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 TheDuke andDuchess of Cambridge on front page ofThe Advertiser on 23 July 2013 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid (since November 1997) |
| Owner | Advertiser Newspapers (News Corp Australia) |
| Founder | Rev John Henry Barrow |
| Editor | Gemma Jones |
| Founded | 1858; 167 years ago (1858) (asThe South Australian Advertiser) |
| Headquarters | 31 Waymouth Street, Adelaide,SA, Australia |
| Website | www |
The Advertiser is a dailytabloid format newspaper based in the city ofAdelaide,South Australia. First published as a broadsheet namedThe South Australian Advertiser on 12 July 1858,[1] it is currently a tabloid printed from Monday to Saturday.The Advertiser came under the ownership ofKeith Murdoch in the 1950s, and the full ownership ofRupert Murdoch in 1987. It is a publication of Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd (ADV), a subsidiary ofNews Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary ofNews Corp. Through much of the 20th century,The Advertiser was Adelaide's morning broadsheet,The News the afternoon tabloid, withThe Sunday Mail covering weekend sport, andMessenger Newspapers community news. The head office was relocated from a former premises inKing William Street, to a new News Corp office complex, known as Keith Murdoch House at 31 Waymouth Street.
An early major daily colonial newspaper,The Adelaide Times, ceased publication on 9 May 1858. Shortly afterwards,Reverend John Henry Barrow, a former editor of theSouth Australian Register founded the morning newspaperThe South Australian Advertiser and a companion weeklyThe South Australian Weekly Chronicle. The original owners were Barrow andCharles Henry Goode, and the first issues were published on 12 July 1858 and 17 July 1858 respectively.[1][2][3] It initially consisted of four pages, each of seven columns, and cost 4 pence.[4]
In 1863 the company started an afternoon newspaperThe Express as a competitor toThe Telegraph, an afternoon/evening daily paper independent of bothThe Advertiser and theSouth Australian Register.[5] The company was then re-formed, effective 9 September 1864, with additional shareholdersPhilip Henry Burden,John Baker, Captain Scott, James Counsell, Thomas Graves and others.[6] Burden, secretary of the company, died in 1864, and Barrow, whose wife had died in 1856, married his widow in 1865, thus owning together a quarter of the company. In December 1866, the syndicate bought the now defunctThe Telegraph (by this time renamedThe Daily Telegraph with a morning edition and a weekendWeekly Mail) at auction, and incorporated it withThe Express to formThe Express and Telegraph.[5]
In 1871, when the shareholders were Barrow, Goode, Robert Stuckey, Thomas Graves,William Parkin, Thomas King, James Counsell, and George Williams Chinner, the partnership was dissolved and the business was carried on by Barrow and King.[7] J. H. Barrow died on 22 August 1874, and Thomas King ran the papers for himself and Mrs. Barrow for about five years.[5] In 1879 a new firm was created, consisting of Thomas King,Fred Burden (son of P. H. Burden and adopted son of J. H. Barrow), andJohn Langdon Bonython. In July 1884, Thomas King dropped out, and the firm of Burden & Bonython was formed to run the paper.[5]
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On 1 April 1889, the main publication was re-branded with an abbreviated title,The Advertiser.[1] In December 1891, Burden retired, and sold his share of the company to Bonython,[8] who, from 1894 to 1929, became the sole proprietor ofThe Advertiser. As well as being a talented newspaper editor, he also supported the movement towards theFederation of Australia. Later, in 1923, after a run of 60 years,The Express was stopped just as its renamed rival,The News, was starting. On 12 January 1929,The Mail announced that Bonython had soldThe Advertiser for £1,250,000 to a group of Melbourne financiers[9]The Herald and Weekly Times, an external media company, now had the controlling stake, but Bonython still retained a 48.7% interest. Bonython then retired from his newspapers in 1929, after 65 years' service,[10] and his son,John Lavington Bonython, became editor.[11] In February 1931, in the wake of theGreat Depression,The Advertiser took over and shut down its ailing competitors,The Register (published 1836-1931),The Chronicle (Register's Saturday sister publication), andThe Observer (published 1843-1931), briefly renaming itself for seven months asThe Advertiser and Register.[12]
On the death ofKeith Murdoch in 1952, ownership ofThe News andThe Mail passed to his sonRupert Murdoch viaNews Limited. Following the handover, and in response to suggestions of external influences from Victoria made by competing newspaperThe Mail, the Chairman ofThe Advertiser's board published its policy inThe Advertiser as follows:
"It is the same today as when the late Sir Langdon Bonython was in sole control. It is based upon a profound pride and belief in South Australia, and the system of private enterprise which has made this State what it is."[13]
On 24 October 1953 the company launched theSunday Advertiser in direct competition to News Limited'sThe Mail,[14] but failed to outreach its rival,[15] though no doubt affecting its profitability. It ceased publication five years or so later, after which the by then renamedSunday Mail advertised itself as a joint publication of Advertiser Newspapers and News Ltd., and incorporated many of theSunday Advertiser regular features. It had also introduced colour graphics on the comics page (rather primitive by today's standards), but this was dropped shortly after joint publication commenced.[citation needed]
In addition,The Messenger, published since 1951 was partially purchased in 1962, and fully owned by 1983. When Murdoch acquiredThe Herald and Weekly Times in 1987, he also acquired the remaining 48.7% share ofThe Advertiser.[16] He soldThe News in 1987, and it was closed in 1992. Murdoch then changed the format ofThe Advertiser from a broadsheet to a tabloid in November 1997, and themasthead and contentfont and layout was modernised in September 2009.[17]
The Advertiser is available for purchase throughoutSouth Australia and some towns and regions inNew South Wales, Victoria and theNorthern Territory located near or adjacent to the South Australia state border such asBroken Hill,Mildura,Nhill andAlice Springs. According toThe Advertiser's website, the newspaper is read by over 580,000 people each weekday, and by more than 740,000 people each Saturday.[citation needed] Circulation figures reported in May 2016 byRoy Morgan Research showed a continuing decline in readership, of 324,000 on weekdays, and 371,000 on Saturdays.[18]
The Advertiser's website, adelaidenow.com.au, was rated by third-partyweb analytics providersAlexa andSimilarWeb as, respectively, the 268th and 313rd most visited website in Australia, as of August 2015.[19][20] SimilarWeb rates the site as the 29th most visited news website in Australia, attracting almost 1.8 million visitors per month.[20][21] In 2015, along with other News Corp websites,The Advertiser's website adopted a paywall with non-subscribers being locked out of "premium" content.[22]
Personnel atThe Advertiser include:
TheNational Library of Australia has digitised, byOCR, photographically archived copies of the following newspapers, accessible throughTrove:
| National election | Endorsement | |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Labor | |
| 2013 | Coalition | |
| 2016 | Coalition | |
| 2019 | Coalition | |
| 2022 | Coalition | |
