Australia’s media landscape will almost certainly be poorer for the closure of The Hoopla announced today. Started in 2011 by Wendy Harmer and Jane Waterhouse it was an independent website that promised to tell news through the eyes of women. It did more than that.
It delivered news that was uniquely humorous, sharp, intelligent, informed and thoughtful. It was written by authors who were mostly women, for readers who were mostly women, but to characterise its appeal along gender lines sells it far too short. Not because there is any shame in creating or sustaining a website that caters to women; I edit one and devour many other publications that do this.
But The Hoopla was different. Its rollcall of writers including Wendy Harmer, Monica Attard, Corrine Grant, Jane Gilmore, Gabrielle Jackson, Tracey Spicer, Meredith Jaffe, Craig Bennett, Antoinette Lattouf, Paula Matthewson, Kerri Sackville and Mrs Woog rendered it so.
There was plenty of stuff that appealed more to women than men but The Hoopla’s defining quality, in my humble opinion, was its unique “smart with heart” commentary on news, current affairs and politics. If their commentary only appealed to women, then I’m afraid it would be a poor indictment on the judgment of men. Tributes that are flowing in for the website today indicate plenty of the site’s readers and fans were men.
In any case, Wendy Harmer has today explained that The Hoopla is closing in its current form. She is frank about the challenges that all digital publishers face but particularly those facing independent companies without deep pockets.
News of The Hoopla’s announcement has been met with sadness by readers and writers alike.
In what Harmer describes as a “hilarious” development, the day The Hoopla called last drinks is the same day that three major media players have either launched – or announced – new websites for women. These include Mamamia’s Debrief Daily, News Limited’s RendezView and a site that Bauer will publish from April 1 with The Australian Women’s Weekly editor Helen McCabe at the helm.
“It’s like a multiple car pile-up,” Harmer laughed when she spoke to Women’s Agenda. “I didn’t know about the RendezView until yesterday and we knew Debrief Daily was coming but I didn’t know it was today. But the idea that we had seen these behemoths coming and ran away frightened is ridiculous.”
In the four years since The Hoopla started the market for women’s websites, and indeed news websites, has become increasingly crowed and competitive. Fairfax’s Daily Life, The Guardian, The Daily Mail and Mamamia’s new websites are a few that Harmer names.
“It’s increasingly the world of very big players and I suppose we’re like the Aussie battler brand trying to keep our head up in that world,” Harmer says. “The subscriptions model hasn’t been a failure, it’s been growing which is actually a great story but we ran out of time. We have explored every avenue that we can and you can only do so much before you think well this is crazy.”
After some to-ing and fro-ing this year Wendy and Jane decided to call time.
“The battle in the women’s media arena is going to be incredible intense,” Harmer says. “Who knows whether there are enough ad dollars to go around? With many bucks and not many eyeballs it will be interesting to watch.”
For now, Harmer is happy to be a bystander rather than a competitor. Her family and friends have welcomed this news but it’s a gigantic loss for everyone who read and loved The Hoopla. If it sets the benchmark for “women’s” websites Australia’s media landscape will remain richer for The Hoopla’s existence.