Independent media company, Solstice Media, has acquired a major shareholding in Australian Traveller Media, publisher of Australian and International Traveller magazines and digital titles.
The investment will give Solstice Media an immediate 80 percent stake in the company, which will continue to operate as a separate business. The remaining 20 percent will be purchased over time.
Australian Traveller magazine is the number one independent title in the Australian travel media market. It was established by Quentin Long and Nigel Herbert over 20 years ago to provide inspirational content for Australians looking to travel within Australia.
Since then it has grown to include International Traveller magazine for Australians travelling overseas and broadened its digital offerings for both titles. It has a combined print, digital and social audience of 3m per quarter.
Solstice Media has its origins in Adelaide with a digital daily news publication 21 years ago, called InDaily. It recently acquired the national New Daily digital news from Industry Superfunds, which had previously been operated by Solstice under contract. It has also branched into Queensland with InDaily Queensland.
In 2018, It purchased SALIFE Magazine from Canongate Partners and earlier this year purchased the 7am podcast from Schwartz Media.
Solstice managing director, Paul Hamra, said the company had been looking to broaden and grow its offering of categories and types of media products for its existing news audience of over two million readers around the country.
“In those categories, we started by looking for companies and products who have shared values with Solstice – based on independence and quality journalism,”
“Travel is still a very strong category among every demographic – with audiences seeking out not only information about where to travel but also what to do around their own locations – everything from ticket pricing to experiences, trends and the best of each location.
“Australian Traveller Media is a profitable travel publishing company operated by two industry professionals who have been working with Solstice Media on campaigns over the past year, we’ve got to know the team and really liked their approach,”
“We want Australian Traveller Media to continue doing what it does so well – publishing the best, inspirational travel content – it’s business as usual – but now with the benefit of being part of a bigger publishing ecosystem and growth options with additional resources and audience access,” said Hamra.
Australian Traveller Media co-founder, Quentin Long, said “From launch in 2005 Nigel and I had a strict criteria for any potential partner. They had to be great for all stakeholders which we defined as our readers, our staff, our advertisers and all shareholders. Solstice Media met all
these criteria and then some. To be part of their wider eco system is such a great opportunity for our brands and people.”
Having worked together for 12 months we were able to establish the important alignment of values which was a bonus. It may be a cliché but it is truly goldilocks deal for us and Solstice,” he said.