Today's Mumbrellacast has a slightly different format to usual.

It features a conversation between Tim Burrowes and Josh Simons, the CEO of Vinyl Group.

It's fair to say the two have had differences of opinion and have both written about them publicly.

Simons suggested the pair try to find some common ground and this discussion unfolded in Mumbrella's office on Wednesday.

This conversation was uploaded simultaneously to the podcast feeds for both Vinyl Group's Media Week and the Mumbrellacast.

As you'll hear, a lot of ground is covered.

Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.

For more about how News Australia is thinking about the future of mobile news in Australia, click here.

This week on the Mumbrellacast, the MFW point their brooms at Dave Hughes, and we struggle to find a legitimate reason for the protesting - at least, not one that has anything to do with Hughesy.

M&C Saatchi's local management takeover, announced just six weeks ago, has collapsed, and it seems that the entire Australian business may be done. This is a rapidly evolving story - read the latest on Mumbrella here.

Elsewhere, News Corp held five upfronts in the last two weeks, and one of the main messages was that sports fandom doesn’t end with the siren, with post-game analysis, podcasts, online discussions, panel shows, and more being part of the overall sports media landscape.

And will Albanese's proposed Digital Duty of Care laws end up with the local platform bosses all sharing a prison-cell?

We'll admit it's unlikely, but thanks to the fine wording in the draft legislation, it's now at least possible. Eek!

Get the latest episodes here.

Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.

For more about how News Australia is thinking about the future of mobile news in Australia, click here.

Irene Hulme and Tim Burrowes cover the news and the first questions that come to mind. Specifically, was this the plan all along, and now that Seven is firmly in control, what are the implications for the radio side of the business?

The sunshine returned to Sydney just in time for the start of upfronts season, with SBS, Foxtel, and News Corp all proudly displaying their various wares to media buyers during the week.

The biggest news from SBS was confirmation that it had secured the FIFA World Cup for 2030, and locked down the Tour de France until that year as well. We also discuss its partnership with Ooh Media, and speculate wildly about former SBS boss/current Ooh Media boss James Taylor's involvement in the deal.

Foxtel, meanwhile announced a few major name changes, a host of new in-stadium advertising opportunities, and declared its interest in sports above all else.

We also discuss the latest run of dramas at M&C Saatchi, including the sport and entertainment head Jack Playfair resigning six months into the role, and the agency having to re-pitch for one of its big accounts.

And because you demanded it politely, the Heated Quiz returns, to cap off the episode in chaotic style.

See you at the upfronts! We'll be the ones staking out the canapé trays.

Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.

For more about how News Australia is thinking about the future of mobile news in Australia, click here.

Tim Burrowes and Irene Hulme take a deep dive into the legal morass of the ARN/Jackie Henderson lawsuit with lawyer Michael Byrnes.

Byrnes, a partner at Swaab, explains ARN's newly revealed requirement to disclose any records of meetings between themselves and the activist group Mad Fucking Witches.

Matters in the case are progressing rapidly - Kyle Sandilands was served a subpoena on air on Wednesday morning - and the hosts cover off key angles in this breaking news podcast.

In this interview edition of the Mumbrellacast, timed for release with News Corp's upfronts events, executive chair Michael Miller sits down with Mumbrella editorial director Hal Crawford to discuss the News Bargaining Incentive, doing deals with AI labs, and whether News' Australian mastheads have hit a subscription plateau.

 "I'm not going to preempt negotiations that haven't even started," Miller told Crawford of the NBI and the deals that News could possibly do with Meta, Google, Tiktok and Microsoft.

"No one has said they are not going to play ball."

"I think there's some assessment that is still being undertaken by those four companies, and that they are yet to determine how they want to proceed, and I understand that. But equally, the government or the legislation is that, deals need to be done by 31 of December or a charge will be made."

The first breaking news episode for Mumbrella. Tim Burrowes, Nathan Jolly and Irene Hulme unpack Survey 5 including a history making result, and a genuine debate over whether ARN Sydney had a good day or a bad one.

More breaking news episodes are coming. Subscribe to Mumbrellacast and get each one in your feed the moment it drops.

A fourth major player has entered Australia’s competitive media monitoring industry with today’s arrival of John Croll’s Truescope.

