News Corp will increase its commitment to branded content advertising with the acquisition of Stockhead, a financial publisher which pitches small cap companies to investors.

Rather than banner advertising, commercial content is identified “at the bottom of each article” to distinguish it from independent editorial, the company says.

News Corp Australia has announced a strategic investment in the digital finance news group, marking the occasion with a 12-page print insert in The Australian and stories published on its News.com.au website and state-based mastheads.

Stockhead – founded in 2017 by David Greer (pictured) and Jonathan Younger – was an attractive investment on “two key fronts”, executive chairman Michael Miller said: “Stockhead’s recognised financial information content combined with a thriving content marketing portfolio makes it a very neat and attractive fit for our business and (our) high net worth investors and audience will benefit enormously from this extended and specialised coverage.

The investment follows others in content marketing players including a majority stake in video production company Visual Domain, last year.

Greer says the investment allows them to take the business “to a new level” to benefit both clients and audience. “We've spent several years assembling a team of 25 specialists to follow more than 1900 gold explorers, cancer fighters, pearl farmers, drone manufacturers and infant formula makers focussed on making their big breakthrough.”

Stockhead will retain its own brand, management structure and all existing staff.