• All current affairs programs put the spotlight on the Matildas
• 998,000 tune into Thank God You’re Here in Total TV

Total TV Ratings, August 9

1,219,000 tuned into Nine’s The Block. With only four more days until the studio bathrooms must be complete, some of the Blockheads were struggling, up by a massive 52%.

998,000 watched 10’s Thank God You’re Here, where Celia Pacquola threw another round of comedians into scenarios with no idea what was about to happen, up 42%.

931,000 tuned into ABC’s Gruen, where host Wil Anderson was joined by Todd Sampson, Christina Aventi, Dee Madigan and Russel Howcroft, up 31%.

900,000 viewed Seven’s Home and Away where Kirby faced a huge life decision and Felicity felt exposed, up 25%.

630,000 also saw the season premiere of Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers starring Jack Steele and Matt Ford, up 47%.

Overnight TV Ratings, August 16

Primetime News
Seven News 880,000 (6:00pm) / 838,000 (6:30pm)
Nine News 803,000 (6:00pm) / 796,000 (6:30pm)
ABC News 472,000
10 News First 206,000 (5:00pm)/ 153,000 (6:00pm)
SBS World News 151,000 (6:30pm)/ 120,000 (7:00pm)

Daily Current Affairs
A Current Affair 567,000
7.30 295,000
The Project 154,000 6:30pm / 204,000 7pm

Breakfast TV
Today 195,000
Sunrise 193,000
News Breakfast 146,000

Seven well and truly won Wednesday night with a primary share of 65.8% and a huge network share of 69.9%. 7Two has won multi channels with a 1.7% share.

There was no Home and Away on Seven last night as 1,853,000 tuned in with anticipation to the Pre-Game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Semi-Final between the Matildas and England. Then in record-breaking numbers, 4,495,000 watched the match before 1,786,000 stayed on for the Post-Match. It was a devastating loss for our girls as England secured the win, 3 -1, with superstar of the pitch Sam Kerr scoring our only goal, and a long-range one at that. The game was tense, seeing many missed opportunities from our side; however, the Matildas put up a valiant fight. Keeping the ball for long periods of time, they were up against a side that was awarded two yellow cards for rough play. The England Lionesses will now play Spain in the final, while Australia will play Sweden on Saturday, August 19 for a chance at third place. Regardless of the loss, Australians are still immensely proud of the Matildas. Up the Tillies!! 

Nine’s A Current Affair (567,000) looked at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s vow for a Public Holiday if the Matildas won the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Although a large majority of Aussies were on board, small businesses claimed they would take a hit while already struggling. Then, in Brisbane and Sydney, 175,000 tuned into The Block where the Blockheads were halfway through building their studios while Leah and Kyle made amends. In Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, 105,000 watched a re-run of RBT. A repeat of Paramedics then followed in all states for 103,000.

295,000 watched ABC’s 7.30 explore how the National Cabinet has agreed to build 1.2 million new homes over five years and also looked at how Tasmania is the only Liberal state, while there are wall-to-wall Labor governments on the mainland. The program also put a spotlight on the Matildas v England in the World Cup Semi-Finals. 193,000 then tuned in for Hard Quiz while 215,000 stayed on for Gruen. Host Anderson was joined by Sampson, Howcroft, Karen Ferry and Camey O’Keefe for the final episode of the season. 68,000 then watched ABC comedy Gold Diggers as Gert and Marigold went on the run to escape their terrible crimes.

On 10, The Project (154,000 6:30pm / 204,000 7pm) spoke to football fans ahead of the Matildas versus England match and looked at how as more questions emerged over the potentially deadly Beef Wellington that Erin Patterson served, it still remains unclear where exactly the mushrooms came from. A repeat of The Dog House Australia aired for 110,000 as greyhound Alinta looked to turn her life around after a hard start as a racing dog. Two re-runs of Ambulance Australia then followed for 61,000 / 97,000.

The highest rating non-news show on SBS was Michael Mosley Secrets of the Superagers with 88,000 tuning in to see Dr Michael Mosley looking at the latest methods to preserve our heart health, bones and muscles. 

