21 May 2025

For the first time ever, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency has released the gender pay gaps of companies in the Commonwealth public sector — and that includes broadcasters ABC and SBS. We unpack the data to see who’s winning and who needs to catch up.

Last week, Hal interviewed Ooh Media’s chief revenue officer, Mark Fairhurst, who threw back the curtain on outdoor media. The conversation was rich: we share the highlights and go in-depth on the challenges in the sector.

Google recently announced a new search tool, AI Mode, that’s gearing up to revolutionise the future of search. Should marketers be worried?

In a surprising turn of events, OMG’s Resolution Digital has retired its media brand and the agency has folded into Hearts and Science. Lauren gives us the low-down on the story and what will happen moving forward.

Join Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes, Lauren McNamara and Abe Udy for a look at everything under Australia's media and marketing umbrella.

14 May 2025

The Outdoor Media Association held a conference in Sydney last week, where it revealed that its new metrics suite, Move, is launching… at some point. It has been years in the making, so why the delay?

 Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, issued a stark warning to US President Donald Trump that AI companies are stealing content, such as his ‘The Art of the Deal’ book, to train language models. We unpack why Thomson voiced the concern.

 Meanwhile, chicken wings chain Wingstop is the latest US fast food brand to enter the Australian market, and has picked up Hello as its agency of record. Lauren breaks down the brand, Hello’s role in its launch, and its place amongst its fellow US chains trying to make it big in Australia.

 We also determine if Anika Wells — the new Communications Minister — is ready for the role, and if Australia needs an industry body for the whole of media.

Join Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes, Lauren McNamara and Abe Udy for a look at everything under Australia's media and marketing umbrella.

7 May 2025

This morning, Are Media announced a deal that it would sell ads for US publisher Dotdash Meredith in the Australian market. Hal had a rare chat with Are Media's CEO Jane Huxley who claims the sun has come out.

Meanwhile, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) is officially selling its remaining regional TV licences to Seven West Media — and not Australian Digital Holdings (ADH) as was originally planned. We discuss if this was a good move for SCA, and ADH's response to the news.

Netflix's Australian financial accounts have been filed and they're raking in over $1 billion in cash — good for them, but what about their tax dealings is unfair?

Yesterday, Unmade's Humain conference took place in Sydney. There was much on the agenda, but it was AI consultant Lucio Ribeiro and his stance that AI will replace jobs that got us thinking... is he right?

Join Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes and Abe Udy for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

30 April 2025

Metafest has just wrapped up for 2025, and to mark the occasion, Hal and Tim sat down with Meta's ANZ managing director Will Easton.

From the News Media Bargaining Code to Meta's tax payments and the highly publicised social media ban for people under the age of 16, Easton faced questions on some controversial issues in this special episode of the Mumbrellacast.

Join Hal Crawford and Tim Burrowes for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

23 April 2025

The US Department of Justice recently stood in court and said it wants Google to sell Chrome — and since the tech giant has already been found to possess an illegal search monopoly, there is actually a chance it will have to give up the world’s most popular web browser.

Hal spoke with In Marketing We Trust’s CEO Paul Hewett to unpack the impact the sale would have on marketers, and discovered that click-through is down on search ads thanks to AI overviews.

Meanwhile, after her departure from Nine earlier this year, veteran journalist and former 60 Minutes host Liz Hayes has shifted to arch rival Seven’s Spotlight.

Hayes is stepping into an institution plagued with legal issues and the fallout of Bruce Lehrmann’s infamous defamation case, and a Four Corners workplace culture exposé. But Spotlight has also done quite well in ratings this year. Is Hayes joining a winning team?

Join Hal Crawford, Abe Udy and Nathan Jolly for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

16 April 2025

According to the ACCC, Australians are increasingly falling victim to fake business scams orchestrated through Facebook. The new crop of scammers pretend to be old Australian businesses closing down, and they seem to be everywhere. What does the platform have to say about it?

Meanwhile, Tim sat down with agencyland’s favourite comedian — and Mumbrella360 2025 keynote speaker — Rob Mayhew. With the prolific content creator in the hotseat, there was much to discuss.

Over the weekend, former Schwartz Media CEO Ben Shepherd published a LinkedIn post championing a walled garden premium ad exchange in Australia. Shepherd said the current VOZ streaming ad product should be made exclusive — is he right?

Also, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he’s a big fan of actual printed newspapers and magazines … is there more at play here?

Join Hal Crawford and Tim Burrowes for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

9 April 2025

Tuesday’s Future of TV Advertising conference in Sydney saw a bit of friction on stage when the topic shifted to principal media trading (PMT). The panel of industry experts were divided: evil, 80% evil, or non-existent in Australia?

Meanwhile, Nine’s ex-boss Mike Sneesby is heading halfway across the world to become CEO at the Middle East Broadcasting Center. It’s the region’s biggest broadcaster and Sneesby’s remit will be far larger than what he dealt with at Nine. Is he ready for it?

To cap things off, the trade press was just taken to task by the CEO of audience measurement company, Oztam. What did we do wrong?

Join Hal Crawford and Tim Burrowes for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

2 April 2025

Recently, news broke that agency group Growthops has entered administration with liquidators flooding in to officiate the group's companies' end — should we have seen this coming?

An audit on government spending has shown that  X (formerly known as Twitter) advertising was banned in 2022. We ask TrinityP3's Darren Woolley for his take on X advertising. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction for UM, the government's media agency, has fallen. Should the agency be worried?

Fresh data From TrinityP3 has revealed that adland's agencies are not happy about the state of pitching. With Darren in the room, we get to the heart of the research and pitching's surprisingly controversial nature.

Join Hal Crawford and Tim Burrowes for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

26 March 2025

This week:

Two big streaming television plays, and the Australian federal budget are dominating media and marketing industry chatter at the moment.

This week, American sports channel ESPN is launching in Australia on Disney+, while on Monday, Warner Bros Discovery is rolling out its streaming service, Max. What does this mean for sporting rights, and the advertising world? Will we see Sportsbets ads at the house of the mouse?

Meanwhile, the 2025 federal budget had something for everyone — including HECS cuts, a freeze on the beer excise, and a ban on non-compete clauses for people earning less than $175K. How will the industry fare without non-compete clauses, and are they currently being misused?

To top it off, Anna Saulwick, the founder of local news startup Gazette, sat down with Hal to discuss the political accusations levelled at the news provider.

Join Hal Crawford and Nathan Jolly for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

19 March 2025

This week:

Data is the name of today's game as we took our show to our Retail Marketing Summit at the Crown, Sydney.

Michele Levine — Roy Morgan's chief executive officer — delved deeper into the data that shows the forces impacting the retail sector. From the increasing popularity of Shein and Temu to an embattled Australia, what's going on?

Meanwhile, the newly released results of the Edelman Trust Barometer and Medianet's journalism survey have both uncovered that the public doesn't trust the media — not at all. We discuss why this could be the case.

Join Hal Crawford and Tim Burrowes for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.