''The Roar'' is an Australian sports opinion website. It was established by brothers Zac and Zolton Zavos in late 2006. Initially, ''The Roar'' was a blog to host writing from their father,

Spiro Zavos Spiro Bernard Zavos (born 1937 in Wellington of Greek immigrant parents) is a New Zealand historian, philosopher, journalist and writer. Life and career After gaining a Bachelor of Arts from the Victoria University of Wellington, Zavos taught h ...

who was a rugby columnist with

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

at the time. It quickly developed into a site which combines expert sports opinion articles with edited fan articles.

History

In 2007, Zac Zavos formed the company Conversant Media Pty Ltd, which published ''The Roar'' as well as the culture site, ''Lost At E Minor'' - a site the brothers had been publishing since 2005. In December 2010,

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

became a minority investor. The business was run from Newcastle, Australia during its formative years of 2008 to 2015, and was an early recipient of the Renew Newcastle office space program. In June 2016, ''The Roar'' had 156 expert commentators. Each month it publishes about 1,000 articles from experts and fans. The main sports covered by ''The Roar'' are rugby union, rugby league, AFL, cricket, and soccer. In 2016, Conversant Media was acquired in full by HT&E for $11.6m, being placed under the aegis of the

Australian Radio Network ARN Media Ltd., formerly Here, There & Everywhere and APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adsh ...

. ''The Roar'' continued to grow under the new corporate ownership, with Zac Zavos becoming the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Conversant Media. During December 2019, ''The Roar'' was sold by the Australian Radio Network to a startup called Athletes Voice. Athletes Voice expressed a desire to “modernise” the website. Athletes Voice and ''The Roar'' were acquired by PlayUp Ltd in February 2021. PlayUp is a technology provider for online betting services.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roar Australian sport websites Australian news websites Internet properties established in 2007 Companies based in Sydney