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Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s episode of the Unmade podcast features the third stop on our Compass tour, when we rolled into Sydney. Plus, further down, the board of radio network SEN signal that they want to be dealt into the deal-making action.
You should be at next year’s Compass. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, why not do it today? Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn, REmade, Unlock, and Compass, all returning in 2025
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Transparency deprioritised: ’If there are dodgy agencies out there, those two probably deserve each other’
The third chapter of this year’s expanded six-state Compass Roadshow rolled into Sydney earlier this month with four of the industry’s most high-profile people.
Telstra CMO Brent Smart has been the client behind some of the industry’s most talked-about advertising work this year. Peter Horgan chairs the Media Federation and is the outgoing CEO of Omnicom Media Group. Lou Barrett leads sales at News Corp Australia. Jasmin Bedir is CEO of creative agency Innocean and founder of gender equality initiative Fck the Cupcakes
An early topic was the price of not doing distinctive work.
According to Smart: “I think the really brave marketers are the ones who create boring things. That’s super brave.”
Later in the conversation, he expanded on the point: “The bravest markers are the ones doing boring, invisible marketing.” Of the Telstra work, Smart said: I don’t think it’s brave, I think I’m commercially smart. I do it to drive a commercial result. I don’t do it for vanity or to win awards. I do it because it’s more commercially effective to be creative.”
Meanwhile Horgan flagged the challenge of procurement departments driving down agency remuneration. He told the room that his challenge of the year was : “Pushing back on weaponised procurement, which means we don’t need humans any more in the communications ecosystem, trying to push back on that reductive narrative.”
He added: “Two years ago the revenue was easy… and the humans were hard. This year, humans aren’t easy, but the revenue is bloody hard.”
Smart argued that it is in brands’ best interests to avoid simply chasing the lowest cost with agencies.. “Screwing down your partners is not how you get discretionary effort from your partners. A lot of clients forget we can pay an agency a fee, but the bit you can’t buy is their passion and how much they care, and that’s a good commercial decision.”
For Bedir, a theme of the year was the rise of generative AI. “I am deeply concerned about gen AI. What I hear from clients is there’s a lack of governance in most organisations. There’s so many suppliers trying to peddle you stuff that magically makes your problems go away. That’s the latest gold rush.”
Accountants on the march
And Barrett warned of a media landscape dominated by CEOs who had come up through finance. Recent months have seen Seven West Media, Nine and Southern Cross Austereo all put their chief financial officers in the top chair
Asked to nominate a challenge for the industry, Barrett said: “The rise and rise of the CFO. With so many CFOs running media companies now, I worry we’re going to end up with a lack of creativity.”
Bedir also warned that the industry is struggling to find diverse new talent: “I’m concerned about the pathway of getting people in to the industry. If you’ve got the same group of people we end up with the same outputs.”
And Horgan also flagged as a problem for the industry, the issue of brands investing less in understanding their media investments, He said: “Transparency is a double edged word, which needs to be owned on the client side as well.
"It’s not the focus that was. There’s a bell curve of clients out there who have ten person team, haven’t been able to sell expertise they need to board and are not able to sell the expertise to the board. You do the maths. If there are dodgy agencies out there, those two probably deserve each other.
And Barrett added as an issue: “Over reliance on social and platforms. These guys are not paying taxes in Australia. They are not paying for content.” She added: “I’m not talking about Google, I’m talking about Meta.”
Smart also acknowledged that he had learned a new lesson this year, having not previously given enough priority to influencing the staff of the brands where he has worked. He said: “Something that is often overlooked by marketers is, make your staff proud to work for the brand. That has an incredible impact on how they show up. I wouldn’t have thought as much about that in the past. But I’ve seen some incredible impact.”
Unmade Index rises as SEN tells the M&A market: Deal us in
The Unmade Index nudged upwards for a second day on Wednesday, while SEN Radio’s owner Sports Entertainment Group used its AGM to signal that it wants to be a player in media deal making.
SEG’s chairman Craig Coleman told shareholders that the company has been tidying up its balance sheet including selling Perth Wildcats and its New Zealand station SENZ. SEN has reduced its net debt to $13.3m and delivered an EBITDA profit of $9.6m in the last financial year.
Coleman told investors: “We are now well positioned to be an active participant in beneficial media consolidation moves.”
However, although SEN said it was on track to improve its profitability in this financial half, it said the radio market remains tough. “Our media division is seeing a tightening in the economy with businesses feeling the impacts of a lingering slowdown which is not isolated to any particular industry.”
SEG is the smallest of the ASX-listed audio players with a market cap of $64m, compared to ARN’s $225m and Southern Cross Austereo’s $130m.
SEN’s share price did not move after the update yesterday, after seeing a drop of 8% the day before.
The Unmade Index closed 0.41% down on 451.6 points.
Time to leave you to your Thursday.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio. (Special thanks to Team Abe’s for cleaning up what was poor audio recorded at the venue.)
We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today: The marketing industry reels at the sudden death of Lisa Ronson; How much more will get done on media policy as Canberra enters its final sitting week?; ARN Media prepares to make mischief at today’s Southern Cross Austereo AGM; and we explore the theory that Paramount should buy Seven
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn, REmade, Unlock, and Compass;
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Industry in shock at sudden death of marketer Lisa Ronson; SCA faces bumpy AGM; what next for Seven?
In today’s conversation:
* The marketing community was shocked to learn yesterday afternoon of the sudden death of Lisa Ronson.
* SCA’s AGM is likely to be a tricky one today, with shareholders including rival ARN Media set to turn the heat on the board;
* With just one more week left in Parliament, most mooted media reforms are likely to fizzle out;
* Here’s a theory: Could the best owner for Seven Network be Paramount?
Further reading
* Mi3: Vale Lisa Ronson: Former Medibank, Coles, Tourism Australia CMO dies
* Unmade: Canberra time
* Australian Financial Review: Big tech’s warning on rushing teen ban on social media
* Michelle Rowland press release: Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 will not proceed
* Australian Financial Review: ‘Vested interests’ frustrate gambling ad reforms
* The Australian: SCA to be hit with ‘first strike’ at AGM
* Australian Financial Review: Southern Cross hit with first strike, with chairman under pressure
* Sunday Telegraph: Channel 7 discuss hosting a rugby league show in 2025
* The Australian: Seven West Media: could this be as bad as it gets?
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes and Abe Udy.
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week.
We’ll be back with more on Wednesday.
Have a great day
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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Welcome to an audio-led edition. Today’s episode of the Unmade podcast features the second stop on our Compass tour, where we took the temperature of the Brisbane media and marketing community. Plus, further down, in the Unmade Index, SCA’s share price spike begins to unwind.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, why not do it today? Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn, REmade, Unlock, and Compass, all returning in 2025
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Trust, finding consensus in the fractious TV market, and Facebook’s declining relevance for marketers
Last week saw Unmade’s Compass tour hit the Eastern seaboard with the Brisbane edition of the event delivering an excellent conversation.
