The Standard

What The Standard does

The Standard is a regional community newspaper serving Warrnambool and surrounding south-west Victoria (Portland, Hamilton, Mortlake, Camperdown, Timboon, Koroit, Tower Hill), tracing its origins to 1872 and currently operated as part of the Australian Community Media (ACM) network under Rural Press Pty Ltd. The publication runs a primary digital news website (standard.net.au) supplemented by a daily digital replica of the print edition (Today's Paper), and reaches readers via approximately 15 topic-specific email newsletters plus organic search and social sharing. Content spans local news, Hampden league football and netball, council, court, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, classifieds (celebrations, real estate, automotive, farming, pets, jobs), puzzles, and the integrated ViewJobs employment platform.

Core technology consists of a digital news publishing platform with a subscription paywall and audience-targeted display advertising delivered through LiveRamp's Authenticated Traffic Solution and measured via Roy Morgan Digital Content Ratings. Ad targeting relies on pseudonymised digital fingerprints and cookie-based geographic/behavioral segmentation rather than proprietary AI.

The business model blends four revenue streams: recurring digital subscriptions (annual billing cadence, freemium-with-paywall), display and targeted advertising (served on-site and across third-party networks via LiveRamp), classified listings (transaction-fee style), and print newspaper sales. Customer base is two horizontal segments: regional community readers consuming local content (primary) and local/regional businesses buying display ads and classified placements (secondary). The organisation employs 51-100 staff at its Warrnambool headquarters and shares back-office advertising, technology, and audience infrastructure with sibling ACM titles (Bendigo Advertiser, The Courier, The Advocate-Hepburn), where subscribers receive cross-site access under a single digital subscription.

Name

The Standard

Legal name

Rural Press Pty Ltd

Website

https://standard.net.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1872

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Standard is a regional Australian community newspaper operating since 1872 in Warrnambool, Victoria, serving south-west Victorian readers with local news, sport, classifieds, and lifestyle content via a subscription website, daily digital print replica, newsletters, and puzzles, as part of the ACM/Rural Press Pty Ltd network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Warrnambool

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: Digital subscription model offering unlimited access to online content and digital versions of print editions. Subscription tiers include premium content behind paywalls.
2. Advertising Revenue: Display advertising, targeted advertisements based on user behavior and geographic location, served both on the website and third-party networks via LiveRamp and cookie-based targeting.
3. Classifieds: Revenue from classifieds including celebrations, personal connections, events, real estate, automotive, farming, pets, and miscellaneous categories.
4. Print Newspaper Sales: Physical newspaper sales through Today's Paper print edition.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Standard is a regional newspaper publishing local news, sport, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, and classifieds content for Warrnambool and south-west Victoria, Australia. It distributes content through a digital news website (standard.net.au), a digital replica of its print edition (Today's Paper), email newsletters, interactive puzzles, a job listings platform, and an online classifieds marketplace, with content access gated behind a subscription paywall.

Product overview

The Standard is a regional digital news platform and print newspaper operated by Australian Community Media (ACM), serving Warrnambool and surrounding regions in Victoria, Australia. The offering consists of a primary digital news website (The Standard) that publishes local news, sport, weather, entertainment, classifieds, and lifestyle content, supplemented by the Today's Paper digital replica of the print edition. Additional modules include interactive Puzzles, the ViewJobs employment platform, a comprehensive Classifieds marketplace, and a suite of topic-specific Newsletters. The Standard operates as part of ACM's network of regional Australian newspapers, which also includes Bendigo Advertiser, The Courier, and The Advocate - Hepburn.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Standard (Regional Digital News)
• Today's Paper (Digital Print Edition)
• Puzzles
• ViewJobs
• Classifieds
• Email Newsletters

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• LiveRampcoreTechnology or IntegrationACM uses LiveRamp's ATS (Authenticated Traffic Solution) on its websites including The Standard to facilitate targeted advertising. LiveRamp generates pseudonymised digital fingerprints for users to enable people-based advertising across the LiveRamp ecosystem while enhancing user privacy controls.
• Australian Community Media (ACM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Standard is operated by Australian Community Media (Rural Press Pty Ltd), which owns and operates a network of regional newspapers across Australia. The Standard benefits from ACM's shared technology infrastructure, advertising networks, and cross-promotion within the ACM newspaper network including Bendigo Advertiser, The Courier, and The Advocate-Hepburn.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• The Age: Major Melbourne metropolitan daily under Nine Entertainment that covers regional Victoria and competes with The Standard for regional advertisers and digital subscribers in south-west Victoria.
• The Canberra Times: Larger regional Australian newspaper covering the ACT and surrounding region with national affairs coverage. Operates a similar digital subscription model but at meaningfully larger scale and with broader geographic reach than The Standard.
• ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Australia's national public broadcaster, providing free regional and local news coverage that directly competes with The Standard for Warrnambool-area readers and audience attention, though funded differently.

Direct peers

• The Advocate - Hepburn: ACM sister title covering Hepburn and central Victoria. Operates the same regional newspaper platform with shared infrastructure, making it a direct operational and audience peer to The Standard.
• Geelong Advertiser: Regional Victorian newspaper under News Corp Australia covering Geelong. Comparable regional community newspaper model with digital subscription, print edition, and local advertising focus — directly competes for regional Victoria ad budgets.
• Illawarra Mercury: Regional Australian newspaper serving the Illawarra region of NSW with a digital subscription and print edition model. Closely comparable in audience scale, revenue mix, and community newspaper positioning to The Standard.
• The Courier: ACM-owned regional newspaper serving Ballarat, Victoria, with the same subscription, advertising, and classifieds model. Directly comparable in audience, revenue mix, and operational structure to The Standard.
• The Border Mail: ACM-owned regional newspaper serving Albury-Wodonga on the NSW-Victoria border. Closely comparable regional Australian newspaper with the same subscription, advertising, and classifieds revenue mix as The Standard.
• Bendigo Advertiser: Sister publication under Australian Community Media (ACM) serving regional Bendigo, Victoria. Operates the same regional digital-plus-print newspaper model, shared technology stack, and cross-promotion network as The Standard.
• The Mercury: Regional daily newspaper serving Hobart, Tasmania, with combined digital subscription and print edition model targeting a single regional market. Comparable business model, scale, and audience structure to The Standard.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WboolStandard
• Facebookfacebook.com/WboolStandard
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-warrnambool-standard

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Standard