Croll previously led the ASX giant Isentia, taking it through a 2010 sale to Quadrant Private Equity and 2014 ASX float.

Isentia – which rebranded from Media Monitors in in 2012 – peaked with a near-$1bn market capitalisation before the misfiring acquisition of King Content in 2015 saw investment sentiment turn against the company, which was then acquired by Access Intelligence in 2021.

Croll left Isentia in 2018. After a year off, he founded Truescope seven years ago, alongside former colleague Michael Bade. Truescope launched in Singapore, NZ and the US, and already has revenues of $15m. But it did not initially target Australia because of the relatively high cost of accessing copyrighted content.

In this podcast, Croll said that client demand had let to the choice to open the doors in Australia today. He said: “I love this industry. I’ve been in it all my life.”

Whereas Isentia had 1,200 staff, Croll said that advances in AI has allowed him to build similar capabilities with just 65 people. Truescope covers broadcast, print, digital and social media.

Croll said: “We’re swimming in our own lane. We’re back. We know the industry very well. We know how to build fantastic media intelligence platforms.”

Along with Isentia, the other key local media monitoring competitors are the locally founded Streem, which was sold to Cision in 2022 and Meltwater which is owned by private equity.

Welcome to the Mumbrellacast, where television assets might be written down, but they are never written off.

This week, Nine presented a set of truly baffling financial results that didn't include its former radio division, Pedestrian or Domain, and pretended it had owned outdoor company QMS since the start of FY25 instead of for three months at the end of FY26. It also wrote down its television assets by a staggering $404m, suggesting they are suddenly worth less than half of what they once did.

Also measuring the worth of television this week is the Video Futures Collective, which launched a new (well, forthcoming) TV ratings system that will measure advertiser reach across different platforms. As we explain, under the new system, if I see a Gatorade ad on Disney+, then on Netflix, then on my mobile while watching Kayo Sports, I would be counted as one human, rather than three separate humans (albeit one human with a large entertainment bill). They aren't doing public-facing TV ratings initially, nor are they measuring free-to-air TV, but interim CEO Toby Dewar hinted to Mumbrella that both might be coming soon.

And to round out the episode, Tim talks to one of Australia’s most interesting tabloid exports, Breaker Media founder Lachlan Cartwright, ahead of his keynote at Mumbrella Publish next week. 

Get the latest episodes here.

Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.

Welcome to the latest Mumbrellacast, scandal-free since 2023 (unless we missed something in the T&Cs).

The biggest non-war, non-AI news at the moment is the Sydney Swans player controversy.

We don't dwell on the details -- mainly because it is a developing story -- but instead look at what this scandal (and others like it) means for team and player sponsorships in sport in the future.

With millions in gambling money soon to go south, and brands increasingly wary of controversy, might we see a situation where professional sporting leagues become underfunded due to brand reticence? Will this have a knock-on effect where it jeopardises sponsorship for underfunded Olympians? Brands and ambassadors usually have drum-tight contracts that allow the sponsor to pull out if the talent brings them into disrepute, but by then, the damage is often done.

And while we are perusing iron-clad deals, Eleanor has been digging into the fine print of T&Cs, and what you actually own when you work with an agency. It turns out, it might not be a lot.

Checking out the terms and conditions of working with a number of Australian digital agencies -- some of which have page counts that technically make them novellas -- shows that buried in the fine print are often provisions about who actually owns the assets brands pay good money to develop with the agency: landing pages, backlinks, creative assets, data, and even access to advertising accounts could all be owned by your agency.

While we are taking on dodgy practices, media agencies are increasingly promising clients incredibly cheap advertising rates in order to win pitches, and the media owners are then left to make those rates work. Is this a race to the bottom, or a practice that has been going on since Triple M was only half-an-M?

Finally, we listen to the new sonic logo created by audio branding firm Smith and Western, who were tasked with capturing the spirit of Australia in a three-second sound blast. It's a tall order, and we discuss whether they managed to capture the ineffable qualities of an entire nation in less time than it takes to squirt tomato sauce onto a bloody meat pie.

And because we live in a democracy, we decide to have a go at creating our own sonic signature for this sea-girt nation -- with decidedly mixed results.

Happy listening, cobber!

Get the latest episodes here.

Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.