Among the topics was the opportunity that a more complicated marketing environment creates for brands that are good at what they do. Jonathan Kerr, Chief Growth Officer of Budget Direct observed: “I like complexity. I’m tired, but I like complexity because best navigator wins.”
Meanwhile Cath Brands, CMO of B2B pricing specialists FlintFox, raised a topic that has come up a number of times during Compass: growing scepticism towards the effectiveness claims of some of the global digital platforms. She observed: “As a marketer, Facebook is so 1980s in my mind. I’m over it as a platform from an advertising perspective.” However she acknowledged that other Meta brands are still drawing audiences: “The cool kids aren’t on Facebook but they are on Instagram.”
Michael Crutcher, now a PR executive and a former editor of the Courier Mail said the industry needs to start talking about “the looming war between social media and mainstream media in Australia”, with Meta and potentially Google dropping out of their news funding deals. He added: “And 2025 is going to be nuclear for that.”
Meanwhile, Simon Murphy, chief strategy officer for Publicis Worldwide Australia, suggested that social media is benefitting from a decline in public trust in established news outlets. He warned: “There's a crisis of trust and social media definitely plays into that space. They're filling that void.”
Kerr, who is one of the biggest buyers of TV advertising in the country also had a warning for the TV networks: “I am annoyed with TV. It’s really sad to see the way they can’t come together. I always say ‘never be hard to buy’. We’re at the point where it’s worth coming together to make it so that it’s a much more tradeable, understood medium. TV is such a wonderful medium if you want to deliver a brand narrative and a story so I think it would be truly wonderful if they said ‘Let’s save this together’.”
* Jonathan Kerr, Chief Growth Officer, Budget Direct
* Cath Brands, CMO, FlintFox
* Michael Crutcher, Director, 55 Comms
* Simon Murphy, Global Strategy Director, Publicis
* Jennifer Garner, Senior VP of sales, Epsilon
Unmade Index flattens as SCA recovery runs out of steam
A day after Southern Cross Austereo’s share price unexpectedly spiked upwards by 12.6%, it lost 5.2% yesterday, taking it back down to a market capitalisation of $130m.
It was a mixed day for Australia’s listed media and marketing stocks. Nine gained 0.4%, while Ooh Media lost 0.4%.
Among the broadcasters, ARN Media had the best day, gaining 2.9%.
The Unmade Index finished the day flat on 447.5 points.
Time to leave you to your Thursday.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition, we prepare for a big week of media legislation in which the government will try to make the social platforms responsible for those scammy crypto ads featuring deepfake David Koch, and to push through its age-gating legislation. We also recap the week in AI and ask whether new platform Bluesky is about to hit critical mass as a Twitter replacement.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (2025), Unlock (2025), and Compass (November);
* Members-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Welcome to the human race: How Bluesky is taking off
A key fortnight for media law lies ahead in Canberra. The government will attempt to legislate around age limits for social media, and to force the platforms to take more responsibility for scam ads. The timeline is tight, with just two more sitting weeks of Parliament before the long summer break.
Also in today’s podcast: Coke turns to AI for a reboot of its Christmas ad, and Perplexity starts to monetise its search.
And as X is increasingly recognised as a tool in Donald Trump’s victory, the exodus to Bluesky is under way.
Further reading:
* Minister for Communications: Minimum age for social media access to protect Australian kids
* Australian Financial Review: Why this former TikTok executive wants a strict social media ban
* Minister for Communications: New Duty of Care obligations on platforms will keep Australians safer online
* Unmade: Why the sudden hurry on social media?
* Forbes: Coca Cola’s AI-Generated Ad Controversy, Explained
* TechCrunch: Perplexity brings ads to its platform
* ABC News: Why X users are jumping across to new platform Bluesky in the wake of US election
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes, Abe Udy and Cat McGinn
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design, and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today we share the highlights from the opening chapter of this year’s Compass roadshow. And further down, the Unmade Index’s green streak comes to an end.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (2025), Unlock (2025), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Brand fame, burnout and doing more with less
Unmade’s six-state Compass roadshow kicked off in Hobart last week.
Today we share highlights from that first session. The discussion, recorded in front of a live audience, featured Ally Bradley, GM of Southern Cross Austereo in Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and the NT; creative Chas Bayfield; Lindene Cleary, CMO of Tourism Tasmania, Abe Udy, founder of audio production house Abe’s Audio; and Simon Crerar, editor-in-chief of SmartCompany.
The evening kicked off with a warning from Bayfield that timidity from brands in their advertising is a far bigger risk than controversy because unremarkable advertising will not be seen. “The big challenge is invisibility,” Bayfield warned.
Other topics in the debate, moderated by Unmade’s Tim Burrowes, included the journey of Tourism Tasmania’s ‘Come Down for Air’ positioning, the business challenges being faced by SmartCompany and other publishers, the effects of burnout on over-stretched teams, and the threats and opportunities offered by AI
For those curious about the reference to Blackcurrant Tango, this was Bayfield’s famous 1998 ad, ‘St George’:
The Compass roadshow continues next week. We’re in Perth on Monday, Adelaide on Tuesday and the tour concludes in Melbourne on Wednesday. Tickets are on sale via this link.
Unmade Index slips back into the red
The Unmade Index’s four-day winning streak came to an end yesterday with falls almost across the board for media stocks.
Among the larger businesses, Southern Cross Austereo has the worst of it, losing 2.8%. Audio rival ARN Media dropped 2.1%
The Unmade Index lost 0.69% to land on 429.8 points.
Time to leave you to your Thursday.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition, we ask whether Donald Trump’s podcast strategy will signal an advertising shift; we look back at the Seven and Nine AGMs, and forward to the ABC, Seven and Are Media upfronts.
f you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (2025), Unlock (2025), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Did Joe Rogan put Trump over the top?
Just a week ago, the consensus was that the US election was too close to call. Now, everybody is an expert on why a Donald Trump victory was inevitable.
One underplayed factor was the strategy of Donald Trump’s team to make him available on several podcasts including The Joe Rogan Experience. With podcasts skewing younger and more male than most mainstream media, will Trump’s victory change how marketers see the medium?
Also today, Seven West Media and Nine set very different tones at their AGMs; and we look forward to the ABC, Are Media and Seven’s 2025 scene setting upfront events.
Further reading:
* Google Trends: ‘Did Joe Biden drop out?'
* Unmade: Index bottoms out as TV networks share a gloomy outlook
* The Saturday Paper: ‘The mighty and powerful Joe Rogan’
* Pivot: How Trump will impact media
* Joe Rogan Experience: #2219 Donald Trump
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes and Abe Udy.
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’r taking a scheduled publishing break tomorrow while I travel to Compass Brisbane.
We’ll be back with more on Wednesday.
Have a great day
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s interview features Australia’s most talked about business writer, Joe Aston, whose book on Qantas has dominated the political cycle for the last ten days.