Yesterday, Seven West Media announced its financial results for 2023, which saw the group report revenue of $1.488 million (including share of associates), down 3% on the prior year. SWM’s net debt of $249 million was down slightly from $256 million in the prior period. During the year, the group repurchased $15 million of shares under its on-market buy-back which will continue into FY24. The group also determined that the dividend will remain on hold given prevailing market conditions.

Other key takeaways included:

• Seven being the #1 national total TV network
• National TV reach driving revenue share (excluding Olympics) and partially offsetting the 7.9% decline in the total TV advertising market.
• On-year growth to <1%
• NBCUniversal content driving digital audience growth, on track for two billion minutes annually with step change from digital sports rights (cricket, AFL) commencing in September 2024
• Content, platform and enabling investments ongoing and will drive digital leadership

Following this announcement, Mediaweek caught up with Seven West Media’s managing director and chief executive officer, James Warburton, about what these results mean for the company. 

“We’re really pleased with the early results of FY 24,” said Warburton. “We seem to be above or around our share target of 40%. We have very strong cost discipline, so even with our NBCU investment for 7Plus, FY 23 was 1% cost growth which is a credit to Jeff Howard and the finance team.

“Our NBCU content is driving 2 billion minutes. That video market, we see as being worth $6.5 billion by FY 27. So that is really important for us.

“Our strong digital growth was 17% when you strip out the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. Five years ago, our digital earnings were 2% of the company now it’s 49% of the company, which is very good.”

The elevator pitch for Seven West Media Investors

When asked what the elevator pitch was to investors, Warburton said that is that the company is in a strong position moving forward, thanks especially to sports streaming.

“We’ve got a very strong balance sheet, with growing revenue share and have completely rebuilt our schedule. We now also have a national proposition that can compete and win in the total television market.

“What the Matildas is showing, what the Test Championship showed is that sports streaming on free to air is out of this world. With the AFL and cricket deals locked in long term, growth in the digital market for Seven will be incredibly powerful as we go forward.

“We also need to see the market recover, which we believe it will. We presented at the Macquarie Conference showing how after every downturn, the market came back and it comes back in a different way, which is probably a bit more digital. We’re in very good shape to take advantage of that and grow our share to 40% in FY 24.”

“Economics over ego”

One key point of the financial results was the success that Seven has had through its content deal with NBCUiversial which has seen positive results in both linear and BVOD platforms.

“We’ve got a fantastic relationship with NBCU. The Bravo channel launched 16th out of 19th. It basically is now the sixth OTT channel or DTT channel. The fact is, we’re getting to 2 billion minutes from NBCU. It is really important content for us and is locked up long term and our relationship will only get stronger with them.”

Below Deck Down Under

Warburton said that Seven is focused on having a disciplined approach to broadcast rights deals, and will wait for the right opportunity. He pointed to both the Olympics and the FIFA Women’s World Cup as examples.

“We’ve been very focused, we have said for a fair while economics over ego. We’ve been extremely financially disciplined in any deal that we’ve done, and been prepared to walk away from things like the Olympics where we would have racked up massive losses.

“The FIFA World Cup, we identified the Matilda’s at Tokyo where we saw the absolute love Australian audiences have for the Matilda’s.”

The outlook for FY 24

When asked about the outlook for the next financial year, Warburton pointed to the strong slate of content scheduled as a reason to be optimistic moving forward.

“When you look at this year, particularly with The Voice over the top of The Block, and with a number of tentpoles at the back end of the year, we are ending the year well. Sometimes we probably didn’t end the year on a strong note, whether it was due to Covid or costs. 

“Now, We’ve got tentpoles and really fantastic content running all the way through to the back end of the year. We have a dramatically improved BBL, we’re delighted with the shorter and sharper BBL with reduced matches and more of a focus on primetime games.

“The first quarter of the year, we only really competed on Sundays and Mondays. We now have a schedule locked in that goes all the way through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday which will have a dramatic upside for us.”

