Supporting a stronger, sustainable digital future for Australian journalism

At Google, we’ve always believed in the power of public interest journalism. Over the years we’ve partnered with local, regional, and national publishers across Australia to help them build digital capabilities, find new audiences, tell new stories and establish sustainable business models.

Today, we’re highlighting a few remarkable stories from our news partners, showing how modern tools, flexible technology, and digital strategies are helping Australian publishers thrive in a digital-first world.

Empowering regional newsrooms with Country Press Australia

A cornerstone of our regional support is our long-standing digital transformation partnership with Country Press Australia (CPA). The 2025 Google Kingfisher Program marked the final chapter of a three-year effort to help CPA member publishers modernise their newsrooms.

This final round alone supported 58 publisher groups:

• 53 vendor-led projects in collaboration with seven specialist digital partners.
• 5 publisher-led digital transformation projects spanning 71 regional newspaper mastheads.

Today, CPA member publishers collectively produce around 1,000 online news stories every day, forming one of Australia's largest independent regional and suburban news networks. As Andrew Manuel from CPA Digital Partnerships shared: "This funding has played an important role in helping regional publishers, particularly smaller independent businesses, build the digital capability needed to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world."

Here is how local papers put this innovation to work:

• Tarrangower Times (Simpler Subscriptions): Streamlined subscriber access from three separate systems into one cohesive platform, while cutting website plugins from 58 down to 34 to boost security and speed.
• The Courier, Mount Barker (Preserving History): Digitised more than 20 years of print editions into a searchable online archive that automatically archives new print editions as they publish.
• The Riverine Grazier (Engaging Print Readers Online): Introduced interactive online puzzles, driving a 137% growth in online players in just six months.
• Dubbo Photo News (Structuring Ad Revenue): Rolled out a multimedia sales strategy that boosted sales confidence and yielded a 5% growth in digital ad revenue.
• MyCity Media (Accelerating Prospecting): Developed Scoutly, an in-house tool that reduced ad research time from 60 minutes down to 10 minutes—driving revenue growth of more than 10%.
• Cooloola Bay Bulletin (Growing Audiences): Optimised lead generation to achieve a 10% year-on-year increase in newsletter subscribers and web traffic.

Amplifying local voices in South Australia

For independent regional publishers like The Naracoorte News, connecting with local readers required a modern digital foundation. By replacing a static website with a dynamic, searchable experience, the South Australian newsroom expanded its reach beyond traditional print boundaries.

Through this digital transformation, the team added 50 new digital subscribers, generated $1,500 AUD in monthly recurring platform revenue, and launched a philanthropic donation infrastructure. Read the full story in the Naracoorte News GNI Case Study.

Expanding video strategies with YouTube Audience Lab

As video becomes central to news consumption, small-to-medium news publishers and independent journalists need practical ways to reach audiences. The YouTube Audience Lab, facilitated by news-programming experts at Changer, offers news organisations free training to grow audiences and build sustainable video revenue.

Learn more about how newsrooms are optimising video in our case study on Video Strategies for News Orgs.

Rethinking website engagement at PerthNow

Maintaining engagement requires listening to readers. In Western Australia, Seven West Media's PerthNow launched a sleek website redesign based on direct audience feedback. By prioritising user experience, responsive layouts, and Core Web Vitals, the team made it easier for West Australians to access hyper-local news across mobile and desktop.

Explore the full redesign details in the PerthNow Engagement Story.

Boosting efficiencies across regional newsrooms

Australian Community Media (ACM), Australia's largest publisher of regional and agricultural news, embarked on a multi-year digital transformation to streamline editorial workflows. Collaborating with Google, ACM launched the NewsNow Digital Package across its newsrooms, featuring:

• AI-assisted SEO headlines and meta descriptions.
• A Real-Time Digital Quality Checklist for mobile layouts.
• Personalised content recommendations to drive reader recirculation.

The results included a 12.5% increase in Google Search traffic within the first three months, a 7.4% increase in total users across all mastheads, and a 31.13% boost in article recirculation. Read how they scaled engagement in the ACM Case Study.

Looking forward

From online archives and interactive puzzles to video strategy and AI-assisted newsroom tools, we’re proud to see how these initiatives empower Australian journalists. We remain committed to helping publishers build sustainable, digital-first business models that keep communities informed.

To learn more about our ongoing commercial licensing agreements and history of partnerships, visit our Google News Showcase overview.