Also today, in the Unmade Index, Seven and Nine held their AGMs, taking different approaches to acknowledging their failings.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* Complimentary tickets to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (2025), Unlock (2025), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
‘No amount of PR can fix the operations of a company that is failing’: Joe Aston on how profit-chasing caught up with the Qantas brand
Today’s conversation with Joe Aston takes place where brand, business, and lobbying collide.
His book The Chairman’s Lounge contains the most detailed examination yet seen of the Qantas-operated network of invitation-only lounges for politicians and the business elite.
Across Australia’s capital cities, alongside the well signposted Qantas Club and Qantas Business Lounges, is a third type of lounge, hidden behind mirrored doors, with word ‘Private’ written on them.
The Chairman’s Lounge isn’t just a space with an a la carte menu and top shelf wine; being invited to become a member means a range of travel perks. No matter what type of ticket they buy, a Chairman’s Lounge member will likely be upgraded when they fly.
At the very least, they’ll be sitting in the front row of economy. Ever noticed those smartly dressed people enjoying the extra leg-room of row 4, being greeted by name by the cabin crew and handed a glass of something nice from the business trolley? Chances are they’re CL members.
And for influential politicians travelling internationally, CL status means buying an economy class ticket and sitting in a first class seat.
The Chairman’s Lounge has been an incredibly effective lobbying tool, allowing Qantas more access to politicians than any other business in Australia. Says Aston: ”What the Chairman’s Lounge does is make Qantas the most powerful lobbyist in Canberra.”
And that’s without taking into account the bosses who bend their company travel policies towards Qantas, even if other alternatives are cheaper. As Aston puts it: “It’s worth every cent. The operating costs aren’t that high compared to what it gets people to do, and that is spend millions and millions more than they otherwise would”.
Aston’s book covers the period where underinvestment in operations began to catch up with the Qantas brand. He is critical of the board for failing to hold former CEO Alan Joyce to account as the brand deteriorated. That includes Australia’s most famous adman Todd Sampson. “I do think it is ridiculous that he's still on the Qantas board - he proved to be completely useless when it mattered.Not, by the way, more useless than than anyone else, and not less useless: just as useless.
Theres a risk of burying the lede in this interview. His Rear Window column in the Australian Financial Review was often an agenda setter. So what will he do next?
Aston hints that he may launch a newsletter of his own: “Doing my own reader-funded content is something I’ve thought about.”
He acknowledges that his style of writing on the edge puts him in danger of attracting threatening letters from defamation lawyers. “It’s all a risk calculation,” he says. “It’s how much revenue you can generate and is it enough to just pay for whatever litigation costs come your way. “
Index bottoms out as TV networks share a gloomy outlook
The Unmade Index recovered marginally on Thursday after hitting another all-time low the day before.
Yesterday saw The Unmade Index lift by 0.15% to land on 424.2 points. The Index, which tracks the value of Australia’s ASX-listed media and marketing sector, began at the start of 2022 on a nominal 1000 points.
Both Nine and Seven West Media held their annual general meetings yesterday.
Nine’s chair Catherine West used a significant her address to shareholders to acknowledge that the company still needs to do more to address its problematic culture within its newsrooms.
SWM’s chair Kerry Stokes dedicated one paragraph of his address to tell his shareholders that his company has now modernised its culture, and four paragraphs to complaining about the ABC’s coverage of the problem.
Nine told the market that after an Olympics boost, TV revenues have returned to the 10% rate of decline seen in the previous financial year. It warned “we are seeing no tangible signs of improvement to date”.
Seven said its revenues are likely to be down about 6.5% for the half.
Nine’s market cap grew slightly yesterday, up by 0.9% to $1.75bn. Seven West Media lost 3%, to land on $239m
Meanwhile, Ooh Media recovered by 2.1% and Southern Cross Austereo was up by nearly 1%. ARN Media went in the other direction, losing 4.2%.
Time to leave you to your Friday.
I’ll be back tomorrow with Best of the Week.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition: Can a loveable monster make Myer’s Christmas?; The launch of AI-driven search in Australia creates a new peril for news publishing; and Nine’s chair faces a shareholder rebellion.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes a complimentary ticket to this month’s Compass roadshow, plus all of Unmade’s 2025 events, including HumAIn, REmade and Unlock (2025).
You also get our member-only content and our paywalled archives; and your own copy of Media Unmade.
As Myer parts with Clems, it launches their last Christmas campaign; Zero click comes to Australia; and Nine’s board readies for rough AGM
With the Christmas retail season more crucial than ever for the advertising sector, Myer has launched its Christmas effort, featuring a bovver-boot wearing monster called Humbug. And will the decision of Myer to pitch its creative account open the door for a reunion?
Speaking of bovver boots, we also discuss Google’s local launch of AI Overviews and OpenAI’s decision to turn on web search.
And we discuss today’s report in Capital Brief that Nine’s chair Catherine West faces a shareholder vote against her reappointment.
Further reading:
* The Australian: Myer kicks off Christmas season with playful campaign
* Little Black Book: Myer Pitches Creative Account
* Little Black Book: Ant Keogh, Paul McMillan, and Michael Derepas Leave The Monkeys Melb to Launch Agency
* Unmade: Can ChatGPT’s new search offering see past paywalls?
* Unmade: News Corp kicks off its first big AI legal battle
* Google: Introducing AI Overviews in Australia, a new generative AI experience on Search
* The Australian: Nine chair Catherine West set for re-election at AGM this week
* Capital Brief: Nine shareholders urged to 'hold directors accountable' for toxic culture
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes, Abe Udy and Cat McGinn
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today, ahead of his visit to Australia for next month’s IAB Leadership Summit, we talk to IAB Tech Lab’s CEO Tony Katsur about the state of play in digital advertising. And the Unmade Index approaches a new low.
Only Unmade’s paying members get full access. They were entitled to a ticket to today’s inaugural Unlock conference in Sydney. They also get an invitation to our Compass: Reflections and Projections event, taking place across six states throughout November. Next year they’ll also be able to join us at our AI-focused conference HumAIn (Q2 2025) and at our retail media conference REmade.
They get full access to our archives, which go behind the paywall after two months. Feeling jealous of all that access? Maybe that should be you. Upgrade today.
‘Data provenance is going to be one of the top issues in 2025 and 2026’: What IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur worries about
Being the boss of IAB Tech Lab, the standard setting body of the digital advertising industry, must be a frustrating experience. With more responsibility than power, the IAB attempts to shepherd its members towards agreed tech standards including around audience measurement.
In the rise of the open web, the industry broadly agreed about specs like standard ad sizes and audience measurement. In Australia, the IAB endorses Ipsos as preferred currency, and before that Nielsen.
In CTV (connected TV) though, in Australia and around the world, there’s no such consensus. That includes Foxtel at the centre of a coalition of streamers pushing for a solution from Kantar, while OzTAM, owned by Seven, Nine and Ten, takes a different direction with VOZ (Virtual Australia).