Southern Cross Media Group Limited (SCA) announced its financial results for the  year ended 30 June 2023. SCA will pay a final, fully franked dividend of 2.20 cents per share, taking full year dividends to 6.80 cents per share. 

Southern Cross Media Group Limited results highlights: 

• SCA’s Audio revenue of $397.2M was flat on the prior year. SCA increased its Metro radio commercial share to 27.2%,  and LiSTNR digital audio revenue increased 36.2% to $21.3M.
•  With a monetisable audience of more than 8M monthly listeners, LiSTNR is on target to reach an EBITDA breakeven run rate during the fourth quarter of FY24.  
• Regional television revenues contracted 14.5% to $107.8M, driven principally by a reduction of 20.2% in national revenues.  
• Group expenses were 2.0% lower at $428.4M driven by a reduction of non-revenue related expense of $3.8m or 1.3% from prudent and targeted cost management initiatives across  the business. 
• The share buy-back during the year resulted in higher net debt at year-end of $105.0M. Debt facilities are committed until January 2026.  
• Disciplined capex management (net of sales proceeds) resulted in a $8.5M reduction, down from $29.8M to $21.3M, with a further modest reduction forecast in FY24. 
• Free cash conversion strengthened in FY23 to 75.8% (FY22: 67.2%), benefiting from lower capex and tax payments compared to the prior year.

Capital management

SCA will pay a full franked dividend of 2.2 cents per share. At 74.6% of underlying NPAT, full  year dividends of 6.80 cents per share are in the centre of SCA’s dividend policy of 65% to 85% of  underlying NPAT. 

SCA also completed its share buy-back program during the year at a total cost of $26.8M ($21.3M of which was during FY23).

Management commentary and outlook

SCA CEO, John Kelly, said: 

“Since December, broadcast media markets have been challenging and this is continuing into the  new financial year. SCA’s portfolio of audio assets has outperformed with better than market growth in metro radio and digital audio. We are well-positioned to benefit from expected improvements in advertising markets in the second half of FY24. 

“LiSTNR achieved positive milestones during the year, with over 1.5M signed-in users and a monetisable audience network of over 8M monthly listeners, the largest in the Australian Podcast  Ranker. This is increasing consideration by media buyers, as demonstrated by growth of 36.2% in digital audio revenues. LiSTNR is on target to reach an EBITDA breakeven run rate during the fourth  quarter of FY24 – a year ahead of previous guidance.

John Kelly

“Regional television again weighed on our results during the year. We are working constructively with our principal programming partner, Network 10, to enhance our collective offering to national  advertisers and sponsors and to generate more reliable returns for our shareholders. 

“Our always-on cost disciplines saw group expenses overall reducing by 2% last year with a 1.3% or  $3.8m reduction in non-revenue-related expenses. We have commenced a strategic cost review  targeting removal of $12M to $15M in annualised costs, with $5-$7M of that being in FY24.  

“Our capex program reduced by 30% in FY23 and will modestly reduce further in the year ahead. With major office relocations and refurbishments completed, our ongoing capex program focuses on growth and innovation to grow monetisable audiences and increase revenues.”

See Also: SCA posts 38.4% profit and rise in audio audiences in its full year results

Compiled by Jasper Baumann

Podcast Ranker July 2023: Hamish & Andy keep top spot as leaderboard unchanged

There was little change at the top of the Podcast Ranker for July 2023.

Triton Digital released the new Podcast Ranker on Wednesday, August 16 which saw Hamish & Andy maintain top spot, trailed by Casefile True Crime at #2 and Mamamia Out Loud at #2.

Four of the top five podcasts boated more than 2m downloads each for the month.

The only new entry in the Top 10 was Smartless the podcast featuring Hollywood actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. The podcast comes from the Wondery studio, repped in Australia by LiSTNR.

The equal biggest mover in the top 40 was Darling, Shine!, the podcast created and hosted by best friends Chloe Fisher and Ellidy Pullin that is published by LiSTNR. It moved up eight places to #29.

