Newsmakers: Brian Gallagher on Tapt’s new chapter: ‘We’re just cutting out the middleman’

When Brian Gallagher first walked into the sales floor at the company now known as Tapt Media, he found a room that told its own story.

“I walked into the sales floor at our offices in Sydney’s Pyrmont on a Tuesday, and there was no one here,” Tapt’s chief commercial officer tells Mediaweek's Newsmakers podcast. “You couldn't have trotted through the middle of a more culturally bereft media floor if you tried. It was just emblematic of ‘nothing to see here’.”

Gallagher had come to meet Tom Malone, then managing director of Nine Audio and now Tapt’s CEO, to discuss what the business could become commercially. Following its sale to the Laundy family, Tapt is trying to turn that ambition into a broader audio business: one that sells live radio alongside streaming, podcasts and digital advertising.

In the full conversation, Gallagher explains how the change in ownership has altered what Tapt can do, where he sees its next audience coming from, and why he has little appetite for the usual upfront spectacle.

From restrictions to five million views

One small change has had a conspicuous result. Gallagher says the business could not use YouTube to promote itself while it was part of Nine. Once that restriction was lifted, Tapt started building channels for its content.

“That was about four or five months ago, and we're already up to over five million engaged views a month,” he says.

Gallagher sees those views as a way to introduce people to Tapt’s presenters and programs, then bring them back to its apps, stations and podcasts. It is also a sign of the digital audience the company wants advertisers to recognise.

Tapt is making a larger case to agencies: its talk and podcast listeners choose what they want to hear and spend time with it. Gallagher wants buyers to consider that attention alongside the company’s growing streaming audience and its ability to target digital campaigns by location and other audience signals.

Why Tapt is skipping the upfront

Tapt will make that pitch without a traditional upfront presentation. Gallagher says Tapt is meeting clients directly and showing them what the business has already done.

“We're just quietly catching up with clients, talking about what it is we are doing and then demonstrating what it is we've done.”

He questions how much impact an expensive event can have when so many media companies are trying to make theirs stand out at once. And he is frank about the cost.

“If I'm being brutally honest, I couldn't justify the budget to do it,” Gallagher says. “We can have a much more effective market engagement at a fraction of the money and leave people with a lasting impression of what we're actually all about, which is connection.”

For Tapt, that might mean spending a few hours with clients, talent and staff on a golf course instead of gathering them in a theatre. Gallagher calls it “cutting out the middleman”.

Listen to the full Mediaweek Newsmakers podcast interview with Brian Gallagher for the story behind Tapt’s shift, its digital audience pitch and his unvarnished take on upfront season, whereever you get your podcasts.