Then there’s the issue of global platforms who want to apply their own measurement and standards to their walled gardens, which tends to deliver them the results they want.
Today’s podcast guest is IAB Tech Lab’s New York-based Tony Katsur, talking to Unmade’s Tim Burrowes. Katsur be speaking on standards at the IAB’s Leadership Summit in Sydney on November 20.
Katsur is a veteran of the digital advertising economy having worked for some of the industry’s formative players including DoubleClick, MediaMath and Rubicon Project before joining IAB Tech Lab three years ago
In the wide ranging conversation, Katsur describes himself not so much as a sherrif of what was a wild west, but a constable, imploring his constituents to do the right thing.
On CTV he observes: “There are companies that may believe that they're a walled garden, but they're not. Therefore they think they can go it alone with their own proprietary forms of measurement.
“There are a lot of companies out there that think they’re a bigger deal than they are, and think they can measure themselves or have their own proprietary measurement standard.”
Among the other topics discusses are the threat that the large language models of AI pose to the intellectual property of media owners; why data provenance will be the key phrase of 2025 and 2026; whether the preparation for cookie deprecation that never came was wasted effort (he argues not); and reasons to feel optimistic for publishers.
* Tony Katsur will be speaking at the IAB Australia Leadership Summit on November 20
Unmade Index hovers over the trapdoor
The Unmade Index slipped to within a fraction of a percentage point of a new all-time low yesterday. The index, which plots the movement of Australia’s ASX-listed media and marketing companies, lost 0.51%, to land on 437.7 points. It’s previous all-time low of 437.4 points came six weeks ago.
The index was pulled down by shifts at the top of town, with Nine losing 1.3% and its majority owned real estate platform Domain dropping 1.7%. Nine is now trading at its lowest point since April 2020.
It was a better day for the audio players, with ARN Media gaining 2.8% and Southern Cross Austereo up by 3.1%.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio. The Unmade team are all in Sydney today for our Unlock conference. And we’ll be back with a text-led edition tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition, Seven West Media and News Corp lobby for government help on funding; households make the switch to ad-funded tiers, and we look ahead to the final upfront events of the year.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including Unlock (this Thursday October 31), Compass (across November), HumAIn (Q2 2025) and REmade (Q3 2025);
* Member-only content like this post; and all of our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Fighting disinformation by funding news: Media bosses stop up the rhetoric; Ad-supported TV back in vogue
After last week’s softener from the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, Australia’s big media players are moving into lobbying overdrive. Seven will argue this week that the giant digital platforms are a force for evil; while News Corp’s boss is arguing that the little end of town cannot be the solution.
Instead, Seven and News Corp are lobbying for the government to support the not-too-big, not-too-small Goldilocks solution of companies like, well, Seven and News Corp.
As the Australian reports, the editor-in-chief of Seven West Media, Anthony De Ceglie, will tomorrow use a Melbourne Press Club speech to attack the platforms including Elon Musk’s X, and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, saying:
“Elon Musk doesn’t care about the truth. In fact, he revels in peddling lies and boasts about using his bin fire of a site to influence the US election.
“Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg is seemingly happy for Meta to profit off the page impressions that child sex offenders create when they routinely use his site to prey on their next victim.
“Against these evil forces — and calling them that is not an exaggeration — there is only one true antidote. The news. The truth. The fourth estate.”
De Ceglie will also champion the idea of a tax break for producing news and current affairs content.
And News Corp’s executive chairman Michael Miller argues in The Australian today that the government should try to force Meta to go on supporting the big media players it did deals with three years ago:
“The government is at risk of abandoning the engine rooms of Australian news, which is where the bulk of the jobs are and where the bulk of important Australian stories are told,” he said.
“The parliament’s primary focus should be those deals Meta has walked away from.
As well as discussing De Ceglie and Miller’s arguments, today’s edition of Start the Week examines new numbers from Kantar which suggest a big jump in household penetration of ad-supported streaming services - up from 10% of homes to 25% in just a year; and looks across the agenda of media events over the next couple of weeks.
Further reading:
* The Australian: Seven boss Anthony De Ceglie slams government for not supporting media
* The Australian: News Corp boss Michael Miller urges government to prioritise survival of mainstream media outlets
* Unmade: Landing lights glimmer for a digital levy to fund news
* Mi3: Meta barked, Australia blinked: News Bargaining Code to be shelved as Feds prepare possible digital ad tax
* The Australian: Viewers are increasingly signing up to streaming services with advertising, Kantar research shows
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes and Abe Udy.
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Along with revealing the lineup for the Brisbane edition of our Compass event, we today feature an in-depth interview with Mark Frain, CEO of Foxtel Media, recorded around last week’s Upfront event. Plus, a further dip in the Unmade Index.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including Unlock (October 31), Compass (across November), HumAIn (Q2 2025) and REmade (Q3 2025);
* Members-only content; and all of our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Budget Direct Chief Growth Officer, Nine MD, Publicis strategy chief and comms veteran to bring Compass to Brisbane
Cat McGinn writes:
We can today reveal the leadership panel for the Brisbane Compass event, Unmade’s annual industry meet-up, this year taking place in six states.
The panel features Jonathan Kerr, Chief Growth Officer of Budget Direct; Michael Crutcher, PR professional and former editor of the Brisbane Courier Mail; Simon Murphy, chief strategy officer for Publicis; and Kylie Blucher, managing director of Nine Queensland & Northern NSW.
The panel will be moderated by Unmade’s Tim Burrowes and the discussion will later be featured as an Unmade podcast.
Unmade’s paying members are entitled to a complimentary place at Compass, and tickets are on sale here.
Unmade’s Compass roadshow takes place across six states.
* Wednesday November 6 - Hobart, The Hope and Anchor;
* Tuesday November 12 - Brisbane, The Prince Consort;
* Wednesday November 13 - Sydney, The Sporting Globe;
* Monday November 18 - Perth, The Globe;
* Tuesday November 19 - Adelaide, Elephant British Pub;
* Wednesday November 20 - Melbourne, The Garden State Hotel.
‘We agitated for change and we didn’t get the answers we were looking for’: Why Mark Frain created the VFC
From his opening words on stage at last week’s Foxtel Media Upfront event, it was clear that boss Mark Frain hasn’t made peace with the decision made by Seven, Nine and Ten to refuse him a place at the ownership table for measurement system OzTAM.
Instead, he has gone it alone, with Foxtel building its own measurement system powered by Kantar, and inviting a coalition of streamers to join them in the Video Future Collective.
Frain sees it as the free-to-air networks’ loss: “It’s been cathartic” he tells Unmade’s Tim Burrowes. “We did request to become officially part of OzTAM from a shareholding perspective. We also discussed the opportunity to provide our data to that business where we thought we could enrich and improve the service. And unfortunately, the shareholders said no. So from there, that forced us down a different direction.”