LiSTNR’s The Scorecard was also a big mover, also up eight places, to #30.

The highest new entry on the ranker this month was The Streaming Service with Justin Hill from LiSTNR. The series crashed into the chart at #85.

Podcast Ranker: LiSTNR performance

Commented on the results, LiSTNR noted it has retained its no.1 position in July as Australia’s largest podcast sales representation network with more than 7.6 million listeners.

LiSTNR had 21 podcasts in the top 50 on the ranker, more than any other podcast network.

7am with Schwartz Media once again was the no. 1 news podcast in the Top 150 Australian Podcast Ranker.

On the All Australian Podcast Ranker LiSTNR saw growth across its major titles in key genres.

New podcasts Crime Insiders and Luke and Sassy Scott made their debut in the All Australian Top 150 podcasts.

“It’s great to see so many Australian-created podcast titles finding new audiences across LiSTNR’s podcast verticals of Entertainment and Culture, Sport, News, Factual and Drama, Parenting and Kids Entertainment and Radio podcasts,” SCA executive head LiSTNR Podcasts, Grant Tothill, said.

“Our international and domestic partner titles also continue to perform well and as a podcast network LiSTNR offer advertisers new opportunities to reach Australians that are making podcasting a part of their daily audio consumption.”

[Read more]

LiSTNR lifts the lid on the reality of solving a crime and getting justice for victims with their new podcast Crime Insiders

LiSTNR has announced a new podcast series titled Crime Insiders which takes audiences beyond true crime and into the real experience of those trying to solve crimes and analyse crime scenes.

Made up of two show formats, Crime Insiders: Detectives and Crime Insiders: Forensics, the twice-weekly podcast features episodes from those working in crime scene investigations, and those working in all areas of law enforcement. The result is ground-breaking interviews with experienced and decorated experts that explore the reality of trying to solve crimes.

Crime Insiders: Detectives is hosted by former police officer and author of bestselling book How Dangerous Men Think, Brent Sanders. While in the police force, Sanders was deployed in riot control, investigated sexual assault cases, and studied the methods and psychology of rapists. He now uses his research and policing experience as a full-time educator, teaching personal and psychological safety and self-defence to women and men, as well as travelling Australia, presenting to schools and universities, educating young people about sexual crimes, and expanding the conversation around consent and social safety.

Crime Insiders: Forensics is hosted by the enigmatic crime author, screenwriter, and former general practitioner with a forensic focus Kathryn Fox. Throughout her time as a practising GP, Fox took on courses and challenges that allowed her to best treat the victims of crime. For her research as a crime author, she forged relationships with murderers, victims, police, psychopaths, lawyers and prisoners which propelled her deeper into studying and documenting human behaviour as it related to crime.

[Listen to Crime Insiders here]

KICPOD’s Steph Claire Smith reveals steamy bedroom roleplay on most recent episode

In Monday’s episode of KICPOD, available on LiSTNR, hosts Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw shared a hilarious catch-up when Steph reveals that she used to dress up as a sexy nurse for her boyfriend (now her husband Josh) and put on a British accent for some bedroom roleplay.

The kicker is that this was while she was still living at home and her mum discovered the outfits when she was kindly cleaning Steph’s bedroom!

[Listen to KICPOD here with the conversation in question beginning @ 12:17]

Amazon tops iHeart and Magellan AI’s Australian top 15 podcast advertisers for Q2

ARN’s iHeart and Magellan AI have revealed the top 15 brands advertising on Australian podcasts for Q2 2023, with Amazon topping the list.

Overall, Q2 spending on Australian podcast advertising grew by 64% year on year, indicating a clear trend of brands increasing their investment in podcast advertising. The report found that all podcast genres continue to see an uplift in investment, with a marked increase in the biggest categories Society & Culture (up 48%), News (up 49%) and Comedy (up 127%). Growth in brands embracing the undeniable engagement of True Crime content has also hit new heights, up 116% year on year.

