People are 'waking up' to the future of news media

The success of www.sunlive.co.nz in its first year is a reflection of how people in the Bay of Plenty are turning to the internet to read their news.

Now 10 months old, its audience is rapidly growing daily and on Saturday it won the best website category at the New Zealand Community Newspaper Association awards.

The focus of www.sunlive.co.nz is to deliver comprehensive news coverage on a multimedia platform at fast speeds, with accuracy, clarity and in eye-grabbing fashion.

“People want their news quickly and free and using the web medium enables the media industry to deliver this,” says Sun Media Ltd director Brian Rogers.
“www.sunlive.co.nz uses all media the internet offers, such as video, audio, pictures and writing to deliver quality journalist works to its audience by email and through social networking websites.”

“More and more people are waking up to the fact that they don’t need a daily paper to get the daily news. www.sunlive.co.nz is free and current, reporting news as it happens.”

When accidents and situations affect people’s day-to-day lives, www.sunlive.co.nz is able to directly inform them so they can make the best choices to cope.

“The news alerts systems are proving valuable in getting knowledge out there about incidents as they happen, whether it’s a traffic problem or a major event like a tsunami.”

“We report live from the scene, using the latest in communications technology to transmit pictures, video and information from the field directly to www.sunlive.co.nz.”

Putting together a product like www.sunlive.co.nz is a team effort and Sun Media Ltd CEO Ross Brown says it is more than just the team of journalists that make it work.

“The company has invested in the resources to deliver a top quality product and this is not possible without a top news and sales team that delivers day in and day out in print and online media,” says Mr Brown.

“Web developers ID Digital Media also played a major role in the success of www.sunlive.co.nz as they have produced and maintain a cutting edge web platform.”

Sun Media Ltd was established in 2000 and has three main print publications:

The Weekend Sun.
Confirmed by Nielsen Media to have over 75,000 readers.

Coast & Country Bay of Plenty and Waikato Farm, Orchard and Rural Lifestyle News.
Delivered to over 32,000 rural addresses every month, from Gisborne to Franklin County.

Waterline Magazine
The Bay of Plenty & Coromandel's own watersport news.