The biggest downside of the schism is that for media agencies and brands they now have a second measurement system to contend with. Frain is unapologetic. “Any change causes some unrest”.
This new direction includes the creation of a coalition of streamers under the banner of the Video Futures Collective, chaired by Foxtel’s Toby Dewar. Alongside Foxtel, the VFC membership now consists of Amazon Advertising, Disney Advertising, Samsung Ads, SBS On Demand, Vevo and YouTube. Frain says, pointedly, “Everyone’s got an equal share of voice.”
* Declaration of interest: Foxtel provided my travel and accommodation for the upfront event, and they’ve been advertising with us this week. The podcast interview was not part of any commercial arrangement.
Unmade Index continues downwards drift
Tim Burrowes writes:
The Unmade Index’s slow stall has stretched into a week after losing another 0.74% yesterday. That followed a drop of 0.73% on Tuesday. The Unmade Index, which tracks Australia’s listed media and marketing companies has been losing ground since last Tuesday. It closed on 444.7 points last night.
Yesterday saw Vinyl Group grow by 4.6% to a market capitalisation of $111m, just behind Southern Cross Austereo’s $112m.
Ooh Media’s slide also continued, losing 2.5% yesterday to land at $641m. The company has lost nearly 9% over the last month.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio. We’ll be back with more tomorrow
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition: We reflect on the industry’s move against Campaign Brief; And Nine is hit with a historic rape claim after publishing its culture report.
We’ve upgraded Unmade’s membership. Annual members now get a free ticket to all of our events. That includes Unlock on October 31; our Compass series in November; and REmade and HumAIn next year.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership also includes members-only content, access to our paywalled archives and your own copy of Media Unmade. Upgrade today.
How Campaign Brief contributes to the problem
The dominos have continued to fall for Campaign Brief after a backlash against its perpetuation of a creative club dominated by middle aged white men.
In today’s conversation, we explore why Campaign Brief isn’t just reporting a problem, but is actively contributing, by using its power and influence to support the same club.
And also today, a new challenge for Nine, as The Australian breaks news of an alleged rape after a Christmas party.
Further reading:
* Unmade: Why won’t Campaign Brief acknowledge women (and why do male execs still support them)?
* Unmade: Campaign Grief
* The Australian: Advertising’s gender representation debate heats up as agencies boycott trade title
* Unmade: Truth and consequences at Nine?
* The Australian: Former Nine junior female staffer reports alleged sexual assault involving senior male manager
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes, Abe Udy and Cat McGinn
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s edition features a fascinating exploration of how Four Pillars Gin became such a huie brand success, with an in-depth conversation with co-founder Matt Jones. Also today, we share details of the Sydney panel for Unmade’s Compass roadshow.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including Unlock (October 31), Compass (across November); HumAIn (2025), and REmade (September 2025).
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Smart, Barrett, Horgan and Bedir revealed for Unmade’s Compass Sydney panel next month
Cat McGinn writes:
We can today reveal our Sydney panel for our annual industry meet-up Compass, which will travel to six states for the first time.
The Sydney edition, taking place on November 13, will feature Brent Smart, CMO of Telstra; Lou Barrett, managing director of client partnerships at News Corp; Jasmin Bedir, CEO of creative agency Innocean; and Peter Horgan, outgoing CEO of Omnicom Media Group, for a lively discussion of the year just gone and outlook on 2025.
The pub conversation will also be featured as an Unmade podcast.
Unmade’s paying members are entitled to a complimentary place while tickets are also on sale here.
Unmade’s Compass will for the first time take place across six states. We’ll be announcing each state’s speaker lineup across the next few days
* Wed 6 November - Hobart;
* Tues 12 Nov - Brisbane: The Prince Consort;
* Wed 13 Nov - Sydney: The Sporting Globe;
* Mon 18 Nov - Perth: The Globe;
* Tues 19 Nov - Adelaide: Elephant British Pub;
* Wed 20 Nov - Melbourne: The Garden State Hotel.
Love and craft and marketing - how Matt Jones helped create the legend of Four Pillars Gin
A year on from a $100m exit, Four Pillars Gin co-founder Matt Jones has written a book about the business discipline behind the creation of one of the great Australian brand success stories.
Unusually for the author of a business book, Jones is not just a strategist, but one who put his money where his mouth was. Along with partners Stuart Gregor and Cameron Mackenzie, he made the decision to create a luxury gin brand, and then executed it brilliantly.
Lessons From Gin: Business the Four Pillars Way tells the story of how they did it, and offers a series of insights that anybody building a brand could borrow from. The book breaks the story into four stages - thinking, crafting, sharing and growing.
In today’s Unmade podcast, Jones shares with Unmade’s Tim Burrowes some of the lessons applied, and learned, along the way.
He makes the case that many business are underpowered in having marketing brains at the top. Like Jones, Gregor came from the communications world as owner of the PR agency Liquid Ideas. Mackenzie was the only working directly in the production of alcohol.
Says Jones: “We were far heavier in terms of creative industries, creative mindset, brand mindset, marketing mindset than 99% of leadership groups out there in the world.
“My perspective on the whole is that businesses are underweight when it comes to those voices around the leadership table. And I think that is something that we absolutely benefited from, that we valued these things that we might call brand leadership. We valued them at the heart of the business, not just the marketing strategy.”
Lessons from Gin will be published by Wiley on October 30 and is available on presale. On October 31 Jones will deliver the keynote at Unmade’s Unlock conference in Sydney where he will discuss the role of telling stories in building brands. Tickets are on sale now, or complimentary to Unmade’s paying members.
SCA moves back past Vinyl
Tim Burrowes writes:
The old order reasserted itself on the Unmade index yesterday with Southern Cross Austereo moving back past Vinyl Group.
SCA lost 1.1% to land on a market capitalisation of $111.5m, But Vinyl Group lost 4.4% to land on $111.1m.
Most acitvity on the Unmade Index was negative yesterday with Domain losing 1.3% and parent company Nine dropping 0.8%.
Seven West Media bucked the trend, growing by 3%
The Unmade Index fell 0.67% to land on 454.1 points.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
I’m about to hop onto a flight to Sydney to cover tonight’s Foxtel Upfront event. I’ll let you know how it went in tomorrow’s newsletter.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition: With Campaign Brief under fire for continuing to focus only on male creatives, the industry reacts; AI exhumes movie stars; the ACCC’s exposure of Coles’ and Woolworths’ shady pricing hits their brands; and Seven defends yet another legal case.
We’ve upgraded Unmade’s membership. Annual members now get a free ticket to all of our events. That includes Unlock on October 31; our Compass series in November; and REmade and HumAIn next year.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership also includes members-only content, access to our paywalled archives and your own copy of Media Unmade. Upgrade today.
Why won’t Campaign Brief acknowledge women (and why do male execs still support them)?