Corey Layton, ARN’s head of digital audio, said: “Podcasts are Australia’s fastest growing mass medium with brands utilising its soaring engagement to connect with audiences in a more intimate and engaging way. The surge in Australian podcast advertising spending by 64% underscores a compelling shift towards a medium that’s as diverse as it is impactful.”

The report, which uses the latest artificial intelligence technology, analyses thousands of episodes from 400+ of Australia’s most popular podcasts to determine the top brands advertising.

[Read more]

The Cricket Unfiltered Podcast hits a decade milestone

The Cricket Unfiltered Podcast notches up a significant milestone next week celebrating its 10-year anniversary on August 21st.

The podcast was founded in 2013 by Andrew Menczel (aka Menners) and was the first ever regular weekly cricket podcast in Australia and was a pioneering show for all sports podcasts.

Menners began the show because he felt Aussie cricket podcast fans needed a show about their team because the only cricket podcasts were mainly concerned with the old enemy, England.

The podcast has since featured over 20 international captains and numerous cricketers and broadcasters including Allan Border, Pat Cummins, Greg Chappell, Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Mark Howard, Mike Whitney, Steve Waugh and Jim Maxwell.

[Listen to The Cricket Unfiltered Podcast here]

By Ed Love, Content Acquisitions Manager ANZ, Samsung TV Plus

Popularity of women’s sports is surging. Judging by this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup^TM, however, we haven’t seen anything yet. FIFA hopes to reach more than two billion viewers across the world during the tournament. The Matildas set an incredible benchmark from the very first whistle, with almost two million Aussies tuning in to watch Steph Catley and her team take on Ireland in their opening match.

But it’s not just the popularity of football on the rise. Overall viewership of women’s sport in Australia has surged 18% since 2022. What’s more, it isn’t just women watching either; two thirds of viewers are male, with 72% of men watching women’s sport, according to Foxtel Sport.

More is more when it comes to sport

There’s no denying the demand for sports content is growing and linear broadcasters have previously prevailed in this department. But with women’s sport rarely making it above 10% of total sports coverage on any given day in Australia, and increasingly popular sports, such as SailGP and surfing, jostling to be seen, there’s still plenty of room for others to get involved.

This is where free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services have an opportunity to score a goal. By leveraging innovative technology to deliver the content fans evidently want to see, FAST can become an effective avenue to get more sports into Aussie homes faster.

Sport: a streaming slam-dunk

During strong economic headwinds, sport – particularly global events – are amongst the ‘safest’ bets. Live sports are almost guaranteed to drive big audiences: both amongst existing and casual fans.

However, you only need to look at Netflix’s Drive to Survive to see the people who drive the cars can be as important as the race itself.  As a result, streaming services have expanded their sporting libraries in recent years following a growth in appetite for ‘shoulder programming’, behind-the-scenes footage, match highlights, in-depth player interviews and archive games.

Last year, Disney+ fed this hunger when it launched Fearless, a mini-series going behind the scenes of the Australian Football League Women. The BBC followed suit with several dedicated documentaries including ‘Lionesses: Champions of Europe’ and ‘England’s Lionesses: Inside the Pride’ – both of which gave football lovers another chance to relive the thrilling story of England’s victory in the Women’s Euro 2022.

FAST levelling the playing field

Sports content has become a driving factor in transforming the face of FAST and has helped challenge the existing misconceptions that the quality of its content isn’t able to match that of linear.

DAZN, the over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, is a pioneer in this space. It has launched three FAST channels in the past year, with one of them – DAZN Women’s Football available on Samsung TV Plus – dedicated exclusively to promoting women’s sports. And with the Women’s Sports Trust reporting that 61% of committed women’s sports fans would like to see a dedicated women’s sports channel, this trend is only going to gather momentum.

Back of the net

FAST delivers the lean-back, free and live experience of linear, which sits at the heart of watching sports.

Samsung TV Plus – Samsung’s FAST service – recently launched the FIFA+ FAST channel. Offering originals, archive, match replays, and highlights from FIFA Women’s World Cups, the channel caters to consumers’ desire for communal viewing experiences.

