What you need to know:

• The Brisbane Times, which launched in 2007, has not received the same love as its Sydney and Melbourne stablemates.
• Nine wants to change that by near doubling its editorial budget and going large on a marketing campaign. It currently has north of 700,000 monthly readers. Nine wants a lot more.
• Group execs are confident the Brisbane Times can better represent the community and establish the brand as a major rival to News Corp's Courier Mail.
• It needs a stronger newsmedia unit to wring the most out of all of its assets ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, the last blast of Nine's $305m rights investment.
• While the Brisbane Times is now more subs focused, it could "easily double" sales in other areas, per execs.
• Connected with Nine's log-in data via 9Now, media buyers think the Brisbane Times could become a powerful advertising proposition that gives News a run for its money.

Marathon, not a sprint

Aiming to overhaul its main rival, Nine Entertainment is investing heavily to revamp the Brisbane Times masthead, a full nine years out from the city's 2032 Olympic Games.

This includes a “near doubling” of investment in editorial, including a greater focus on verticals in lifestyle, travel and culture, backed by a shiny marketing campaign that positions the new-look Brisbane Times as standard bearer of “new news” and more reflective of the city's make-up.

The move, flagged at Nine’s Upfront event last year, follows three key developments. Firstly, rapidly changing demographics: the city has grown its population by 47 per cent to 2.5 million in 20 years, and is forecast to grow a further 41 per cent by 2041. Secondly, last year’s federal election suggests a swing towards progressive parties and thinking, with Nine's editorial outlook tending to be more left-leaning. Thirdly, the Brisbane Olympic Games of which Nine is the Australian host broadcaster, and a key reason that the network invested $305m for eight years worth of Olympics rights.

Brisbane media agency execs suggest the ramp-up is not before time, arguing the city has been calling out for a stronger rival to the Courier Mail. They see major scope for a more progressive voice, provided the Brisbane Times can stay true to its local roots.

From ‘outpost’ to ‘main game’

Nine Managing Director of Publishing James Chessell told Mi3 that since it launched in 2007, the Brisbane Times has had neither the investment nor scale required to establish a meaningful presence, especially as mastheads have transitioned from being majority ad-funded to majority subscriber-funded models.

Masthead-wise, he admits Brisbane has been “a bit of an outpost”, overshadowed by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in terms of Nine's priorities. But now there's a levelling up exercise underway. The leadership wants Brisbane to be part of “the main game”, firing the starter pistol on major local and national investment in a bid for growth.

“The scale is really critical to this. When you have a relatively small newsroom, trying to speak to a growing and increasingly progressive audience, it's really tricky,” Chessell said; Roy Morgan research notes the Brisbane Times has 784,000 readers per month. “When Nine Publishing's in a reasonably strong position, financially, and is growing, why not use that position to grow in an area where we think there's opportunity?

He took the opportunity for a jab at rivals.

“To be doing this at a time when most newsrooms are pulling back on staff and budgets, is genuinely significant. If you're not constrained – like maybe some of our competitors – by ideological concerns or corporate concerns, you can really zero-in on that user data and user experience, and serve up what the audience wants. Research shows that there is a large number of people in Brisbane with a propensity to pay for journalism.”

Nine’s investment involves nearly a doubling in editorial budget (although not a doubling in editorial headcount), which includes hiring Food and Culture Editor Matt Shea, City Reporter Courtney Kruk and Sport Reporter Nick Wright, among others. There has been further investment in its social media team and sectional brands Domain, Good Food, Traveller, Drive and Good Weekend to give them more of a Brisbane flavour.

High quality local news content across a broad sweep of local verticals is viewed by Nine as a key differentiator with its competitive set in the race for paying subscribers. The Brisbane Times, which doesn’t have a legacy print operation, has a rough subs to advertising split of 55-45 per cent, Mi3 understands.

But it's looking for major growth on both fronts, now going to agencies in earnest with its new proposition.

Double ad revenues

Jo Clasby, Nine’s Director of Total Publishing, told Mi3 the 60-strong Brisbane sales team, led by Brisbane Sales Director Rebecca Lawrie, has received a positive response to plans to bolster areas such as lifestyle and travel.

Now Nine has committed, Clasby is bullish on ad sales upside: “I feel as though we could easily double what we're currently enjoying off the platform with the injected energy, time, effort and enthusiasm that we've got behind the brand," she said.

“What I'm looking for in the longer-term are section sponsorships, so what client travel client is going to come on and support the travel section, what clients will support the food or arts or entertainment sections. We are looking at those section sponsorships and event partnerships with local Brisbane Times events … it’s less about run of display advertising.”

Clasby acknowledges formidable competition from the far larger Courier Mail – which claims an audience of more than three million. But she thinks there is huge scope for commercial growth, with Nine all-in on the Olympics.

Sneesby: A 'straightforward decision'

It was a point echoed by Nine Entertainment chief executive Mike Sneesby who told Mi3 investing in the Brisbane Times played to Nine’s vertically integrated strength as a provider of local commercial content across newspapers, TV, audio and digital.

“The Brisbane Times is just an extension of that,” he said. “It's the fastest growing city with a great population. We've got the strength in the media assets to be able to build and promote a business like that. You put the 2032 Olympics on top and it's a pretty straightforward business decision that we should be putting more into this market.”

Media buyers: Strong move

Media buyers welcomed Nine’s investment. They suggest a credible rival to the Courier Mail and more integrated play will prove an attractive proposition to advertisers.

"It's a great strategic investment,” per OMD Brisbane General Manager Rob Swinton.

“We welcome the competition, it will definitely help advertisers. They've got a position of strength in TV in Queensland, and to have news better covered against News Limited is a pretty strong move,” he said. “Brisbane is definitely a news town, people here soak it up, so this will build reach across the Nine portfolio for advertisers. If they can connect the data they’ve got with 9Now and overlay that with Brisbane Times, it's a powerful proposition for brands.”

GroupM’s National Head of Investment and Brisbanite Claire Butterworth said investing in a publisher with a different tone and editorial stance from the Courier Mail would only benefit local consumers and the market.

“There is more than enough room for the Brisbane Times to thrive and offer a different perspective of South East Queensland. It provides another outlet for brands to extend their national campaigns into Brisbane and attract new advertisers into this media ecosystem.”

While Nine talked up its push for sponsorships and partnerships over run of display advertisers, Butterworth said there may be a short-term challenge in attracting certain advertisers keen on print. She also thinks the Brisbane Times may find more success if it stays true to its roots of covering community news, rather than focusing too much on larger metro or national stories.

Brisbane Times Editor Sean Parnell said the masthead aims to strike a balance between local and hard-hitting news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, travel and everything that lies in between. He told Mi3 the Brisbane Times will eschew “adversarial, clickbaity, dumbed-down or sensational” takes and instead represent the diversity of a city that he suggested has been underserved.

“The people of Brisbane know that the city has been underestimated for a long time," he added. "There's always been a story to tell in Brisbane that has needed a dedicated city-based media organisation,” he said. “I have full confidence that we can do that better than anyone, because we are going to be part of the community.”

Kylie Blucher, the Managing Director Nine Queensland & Nine Northern NSW, underlined that sentiment – and anticipates growth inline with Nine's planned investment: “We deserve another voice... [and] as our river, the brown snake, rises, we will all rise if we're investing in journalism and storytelling," said Blucher. "This is an important time for Brisbane."