The scandal of the last few days has been playing out on LinkedIn as the industry questions Campaign Brief’s ongoing emphasis on the talents only of male creatives
Campaign Brief’s latest ranking of creatives in NZ and Australia - in the gift of publisher Michael Lynch - focuses mainly on men. Even agencies featuring on the list, including Thinkerbell, appear to be asking themselves whether it’s a good idea to be there.
Thinkerbell was among the agencies highly placed. CEO Margie Reid, who is also a director of Support The Girls Australia, took to LinkedIn over the weekend to distance her agency from the ranking, writing: “Thinkerbell has not paid, created or had any part to play in the list that appeared in the latest edition of the Campaign Brief magazine or the BestAds ranking list. Nor were we contacted when the list was published.”
Creative Jet Swain put it more succinctly yesterday: “Shame on you Campaign Brief. Nothing has changed in the three decades I’ve witnessed this blatant misogyny. Your NZ lists had no women, and Australia only has Tara Ford.”
Also in today’s podcast: AI can bring dead actors back to life; but should it?; Coles and Woolworths have seen tangible brand damage from the ACCC prosecution new data from Roy Morgan Research shows; and Southern Cross Austereo is accused of ‘mocking’ its local TV news obligations.
Further reading
* LinkedIn: Thinkerbell’s Margie Reid on the Campaign Brief sexism row
* LinkedIn: Darren Woolley of Trinity P3 on the Campaign Brief sexism row
* LinkedIn: Jet Swain accuses Campaign Brief of misogyny
* Australian Financial Review: Think you know that voice? Dead celebrities are working again
* The Australian: Aldi nabs ‘most trusted supermarket’ title as Coles and Woolies suffer
* The Australian: An absence of local news in the regions is denying a voice to the people whose lives are affected
* The Australian: Seven blocks release of ‘humiliating’ docs in case against ex-producer Amelia Saw
* Australian Financial Review: Inside ARN’s Melbourne gamble on The Kyle and Jackie O Show
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes, Abe Udy and Cat McGinn
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s edition features one of the highlights of last week’s REmade - Retail Media Unmade conference, our leadership panel.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including Unlock (October 31), Compass (across November); HumAIn (2025), and REmade (September 2025).
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Growing pains, data gains, and techy brains: retail media’s leaders reflect
In today’s audio edition, we hear from the retail media leaders in a session which concluded our retail media conference REmade last week.
Dan Ferguson, chief marketing officer for Adore Beauty Group, Sarah Minassian, head of retail media at Metcash and Marc Lomas, MD of commerce for GroupM AUNZ shared their views on the surge in retail media and its growing industry impact.
The panel presented a unified case that retail media is on a fast track, and with year-on-year expansion, demanding attention, investment - and increased integration across the industry.
In the conversation, moderated by REmade’s Curator Cat McGinn, Lomas argued “We are rapidly approaching Retail Media 3.0 where it’s no longer a separate entity - it's just media, seamlessly integrated across channels and treated the same as other forms of media."
Another key takeaway was the need for better collaboration and data sharing between brands, retailers, and tech partners. The message was clear: transparency builds trust, and trust fuels the kind of partnerships that can really scale retail media. Minassian said “It’s about having authentic conversations, building trust, and aligning everyone’s expertise to move forward at a million miles an hour."
The panel doubled down on putting customers first. Whether it’s using podcasts or digital channels, keeping customer experience front and centre drives genuine engagement. As Ferguson said, “We listen to our customers. They give us sharp and direct feedback, and it’s what drives our decisions. At the start of the pandemic, our audience told us, ‘less of the hard sell,’ and we changed our tone of voice accordingly. That kind of customer feedback is what shapes everything we do."
On the tech side, integration is key. Metcash is focusing heavily on building the infrastructure needed to enhance its retail media offerings, while Adore Beauty’s commitment to leveraging customer data shows just how important tech and data are in taking retail media to the next level.
Lomas added: "When you look at the way consumers are starting to shop, younger demos are rekindling the love of the store. The store is a new canvas for innovation, and syncing experiences between online and offline through technology is where retailers can really step in and deliver."
And Metcash’s Minassian called out the need for more diverse voices at the table to shape the future of the industry, reminding women to apply for roles, even if they don’t feel they have the "perfect" experience.
* REmade will return in September 2025. Subscribers who become paying members of Unmade now will get a whole year of access to paywalled content and all our events, plus a ticket to the next REmade, Upgrade today
Unmade Index hovers as Nine moves up and Seven moves down
Declines from Ooh Media (down 1.2%) and Seven West Media (down 2.8%) were offset by increases in the valuation of Domain (up 1.5%) and Nine (up 0.4%) to slightly lift the Unmade Index yesterday.
The index closed up by 0.2% at 451.6 points.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
We’ll be back with an end-of-week update tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today we talk to two of the co-founders of Mercha - Ben Read and Sam Hardy. Plus, the top of town pushes down the Unmade Index.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (September 2025), Unlock (31 October), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
The Unmakers: Meet Mercha - ‘A digital platform in an analogue industry’
Mercha can claim to be the first branded merchandise player in Australia to have fully digitised its processes in what remains marketing’s arguably most analogue sector.
Last month the company wrapped up a $300,000 crowd-funded seed round, valuing it at around $10m.
In today’s edition of The Unmakers, Unmade’s Tim Burrowes talks to CEO Ben Read and chief revenue officer Sam Hardy about why the promotional marketing sector has taken so long to scale up in Australia. As Hardy puts it: “Mercha is a digital platform in an analogue, old school industry.”
Over just three years, Mercha has ramped up to a turnover of $2.9m in the last financial year.
Promotional merchandise is also a sector facing headwinds as sustainability moves further up the agenda. Mercha claims to be part of the solution by focusing on products that people will want to keep. Says Read: “It is shocking to me that 66% of promotional products end up in landfill. That is just disgusting to me. It should never happen.
“We're trying to be better than an industry that is not trying hard enough.”
By way of example, Hardy adds: “We had a radio station out of Sydney ask us very early on in the piece to do 250,000 whistles for a New Year's Eve event. Plastic whistles next to the harbour. And it would have been great, the revenue. But we turned it down.
“I draw the line on offering people crap that's going into the bin or offering people product that's not made fairly.”
Unmade Index red up top, green below
The Unmade Index slipped on Wednesday after Nine, the biggest locally listed media and marketing stock lost 1.6% to fall back to a market capitalisation of $1.9bn.
The move added to the daylight between Nine and its 60.1% owned subsidiary Domain. Domain slipped by 1.2% yesterday.
Ooh Media was also on a losing trend yesterday, slipping by 1.1%
In the mid market, ARN Media and Southern Cross Austereo both saw slight improvements.
Vinyl Group, which this week announced the acquisition of blockchain music collectibles business Serenade, rose by 9.5%. In the company’s annual report released on Tuesday, it said it had written down the value of its Vampr “LinkedIn for musicians” platform, founded by CEO Josh Simons, by $1.8m, but remained “bullish”.