Last year, FIFA+ saw staggering engagement throughout the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, as over 190 million fans tuned into match recaps worldwide. As its content becomes accessible on over 60 million Samsung TVs across the globe for the first time we expect to see this number soar. And, where consumers go, you can be sure advertisers will follow.

Advantage, content partners

Today, one of the biggest advantages of FAST sports sits with industry bodies that own the rights to content. There’s no doubt live broadcast deals will continue to trade for big budgets but they also recognise that valuable opportunities are being left on the table. FAST offers a new, and increasingly sought-after, viewing format that is quickly making it the perfect home for “around the game” content rights that sit within a free environment. By creating additional monetisation and untapped viewership opportunities for sporting partners , it’s game-on for FAST.

–

Ed Love heads up Content Acquisitions at Samsung TV Plus ANZ, Samsung’s free ad-supported streaming TV service. He is a seasoned business leader with more than 13 years of experience in business planning, content strategy and digital distribution. Before joining Samsung Ads, Love held the position of executive sales director with MGM Worldwide Distribution, where he was responsible for the distribution of MGM’s features and series in South East Asia.

–

Top image: Ed Love

Advertising Week APAC saw flocks of media, agency and adverting industry folk make the trip to Sydney’s Luna Park earlier this month. Mediaweek was on the ground, covering the event alongside Samsung Ads, and speaking to some of the event’s major players.

Mediaweek chatted with Sam Cooke, head of product marketing APAC at Samsung Ads, and asked her about her thoughts on Advertising Week and what brings her to the event.

Cooke expressed that the calibre of speakers at Ad Week is something that was a highlight for her.

“One of the other highlights has been the people who are thought leaders in AI. I’ve learned so much about it recently and I’m excited to get back to the office and apply it to my day-to-day,” she said.

When asked to describe Ad Week in three words, she said: “Disruptive, Uncertainty, but most importantly, opportunity.”

Last month, Mediaweek and Samsung Ads launched a video series called Behind the Screens.

The five-part short-form series presents interviews conducted by Mediaweek editor-in-chief James Manning.

Each episode features a key player in the TV sector who shares insights about the latest trends in the sector from changing viewing habits to advertising business models. The guests have been brought together to discuss challenges, opportunities and the transformation of the TV landscape.

Guests across the series feature executives from Nine, Seven, Foxtel Media, Paramount ANZ, the IAB, EssenceMedia and Samsung Ads.

Samsung Ads is Advanced TV advertising. Its smart TV advertising solutions are built on data from millions of Smart TVs in Australia.

You can watch and podcast Behind the Screens powered by Samsung Ads.

Episode one podcast
Episode one video

Episode two podcast
Episode two video

Episode three podcast
Episode three video

Episode four podcasts
Episode four video

Episode Five video
Episode five podcast

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Top image: Sam Cooke

Established in 2020, Magnite is the world’s largest independent sell-side advertising company.

Publishers use Magnite’s technology to monetize their content across all screens and formats including CTV, online video, display, and audio. In 2021, the company acquired SpotX to further enhance its CTV business and better help its clients. 

They have offices all around the globe including sunny Los Angeles, New York City, Denver, London and down under in Sydney, where the head of demand at Magnite, Adrian Isoldi is based.

Mediaweek caught up with Isoldi to discuss his role, how he got into his position and in his opinion, what has changed drastically in the industry in the past decade.

MW: How did you get into your role? Was it something you have worked towards for your whole career?

AI: My career in the advertising industry started close to 14 years ago as a Campaign Executive at Mediamotive, Carsales. While I wouldn’t say I was always passionate about advertising, the dynamic and innovative industry I stepped foot in all those years ago has kept me engaged as I love generating unique ideas and finding new solutions.

After nearly two years in my role at Mediamotive, I took a break and spent six months traveling in South America and the US. When I returned to Australia, I decided to explore different opportunities and gained experience in various roles. I briefly worked in recruiting and also served as a Campaign Manager at News Corp, before joining a video ad network called TVN which eventually became Magnite as we know it today.

