Meet The Media: Yahoo 7 Australia

Ever wonder how to pitch the media in Australia?  Today I have the pleasure to talk to Trevor Treharne at Yahoo 7 Australia.

Can you give us some background on Yahoo 7?

Yahoo7’s mission is to make the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalised experiences for users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, anywhere, anytime and across any device.

Yahoo7 is a partnership between Yahoo Inc. and Seven West Media, a national television and broadcasting company.  The partnership combines the strengths of Yahoo’s global network with Seven West Media’s TV, magazine and newspaper brands. Yahoo7 is a web portal, providing email, online news and lifestyle content, as well as weather, travel and retail comparison services.

At Yahoo 7, what do you do on a daily basis?

It’s mainly about cultivating and publishing content. Most of our content is produced in-house, so I work with our journalists on a daily basis.  We have so many sub-sections on Yahoo7 – news, sport, lifestyle, entertainment, health, fashion, food etc. – that we need to communicate what we are working on between the teams first thing in the morning. These days much of my time is spent on social media too, making sure our Twitter and Facebook posts are out there.

Since you must have hundreds of emails coming in everyday, what kind of emails will definitely get your attention?

Emails that have a short punchy subject line will get my attention. Nothing with company names or details of new appointments (we don’t cover those unless they are major). New research or survey results are often good, especially if it involves Australia on any level. In general we try to cover ‘news you can use’. So not just information, but tips that readers can actually go away and implement, such as how to save more or make smarter purchasing decisions.

And with the news releases as well – what kind of news releases – in terms of their format, wordings etc will be used by Yahoo 7 Finance’s Editorial?  What advice can you offer to these people?

Firstly, it’s better if it’s specific to Australia, or about an Australian company. 95% of our traffic is Australian, so we look for stories that impact them directly. Our core areas on the Finance section are personal finance, wealth generation tips, property, technology, plus employment/jobs. We also publish a lot of ‘listicles’, so ‘Six ways to reduce your tax bill’, for example.

If you are going to pitch, just email, a follow call won’t help, but a follow-up email might if you really think the story is worth it. Start the email with 2-5 bullet points of the most important details and why this is especially interesting

Your overall perception on the Australian media industry?

Like media industries across the world, it is in a state of flux and change. In many ways it is well-developed and mature, with a range of outlets across the political spectrum.  In other ways it is behind the US and Europe in terms of new media and digital. I have a lot of time for Aussie journos though – direct and to the point. No messing around!

With so much change in the Aussie media industry, we have focused on video as a major component of our approach. Some other outlets have done this, but we believe that’s an especially strong focus for us.

About Trevor Treharne

  Born in England and started as a journalist.  Trevor has worked as an Editor at Haymarket Media and as Managing Editor at Key Media for the past 6 years, mainly in the field of business & finance. Trevor has been in Australia for the 9 years. He is now the Finance News Editor at Yahoo 7.

Written by Charmaine Chow, Media Research Manager at PR Newswire. For more media related news, follow us at @PRNA4media.