The Unmade Index slipped by 0.7% to 461 points.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio. As disclosed in the podcast, at the time of recording this interview, I was considering taking part in the Mercha crowd funding round on Birchal, via my super fund. I did choose to invest
We’ll be back with an end-of-week update tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition: We chew over what the ACCC’s concerns over Cartology and Coles 360 may mean for Australia’s retail media sector; Bruce Gordon retires; and yet another significant week in AI developments
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (1 October), Unlock (31 October), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Can retail media networks succeed if they are non-retailer owned?; AI’s latest threat; Bruce Gordon hands over
Last week, the ACCC lit the fuse on a new battleground for retailers - does their ownership of retail media networks give them too much power? In today’s podcast, recorded the day before our REmade - Retail Media Unmade conference, we discuss the implications.
Also today: Google’s AI Overviews are finally coming to Australia, which will alarm many publishers; and Google also unveils a powerful new research tool, Notebook LM. And Meta goes hard on AI-generated content.
And Bruce Gordon, proprietor of WIN and kingmaker at Nine, moves into retirement.
Further reading:
* Unmade: Cartel-ogy: The ACCC comes for retail media
* Unmade: Brands beware: ACCC’s supermarkets attack is PR used as an offensive weapon
* ACCC: Supermarkets inquiry August 2024 interim report
* The Australian: Consumer trust in Coles and Woolworths plummets following ACCC action
* Australian Financial Review: Google to test its artificial intelligence-powered search in Australia
* Australian Financial Review: Billionaire Bruce Gordon retires from WIN as succession questions loom
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes and Cat McGinn.
(pic)
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today: As Vinyl Group this morning announces yet another acquisition, we talk to CEO Josh Simons about the bust-up that saw the ousting of Brag Media co-founder Luke Girgis, and the background to his opportunistic acquisition of Mediaweek.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (next week), Unlock (31 October), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
‘I stand behind the acquisition every day of the week’: Vinyl boss Josh Simons on the bumpy Brag Media buyout
Among the bosses of Australia’s ASX-listed media companies, nobody has had a more random path to the hot seat than Josh Simons. From the lead singer of rock band Buchanan, Simons went on to found Vampr, a social networking site for the music industry, before seeing that acquired by the company he went on to head, Vinyl Group.
Simons was the architect of Vinyl’s $8m+ purchase of the Brag Media group, publisher of The Brag and local editions of Rolling Stone and Variety among others, at the start of the year.
The initial plan was for Vinyl Group to be a portfolio company with its Brag Media arm run separately to its music platform interests. But that quickly fell over, with the less-than-amicable departure of Brag Media co-founder Luke Girgis five months after the takeover.
That left Simons taking what he describes in today’s interview with Unmade’s Tim Burrowes as “a masterclass in media” as he relocated from Melbourne and took charge of the Brag Media publishing operation.
That’s included a lesson in the publishing etiquette around journalistic independence. Simons concedes that he was “naive” when he took control adding: “I'm not dogmatic in terms of my views on things. And I think it's important to be able to know when you've said something stupid.”
Vinyl Group, with a market capitalisation of a little under $92m, is behind only Nine, Domain, Ooh Media, Seven West Media, ARN Media and Southern Cross Austereo when it comes to local ASX-listed media companies. When it comes to the narrower business of publishing, Vinyl is fourth if you also include the dual-listed News Corp. As Simons observes dryly: “It’s not lost on my parents.”
During the interview, Simons offers few clues about what led to the ousting of Girgis, although he hints: “We had to invest in areas that were previously just not being invested in. We needed to bring journalists in.”
Hires have included Lars Brandle as head of content, and promoting former Daily Mail and Cartology executive Jess Hunter to head of Brag Media. Since recording the interview, editor-in-chief Poppy Reid who was part of the Girgis era, announced her exit.
Earlier this month, Vinyl Group completed the fire sale acquisition of Mediaweek for just $1m after owner Trent Thomas was forced to sell the title following allegations of harassment towards staff. The timing and price of the deal was, Simons says, “almost too good to be true”. The integration is being overseen by Vinyl Group’s chief operating officer Joel King.
Simons hints there are more media acquisitions in the entertainment space to come, including overseas. Asked about the fact that Vinyl Group’s tech platforms are global while the media companies are local, he notes: “Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’ve got broad, ambitious plans for global. Rest assured that we're looking around the world to find teams that might add value in any of those areas inside the media part of Vinyl.”
As we were publishing this morning, Vinyl Group announced to the ASX that it has agreed to buy event and brand activation agency Funkified from founder Gus Stephenson for $2.5m. Funkified has been Brag Media’s in-house events supplier since 2021. It had a turnover of $4m and EBITDA profit of $430,000 in the last financial year.
In the interview, Simons also fleshes out his strategy for Vinyl Group, which as well as Vampr includes music credits database Jaxsta and online retail platform Vinyl. The job of the media arm is to fund investment in the company’s (so far) loss-making tech. “Our media company now is really the engine that allows us to invest in technology. In the past, we've seen media companies try and buy tech companies, and it hasn't worked out so well. And so what we're trying here is buying media companies to fuel tech.”
Despite being an ASX-listed company, Vinyl Group’s shareholder register is dominated by a handful of wealthy investors including WiseTech Global founder Richard White and Songrtradr boss Paul Wiltshire.
Says Simons: “I'm quite calm and optimistic about where everything's at.” Asked whether Vinyl Group still belongs on the ASX, he adds, intriguingly: “Yeah. Especially if you knew what I know.”
* Declaration of interest: Via his super fund, Tim Burrowes owns shares in most of Australia’s listed media companies, including Vinyl Group.
Inflation relief lifts Unmade Index
The Unmade Index bounced yesterday as the market absorbed improving inflation numbers. The index - which tracks Australia’s listed media and marketing companies - grew by 1.5% to 449.3 points - outperforming the wider ASX All Ordinaries which grew by 0.15% yesterday.
Among the larger stocks, Nine saw the biggest lift, up by 2.44%.
In the audio space, ARN Media and Southern Cross Austereo grew by 1.6% and 1.1%, while radio company Sports Entertainment Group lost 5.5%.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
As we count down to next week’s REmade conference, we’ll be back with a retail media-led edition of Unmade tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition: James Warburton invests in Boost Media; troubled Disrupt Radio says it’s in a “holding pattern”; the AFL and NRL lobby on betting ads; and LinkedIn admits to training its AI on user content.
We’ve upgraded Unmade’s membership. Annual members now get a free ticket to all of our events. That includes REmade - Retail Media Unmade on October 1; Unlock on October 31; our Compass series in November; and HumAIn next year.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership also includes members-only content, access to our paywalled archives and your own copy of Media Unmade. Upgrade today.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (1 October), Unlock (31 October), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
Telstra kicks off new campaign around grand final; Warburton invests in Boost; Disrupt Radio staff still unpaid
Telstra is among the first brands to reveal its plans for a big campaign launch timed around AFL grand final, according to The Australian today. The Oz also features good and bad news from streaming radio, with Disrupt Radio still in a funding crunch and Broad Radio about to go from pre-recorded live.