These experiences allowed me to broaden my skill set and gain a deeper understanding of different aspects of advertising. Over the past 10 years, I’ve gradually assumed more responsibilities and navigated through some significant milestones, including TVN’s acquisition by Tremor Video which later became Telaria, and its subsequent merger with Rubicon Project to become Magnite.

It’s been an interesting ride and an enriching learning experience. Now, working with a dynamic ad tech company like Magnite as Head of Demand in Australia and being at the forefront of programmatic advertising has meant no day is ever the same, and I’m constantly challenged by new developments. I have also been fortunate enough to collaborate and work with a diverse range of clients and talented colleagues, and all interactions have contributed to refining my skills, and gaining valuable insights into this ever-evolving industry we work in – bringing me to where I am today.

MW: Tell me a bit about your team/company and what your current focus is.

AI: As the Head of Demand for Magnite in Australia, I lead our Demand team in the country, which sees me managing both a small go to market buyer team and demand operations facilitations team.

I am lucky to have an amazing team I get to work with every day who consistently perform at the highest level, making them truly the best in the industry. We have so many smart and talented individuals in the business – from strategy to tech, product, engineering and sales – and it’s a real privilege to work closely with all of them. They (together with past colleagues) have all contributed to accelerating my learning and career development.

My current focus and part of my key responsibilities is to create value for our partners, particularly as we navigate a tough macroeconomic environment. I work closely with our product team to enhance our buyer facing tools based on the feedback and interactions I have on a daily basis. As part of my management responsibilities, I am also focused on empowering my team to approach client conversations with confidence by equipping them with the right knowledge and skills to effectively navigate and manage critical discussions.

MW: In your opinion, what has changed drastically in the industry in the past decade?

AI: Nothing and everything. Looking back at a decade ago, I was 28 and about to embark on a new role at TVN in my hometown of Melbourne. At that time, TVN primarily operated as a video ad network, and the concept of programmatic advertising was just emerging. Programmatic advertising has now grown exponentially and it has become the dominant method for trading, accounting for a significant majority of transactions.

Similarly, the growth of streaming over the last ten years has been astounding. Advertising and investment on BVOD didn’t account for much when I first started in the industry. Fast forward to now, it has accelerated at an unprecedented pace, with figures from ThinkTV showing BVOD revenue for the TV ad market in Australia was up 10% to $239 million between July – December 2022, with BVOD ad revenue for the total financial year at $448 million, up 23.5% year-on-year.

Additionally, there’s been a significant shift in the importance of transparency, which has led to the adoption of industry initiatives such as ads.txt to address concerns from both publishers and advertisers around ad fraud, visibility and brand safety. As agencies increasingly seek out more direct connections in certain scenarios, Magnite’s ClearLine solution, which was introduced earlier this year, provides them with direct access to premium video inventory on Magnite’s platforms, while helping Magnite publishers generate more revenue and develop new sources of unique demand. The role of SSPs has also become crucial for both publishers and advertisers, as they facilitate greater control and access to diverse inventory.

MW: What are you and your team currently working on and what do you aim to achieve?

AI: In the true spirit of our industry, there is never just one thing we are working on. We are often managing multiple projects that all contribute to meeting the business’ overarching goals.

We always strive to maintain a balanced approach that delivers innovative solutions, coupled with meeting client requirements. We do this by addressing current product needs to optimise operations, fostering education within the industry, and ensuring we provide comprehensive support to our clients on both the buy and sell sides, all with the goal of maximising their experience working with our platform.

Of course driving financial success and generating substantial growth for our business is a key priority, but one we can’t meet without striving for operational excellence and building strong, long-lasting relationships with our clients.

MW: Are there any specific challenges ahead that you may face?

AI: Looking ahead, there are three key challenges I can foresee. One such challenge is the macroeconomic environment we are currently facing. Like any other industry, the overall market dynamics and fluctuations in the economy have a direct impact on our industry. Our clients’ budgets are equally impacted and scrutinised, and consumer behaviour tends to also shift and evolve in this climate. As a good partner, it’s important for us to also evolve and adapt our strategies to help our clients meet new demands accordingly.

