipes, restaurant reviews, and culinary content
• Good Weekend
• Sunday Life
• Drive
• Traveller
• Domain

Products and services

• The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) Primary digital news platform delivering breaking news, investigative journalism, politics, business, world affairs, sport, culture, and lifestyle coverage to Australian readers via a subscription-based model.
• Good Food Food and dining section featuring recipes, restaurant reviews, cooking tips, and culinary content for Australian audiences.
• Traveller
• Sunday Life
• Drive
• Domain
• SMH Podcasts Audio content offerings including the Naked City crime podcast and other branded podcast series such as Diagnosing Murder.
• Good Weekend
• Daily Puzzles

Quantifiable outcome

• Riley Walter named John B Fairfax family young Australian journalist of the year at 2026 Walkley mid-year prizes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 June 2026Joint creation of the Judith Whelan Leadership Fellowship - an annual award honoring the trailblazing journalist who died in 2024. Each year, both organizations select candidates to participate in the Sydney Leadership Accelerator Program with mentorship from senior women leaders across the three founding organizations.
• University of SydneyflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 June 2026Co-founding partner in the Judith Whelan Leadership Fellowship alongside ABC and Sydney Morning Herald, providing the Sydney Leadership Accelerator Program and academic framework for the mentorship initiative.
• The AgecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 October 2025Sister publication partnership for joint podcast productions including 'Diagnosing Murder', a four-part podcast series exploring true crime cases, demonstrating collaborative content development across the Nine Publishing network.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Age: Sister publication under Nine Publishing covering Melbourne/Victoria, sharing subscription bundles, content networks, and podcast partnerships (e.g., Diagnosing Murder) — the most directly comparable masthead to SMH.
• The Australian: News Corp's flagship national masthead and SMH's primary rival in Australian premium national news, with comparable subscription model and similar coverage breadth across politics, business, and opinion.
• Australian Financial Review: Nine Publishing sister masthead focused on business and financial news, sharing the same subscriber bundle and overlapping business coverage with SMH — a comparable premium subscription news product.
• Brisbane Times: Nine Publishing sister masthead serving Queensland, bundled with SMH subscriptions and operating the same digital paywall and content infrastructure — a directly comparable regional metro masthead.
• The Guardian Australia: Digital-first news outlet covering Australian and global news with a competing subscription model (Guardian Membership) and overlapping coverage of politics, investigations, and opinion — a direct premium digital competitor.
• news.com.au: News Corp's highest-traffic Australian news site competing with SMH for mass-market advertising revenue and broad-audience news consumption, though more tabloid in positioning.
• WAtoday: Nine Publishing sister masthead serving Western Australia, sharing subscription bundles and operating the same paywall infrastructure as SMH — directly comparable regional metro newspaper.

Broad incumbents

• ABC News: Australia's national public broadcaster offering comprehensive free news coverage that competes directly with SMH for Australian readership and advertiser attention, with overlap in political, world, and investigative coverage.
• 7news.com.au: Seven West Media's digital news platform combining broadcast reach with online news, competing for mass-market Australian news audiences and advertisers — comparable in scale and digital news distribution.

Emerging players

• Crikey: Independent Australian digital news subscription brand focused on politics and investigative journalism, competing for premium subscribers who might otherwise pay for SMH — a comparable subscription news product in the same audience segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/smh
• Facebookfacebook.com/sydneymorningherald
• Instagraminstagram.com/sydneymorningherald
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sydneymorningherald

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Sydney Morning Herald