By Tim Burrowes
The podcast currently has 237 episodes available.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition, we explore what happens next at Nine, the NRL tries to bring Paramount into its next TV rights auction, and Upfronts season rolls on.
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.
Mike drop, now what for Nine?
Mike Sneesby may be on the way out for Nine, but the company still has months of dramas ahead.
As we discuss in today’s podcast, acting CEO Matt Stanton’s first challenge will be navigating the release of the report into the company’s culture. The Australian reports today that “a slew of bullying claims have also been levelled against two senior women at Nine”.
Also in the podcast, we list some of the contenders for what is one of the biggest jobs in Australian media.
Plus, we get ready for another big week in Upfronts season, with Paramount sharing its plans for 2025 today, and Digital Publishers Alliance running Independents Day on Thursday.
And the NRL is trying to talk up a bid from Paramount for its next round of rights negotiations.
Further reading:
* Unmade: Nine's $3bn decline
* Unmade: Scorecard: Mike Sneesby failed at Nine, but first he gave the company a future by launching Stan
* Unmade: After Sneesby
* The Australian: Outside pick firms as next Nine boss
* Capital Brief: Nine execs jostle for power as race to replace Sneesby as CEO begins
* Sunday Telegraph: What’s the Buzz: Peter V’landys seeks meeting with Channel 10 over NRL rights
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
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition: The government clear the decks on its policy logjam, with privacy reforms dumped until after the election; new AI rules, and heavy fines on scam ads. Plus, the boss of Disrupt Radio - where staff have gone unpaid for nearly two months - claims: “Start-ups are not for the salaried and superannuated”.
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.
Privacy reforms move to the ‘too-hard’ basket; Don’t expect salaries and super, Disrupt Radio founder tells staff
It’s a frenetic day for government policy announcements with major consequences for the marketing industry.
Most notably, The Guardian has broken the news that the most consequential reforms to the Privacy Act have been moved to “the too-hard basket”, and are likely to be dumped to the other side of the election.
Also today, the government is announcing a crackdown on scam ads with fines for the digital platforms that carry them. What’s unclear is whether this will extend to media brands (most local news outlets) who carry Google Display Network content.
And the government has also kicked off a fortnight long consultation period around a new set of voluntary rules on AI usage.
Sticking with AI, Unmade’s Tim Burrowes, Cat McGinn and Abe Udy also examine the launch of Seven’s The AI Factory - is it substance or spin?
And the team discusses the latest on the ailing Disrupt Radio. Founder Ben Roberts told The Australian today that the real problem for unpaid staff isn’t their empty bank accounts, but that they’re not used to what he sees as the realities of life in a startup.
“Start-ups are not for the salaried and superannuated, and I made it very clear to people I personally hired that it might be a bit of a rollercoaster.
"It’s been particularly difficult for those who haven’t been through the rough and tumble of a start-up before,” he told The Oz.
Further reading:
* The Guardian: Get a VPN and delete your cookies, Australia’s privacy laws are still lagging behind
“Are we the baddies?”
* Brisbane Times: Up to $50m fine for banks, telcos, social media firms in war on scams
* Australian Government: Voluntary AI Safety Standard
* Seven West Media: Seven opens the AI Factory
* Unmade: Disrupt Radio goes off air
* The Australian: Disrupt Radio hits turbulence: unable to pay staff and the station is taken off DAB+
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
[email protected]
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.
In today’s audio-led edition, streaming audio and video pull in advertising growth, while podcast audiences boom. Plus, we look back on results season and forward to Upfronts.
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.
Video and audio streaming lead digital growth; Results season’s theme: at least the bad news was no worse than expected
In today’s episode of Start the Week, we cover off the new 2024 financial year data from the IAB. It reveals video streaming growing by an impressive 18.6% while connected TV is taking the biggest slice of that. Meanwhile, online audio has just had its best quarter.
We also discuss a seperate half yearly report into podcast listening habits from Commercial Radio & Audio and Triton Digital.