Over in the AFR, Seven West Media is the topic of the day, with former boss James Warburton revealing an investment in ad inventory reseller Boost Media alongside private equity company CVC; and questions about Seven Group’s appetite to remain invested in its media arm SWM.
And today’s AI chat covers the revelation that LinkedIn is training its large language model on posts from its users; the role of generative AI in creating media content; and a new version of OpenAI.
Further reading:
* The Australian: Disrupt Radio is two months behind in staff payments, future of station unclear
* The Australian: Broad Radio launches new live programs on the women-only radio station
* The Australian: Telstra gets animated to shake off corporate image
* Australian Financial Review: Ex-Seven chief James Warburton, CVC Emerging Companies ink media deal
* Australian Financial Review: Seven West Media stokes tension behind the scenes at Seven Group
* Unmade: Publishers await their Independents Day
* Sydney Morning Herald: ‘Nanny state’: NRL, AFL storm the field over gambling ads
* Mumbrella: AI generated content doesn’t work – But if it did? The media’s screwed
Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes, Abe Udy and Cat McGinn.
Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.
Time to leave you to start your week. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe -
Welcome to a Tuesday update from Unmade. In the interests of topicality we’re reworking our publishing rhythm this week. We’ve brought forward to today our usual Thursday audio-led interview to focus on the Paramount Upfronts which kicked off in Sydney yesterday. And our member-only post which usually happens on a Tuesday, will be later in the week. Further down, we’ve also got better news on the Unmade Index which finally broke its eight day losing streak.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:
* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (1 October), Unlock (31 October), and Compass (November);
* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
* Your own copy of Media Unmade.
How Paramount is making one plus one add up to more
Paramount yesterday become the first of Australia’s TV companies to show its hand during 2025 Upfronts season.
One of the challenges of covering Upfronts presentations is that they tend to be a grab bag of announcements, without there necessarily being a unifying theme.
That was certainly the case with Paramount, with announcements covering free to air commissions for Network 10, local commissions for streaming service Paramount+, the company’s global content pipeline, converged trading technology upgrades with Paramount Connect, and a rebrand that will see 10 Play disappear so it will be Ten across both linear and streaming.
And that in itself was the unifying theme. Albeit by accident rather than plan, the global ownership structure of the company leaves Paramount as the best placed media company to argue that the sum of its parts adds up to more than the whole.
While Paramount Plus isn’t the biggest subscription streaming platform with an advertising tier, it gets to be the only one that is part of a local Upfront.
While a distant third behind Seven and Nine in broadcast TV, Ten gets a pipeline of global formats and content from its parent company.
While 10 Play isn’t as big as Seven’s FAST (free ad supported TV) channels, advertisers and agencies can buy across both Paramount+ and 10 Play.
To lean in to the acronyms, Paramount is the only company locally that can offer advertisers audiences across SVOD, BVOD, FAST and FTA. The sum of the parts has the potential to equal more than the whole
Under Hugh Marks, Nine’s portfolio felt like a company where its assets across TV, streaming, publishing and radio added up to more than the whole. More recently one plus one has equalled two at best.
Seven West Media’s TV and publishing assets feel similarly disconnected, even more so since being split into seperate divisions ready for some sort of M&A activity.
ARN Media’s (so far failed) takeover plan for SCA was about being stronger in the single medium of audio.
Southern Cross Austereo’s valuation will go up as soon as it finally offloads its fading regional TV licences (presumably mostly to Paramount) and becomes a pure play audio company.
So what to make of Paramount’s announcements?
There’s a further investment in live reality TV alongside I’m A Celebrity. Big Brother returns to its original home where it ran for its first eight seasons, before three seasons on Nine where it relaunched well out of the 2012 Olympics before fading, and five seasons on Seven which took much of the life out of the format by moving to a cheaper pre-recorded format.
Big Brother will be live on Ten and streamed 24 hours a day live which is almost exactly the sort of content FAST was invented for.
There were no other major format surprises. Have You Been Paying Attention, MasterChef, Taskmaster, Survivor, and Thank God You’re Here all return. The Project stays on air.
Talking ‘Bout Your Generation (or Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Gen as it will be this time) has been revived minus Shaun Micallef as host. Sam Pang will get his own show.
During the podcast conversation with sales boss Rod Prosser and programming lead Daniel Monaghan, I didn’t detect much of an appetite to go after a big (and expensive) sporting code. The kite flown at the weekend by NRL boss Peter V’landys feels more like an attempt to scare Nine into thinking it could face an auction.
There was also some paranormal activity from Paramount.
An Australian version of sitcom Ghosts, which started life in the BBC in the UK will be cast shortly (I have my suspicions we won’t see it on screen until 2026). I’m intrigued how the caveman character of Robin from the original will translate into a local character without controversy around First Nations people. Monaghan tackles that in the interview.
And a spooky six part scripted drama Playing Gracie Darling will land on Paramount+
As well as talking about the content announcements, the interview addressed the question of how the TV industry can stop sounding defensive about its fading linear numbers and start getting aggressive about streaming.
Prosser acknowledges: “We don't see ourselves as a free-to-air business anymore. We see ourselves … as a premium video business. Obviously, the free-to-air asset is incredibly important.
It's important to recognize a couple of things. The first thing is that the free-to-air linear still drives the biggest reach.
“The second fact is linear audiences are declining. I think none of us can have our heads in the sand about that.
“We were artificially propped up through Covid. I think everyone recognises that.
“And that decline that we knew was coming has come. And I think we'll see stabilisation in those audiences now.”
“The reality is television is still a mass-reaching vehicle. And I think there's no reason to be defensive around that. We own it.
“But I do think the linear audiences have found their place.”
* Declaration of interest: My travel and accommodation for the event was covered by Paramount
Unmade Index finally breaks losing streak
The Unmade Index finally broke an eight day streak of declines to record a move upwards yesterday, growing by 1.36% to 443.3 points.
The best performer was Domain, majority owned by Nine, which rose by 4.3%. That in turn helped lift Nine by 2.1%.
Rival TV network Seven rose by 2.9%.
Among the larger stocks, Southern Cross Austereo had the worst of it, slipping by 3.8%. SCA’s market capitalisation of $122m is the lowest it has ever been. The smaller audio stock of Sports Entertainment Group, owner of SEN radio, lost 7.6%.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
We’ll be back with another newsletter tomorrow.
We also have a clarification. In Saturday’s Best of the Week, I reported that VOZ streaming would launch on November 25, as a means for advertisers to frequency cap their campaigns across differing media plartforms. I mentioned that this had previously been announced as December 29. In fact, that date is the full launch of VOZ as a trading currency and remains the same.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe - Visa fler
