How Australian chain Ticker News built a new home in just two weeks

Ticker News has started broadcast from a new state-of-the-art studio in Port Melbourne. The switch was turned on in the chain’s new home on Monday morning.
When Media week scored a preview of the new site just a month ago, this seemed unlikely founder Ahron Young could quickly transform the spacious but empty office space into the desired new HQ he had been dreaming of.
But we know that Young’s ability to achieve the improbable should not be underestimated, and he was present with his team on Monday morning in the former General Motors Australia executive office as the Ticker signal came alive at the start of a new week.
Ticker News Reception in Melbourne
Young and his COO Jed bertalli nicknamed their Port Melbourne home “Ticker Park”. The new facility includes an expansive newsroom, two HD studios, a control room, offices, a green room and stunning views of the Melbourne skyline.
Ticker CEO Ahron Young said Media week: âWe have grown so quickly and are proud that Ticker News now has world-class television production facilities. We wanted to provide an ultramodern collaborative space for our journalists and producers, who can even walk outside and work from the huge green park.
The 24-hour news network that Young started in 2019 began broadcasting from a cramped co-working space in Melbourne’s CBD, before moving to Richmond in March 2020.
Young: âWe passed our space in Richmond within a year and started looking for a new home a little over a month ago. I am told that for a start-up, it is a good problem to have. We have spent the last few weeks burning the midnight oil to complete this massive project.
âAt Ticker Park we now have so much room to grow. We already have the ability to operate two completely separate 24-hour news channels if we so choose.
âWe are currently in the process of designing a massive new studio 1, which is world class and would feel right at home in New York. It’s a complex task and we work with the greatest scenographer Evil Nicholls and our graphics team at Lightrise to challenge what we know and create something truly unique.
Ticker’s new offices are adorned with marble floors and mahogany woodwork that once housed the CEO of the automotive company.
âI think we taste like Alan Bond on a budget Kerry Packer,â Young said with a laugh.
âWe want Ticker to feel awesome, but we’re proud to be a startup, pushing our weight and taking on the big guys. We went from hard work to profit, with no external shareholders or debt. “
Even if Media week circled the space a month ago, it took a few more days to fill out the papers.
Young: âWe only had the keys to the office two weeks ago, then Victoria introduced new restrictions and finally a lockdown. It was a race against time and the rules to not only finish what we knew we needed now, but also plan for what we might need once everything is closed. I was still finishing the finishing touches at 1 a.m. Sunday night.“
The Ticker News team led by Young faced a number of challenges over the two weeks: âEverything that could go wrong went wrong. We had to install super-fast internet via a satellite dish on the roof pointing to Rialto because we discovered we couldn’t rely on NBN copper.
âWe also had to remove the huge Holden boardroom table from our newsroom. Of course, the cable fitters forgot to run the right cables to the right studio, so we had to go up to the roof. Then the movers couldn’t help us due to the lockdown so we rented a van and moved an entire office and studio ourselves a few hours before the lockdown. “

Ticker Park building foyer
Watch TTY News here.
Watch the Ticker News with Mediaweek episodes here.
Top photo: Presenter Adrien franklin on air in Ticker News Studio 2 with the construction of Studio 1 underway next door
See also: Ticker News lights up Singapore, expressways move to ‘Ticker Park’ home
