Rural Press Mastheads to carry Domain

Fairfax today announced that all 150 Rural Press Mastheads in newspapers will now carry the Domain.com.au brand. As well all Rural Press Property Guide listings will now be migrated to Domain.com.au (lets hope site does not fall over in process)

Seriously though this should really ramp up the competition to REA. All real estate agents who had previously been with Rural Press will now be members of Domain.

It will be interesting to the the results of all of this migration around late November just to see what impact this all has on Domain.com.au’s popularity against its main rival realestate.com.au.

Click below to get full press release from Fairfax.

Fairfax Media today announced that more than 150 Rural Press mastheads will have their in-paper property guides re-badged to the highly regarded Domain real estate brand. Furthermore, all properties currently listed on propertyguide.com.au will be migrated to Domain.com.au.

“This is a great milestone not only for our Rural Press publications, but for property seekers throughout Australia,” Brian McCarthy, CEO Australia, Fairfax Media said.

The move from propertyguide.com.au to Domain.com.au will see many new real estate agents join Domain.com.au and thousands of regional listings added to the website.

In addition, Fairfax will use the launch of the Domain brand into regional Australia to extend the value of advertising for real estate agents, vendors and landlords within these markets.

Real estate agents who advertise in Rural Press titles will now receive a bundled print and online offer including a subscription to Domain.com.au, allowing them to list sales and rental listings on Domain.com.au.

The Domain brand in regional markets will be serviced by a single account management team representing online and print in specific circulation areas. This move ensures a single contact for all Domain and real estate related enquiries and a swifter print and online listing process.

“There is no better value for property advertising in regional areas. Not only do agents and their clients benefit from the strong regional print audience, they now have the ability to extend their advertisement to Domain.com.au’s audience of two million local property seekers,” McCarthy continued.

Jack Matthews, CEO, Fairfax Digital commented, “This development will see Domain.com.au increase its listing market share and traffic in all states, with the Domain brand becoming a leading online and print real estate resource throughout regional Australia.

“The ongoing integration of print and online is opening doors throughout Australia for Fairfax. By combining the familiarity with regional newspapers which our readers hold with the strength of Domain across print and online platforms we’re taking the next step in evolving Fairfax into a national, cross-platform media company while increasing the reach and effectiveness of our content,” Matthews added.

Over 136 million pages of property information were viewed on Domain.com.au in July with almost 400,000 email and telephone enquiries generated for real estate agents in the month.

The Port Macquarie News was the first Rural Press newspaper to re-brand its property section to Domain, with other Rural Press newspapers nationally scheduled to follow by the end of September.
Fairfax Media Limited is Australasia’s leading media company. In May, 2007, Fairfax Media and Rural Press Limited completed their merger, creating the largest integrated metropolitan, rural and regional, print and online digital media company in Australasia, with publications and websites in every State and the ACT in Australia, and throughout New Zealand.

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