Overview of this campaign

News.com.au is the nation’s No.1 online news destination, achieving a remarkably consistent first-place ranking every month. Within this context, it is incumbent on editorial, marketing and publicity teams to ensure this ranking is maintained by publishing and promoting groundbreaking and engaging content that resonates with the platform’s core audience segments. Critical to news.com.au’s success is its female audience segment, comprising more than half the total viewers to site.

 

In early 2024, when a journalist confided in her editor that she required extended time off work to cope with the debilitating effects of endometriosis, it sparked a conversation which revealed no-less-than seven senior news.com.au executives suffered the same condition. If they were impacted and interested in this topic, so too might their audience be.

 

And so the genesis of the About Bloody Time campaign was born, spearheaded by journalist Lexie Cartwright, aimed specifically at achieving change for sufferers while also appealing to female audiences. Publicity efforts supercharged the editorial idea.

 

The multi-platform campaign exposed how Medicare was failing the more than one million women suffering from endometriosis, a “silent” condition that causes chronic pain and infertility.

 

Through meticulous research and meetings with health professionals, the team revealed the government pays a very low rebate for gynaecological care, leaving women with two options: short consults that barely scratch the surface of their issues, or huge out-of-pocket expenses.

 

News.com.au launched the ‘About Bloody Time’ on International Women’s Day, March 8. 

 

The campaign aimed to:

1. Achieve widespread awareness of the plight of endometriosis sufferers

2. Secure 20,000 signatures on a petition 

3. Increase Medicare funding for longer appointments to enable quicker diagnosis and therefore treatment of the condition for women and young girls

4. Create content that resonates with female audiences 

Results for this campaign

1. Achieved widespread awareness of the plight of endometriosis sufferers

 

• 4.4 million video views of the campaign launch video - conceived, crafted and shot entirely in-house - which reflected the highly personal and compelling experience of senior reporter Lexie Cartwright and went viral across news.com.au, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

• 3.8 million page views on stories throughout March 2024.

• 521 campaign mentions within a week across external media with an audience reach of 21.9 million Australians utilising key spokespeople whose personal accounts spoke first hand about not just the condition but also the ABT campaign 

• 170 radio hits on launch day alone via an audio news release featuring grabs from editor Kerry Warren.

• An average of 33 mentions per day

• Potential cumulative audience of 20 million Australians

• 9+ hours of earned broadcast airtime

 

2. Secured 20,000 signatures on a petition 

 

• This goal was achieved in the first 24 hours. A remarkable 55,000 signatures were obtained by the end of just one week.

 

3. Increased Medicare funding for longer appointments to enable quicker diagnosis and therefore treatment of the condition for women and young girls

 

• On May 10, 2024, just two months after the campaign launched, the Federal Government announced a $49.1 million investment into tackling endometriosis. From July 1, 2025, women suffering from endometriosis will have longer specialist consultations of 45 minutes or more covered under Medicare.

• Previously, a small rebate meant patients crammed their concerns into short consultations, or paid hundreds of dollars out of pocket to get the time they needed.

• The investment will provide about 430,000 more services to help women across the country with complex gynaecological conditions.

 

4. Created content that resonates with female audiences 

 

• In March 2024, coinciding with this campaign, news.com.au grew young female audiences year on year by 24 per cent (362,000).  

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia;  Apr 2023 - Mar 2024 vs Apr 2022 - Mar 2023; Women 14-34; NCA News Network L4W Cross-Platform

 

Contact

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