We look back upon a results season full of lots of bad news but few nasty surprises. And we look forward to Upfronts season which kicks of with Ooh Media’s Outfronts on Wednesday
Further reading:
* Commercial Radio Australia: Australian Podcast Bi-annual report
* IAB Australia: Internet Advertising Revenue Report FY24 & June Quarter
* Unmade: SCA: The disappearing agency dollars
* Unmade: 'Sometimes you have to cop to a bad quarter' - Ooh Media drops a mediocre set of numbers
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
[email protected]
Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s conversation features demographer Bernard Salt on what really motivates Australians. Further down, the Unmade Index takes a breather after Nine’s financial results were no worse than expected.
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.
Your membership also includes members-only content, access to our paywalled archives and your own copy of Media Unmade. Upgrade today.
Has Australia got it too good to be great?
As the lockdowns of Covid fade in people’s memories, some of the changes in trajectory are permanent, observes demographer and columnist Bernard Salt. Technology adoption and the pursuit of more space for home working remain. The Zoom room now takes priority over the pool room.
However, pursuit of quality of life was a longer term, underlying Australian trait, possibly driven by enjoying a more benevolent climate than European settlers had known.
“We're a free, open, easy, sporty, home-focused people, quality of life-focused people,” says Salt. “And it ain't going away. It was there in the 1950s. It'll be there in the 2050s.”
Another factor that shaped Australia’s destiny is geology, says Salt in his conversation with Unmade’s Tim Burrowes. While the more populous US was driven by farming, much of central Australia lacks the rick soils that would have been needed to settle it through intensive agriculture.
The conversation also covers how consumer mindset changes depending on life stage.
And in a question that was covered before this week’s news that the government has controversially closed the door on new topics for the next census, Salt explains why he wants to know more about the rise of pet ownership alongside the loneliness epidemic.
* Boomtown is running a webinar today at 10am Eastern featuring Salt’s presentation at the Boomtown breakfast event a fortnight ago.
Unmade Index flat as Nine offers no more bad news
The Unmade Index stood still on Wednesday with the market offering a sigh of relief that Nine’s annual financial results were no worse than expected. The index lost just 0.1 points, to land on 456.5 points.
Nine finished the day up by 0.75% to a market capitalisation of $2.1bn. Seven West Media gained 2.94%.
The Market Limited, owner of Hot Copper, Gumtree and Carsguide, jumped nearly 30% despite reporting a drastic fall in profitability.
Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.
We’ll be back with more soon, including a deeper dive into the Nine numbers.
If you’re interested in retail media, don’t forget that our call for entries for the REmade Awards is live only until the end of the weekend.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
[email protected]
Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition: News publishers push back against media agencies’ brand safety default settings; AI search startup Perplexity gets into the advertising business; and X becomes an image disinformation engine.
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.
How brand safety is throttling news revenues
Media companies are starting to push back against buying agencies’ brand safety policies after the admission of Group M boss Christian Juhl that by default most of his clients are kept off news sites. Juhl testified to Congress that just 1.28% of brand spend goes to online news.
In today’s podcast we discuss the difference between brands sensibly avoiding polarising mastheads, and defunding news altogether. We ask whether brands’ claims to be good social citizens align with decisions that make it harder for public service journalism to occur.
Also today, we look at Perplexity’s plans to take on Google in search with an advertising offering; Conde Nast’s deal with OpenAI and Donald Trump’s sharing of fake AI imagery.
Further reading (and viewing):
* The Australian: Brand suitability myth busted
* Unmade: Taken to the farm: GARM harm
* Unmade: What if Elon is right, and marketers should occasionally be told to get fuuucked?
* Digiday: Perplexity’s pitch deck offers advertisers a new vision for AI search
* OpenAI: OpenAI partners with Condé Nast
* Forbes: AI Gone Wild: How Grok-2 Is Pushing The Boundaries Of Ethics And Innovation
Group M boss Christian Juhl’s testimony on brand safety:
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
[email protected]
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