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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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),...

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;...

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...

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); *...

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....

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...

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...

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...

Welcome to a midweek edition of Unmade. Tomorrow is Unmade’s third birthday and we’ll be sharing a post with some updates on how we’re travelling, and where we go next. So our usual, audio-led episode is a day earlier than usual, featuring the team at Man of Many at a point when independent digital publishing is a front page political issue. Further down in the post, the Unmade Index hits another all time low as the valuation of ASX-listed media and marketing companies falls to the lowest...

Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition, rumblings about a tech tax get louder; clues from earnings season as Ooh Media’s profits slip; and the ABC invites the Bruce Lehrmann defamation judge to host Media Watch. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes: * Member-only pricing for our HumAIn and REmade (October 1) conferences; * A complimentary invitation to...

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade (with quite a few written words too). Today, we talk to Foxtel’s streaming and advertising boss, Julian Ogrin; Seven’s slumping share price sees it at risk of being eclipsed by ARN Media; and we share more news of our retail media conference REmade. ‘We can be number one in digital advertising’ - Julian Ogrin on Kayo’s growth story Tim Burrowes writes: Julian Ogrin, the man tipped as the future boss of Foxtel Group, has been taking a higher profile of...

Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition: The call is coming from inside the house as Nine’s papers highlight disquiet over the company’s share buyback and Domain’s leadership; we look at the first edition of the reincarnated Cosmopolitan Australia; and the latest in AI. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes: * Member-only pricing for our HumAIn and REmade...

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today we talk to author and Crikey proprietor Eric Beecher as he publishes a book condemning the power of media moguls. And further down, the Unmade Index bounces back a little after slumping on Monday and then losing some more on Tuesday. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes: * Member-only pricing for our HumAIn and REmade (October 1) conferences; * A complimentary...

Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead. In today’s audio-led edition, the theme of the week is government intervention in betting ads; airline failures and the social media landscape If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes: * Member-only pricing for our HumAIn and REmade (October 1) conferences; * A complimentary invitation to Unmade’s Compass event (November); * Member-only content and...