Another challenge is the increased competition within the industry. As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, new players enter the market, and existing competitors intensify their efforts. Navigating this competitive landscape requires us to differentiate ourselves, continuously innovate, and provide exceptional value to our clients to stay at the forefront of our industry.

Lastly, while AI has the potential to unlock so many possibilities, its potential impact isn’t yet understood, which can be intimidating. Nonetheless, it remains crucial for us to stay ahead of the curve, harness AI technologies where appropriate, and demonstrate our unique value proposition that goes beyond what automated systems can offer.

In this dynamic and rapidly evolving industry, it is imperative that we remain flexible, embrace and leverage our distinctive expertise and value proposition as we navigate the challenges that lie ahead.

MW: Finally, what’s next/what’s your outlook for the year ahead?

AI: Everything always comes full circle. As we look towards the year ahead, I anticipate there will be a cyclical shift in industry dynamics – where there was expansion, now there will be contraction, and where there was once proliferation, there will now be consolidation.

I expect we will see further flattening of ad tech stacks, which will bring buyers and sellers even closer together. Ideally this would also then lead to greater transparency for both sides, innovation, and a more streamlined programmatic advertising space.

See also: Magnite unveils latest findings into streaming services and its audiences in new research

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Top image: Adrian Isoldi

Amazon Original series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is now the most successful Australian Original worldwide with the biggest opening weekend viewership globally for any Australian launch.

Prime Video has reported the series has also reached the top five in 78 countries, and top three in 42 countries, since launching on Friday August 4. The series is officially Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes – in mid-August at 80% with an audience score of 95%, as well as receiving an 8.1/10 score on IMDb.

Sarah Christie, senior development executive Amazon Studios, said: “2023 is the biggest year yet for local content for Prime Video, with nine Australian Amazon Originals releasing this year. Following the launch of Class of ’07 and Deadloch earlier this year, the first four episodes of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart are out now on Prime Video, with episodes dropping weekly every Friday. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a sweeping, raw and emotional drama that spans generations, and we are thrilled to that the series is already gripping audiences around the globe as the secrets and mystery of Alice Hart and her family unfold.”

Jodi Matterson and Bruna Papandrea, executive producers said, “When we first read Holly Ringland’s novel five years ago, we knew it was something Made Up Stories had to make. We are passionate about taking Australian stories to a global audience, so it’s incredibly rewarding to see The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart become a worldwide success reaching the top five on Prime Video in 78 countries on its opening weekend. The talent and dedication from all the cast and crew led by director Glendyn Ivin and showrunner Sarah Lambert as well as our partners at Prime Video and Fifth Season, was unparalleled at every point.”

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart production notes

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is produced by Amazon Studios, Made Up Stories, and Fifth Season. The series is executive produced by Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea, and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories, and Sigourney Weaver, Sarah Lambert, and Glendyn Ivin. The series was produced by Barbara Gibbs and co-executive produced by Made Up Stories’ Lucinda Reynolds. Ivin directs all seven episodes and Lambert serves as showrunner.

See also:
Prime Video’s The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is more than just a TV series, it’s a way for people to find “peace”

Mercado on TV: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart the next big Logie winner?

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has announced strong new rules for advertising to children.

The new Children’s Advertising Code extends safeguards to all advertising directed at children, addressing concerns from the community, government and industry.

AANA CEO Josh Faulks said the new Code recognises the distinct vulnerability of children and provides a robust framework for the advertising industry.

“The Code is no longer limited to advertising for children’s products and will provide critical protections around any advertising directed at children,” Faulks said.

“It places a clear ban on directing advertising of hazardous products to children such as vapes, kava or highly caffeinated drinks. It also prohibits the encouragement of unsafe practices, including bullying or promoting unhealthy body image, and the use of sexual appeal or imagery when communicating to children.”

The new Code pays special attention to the rise of ‘kidfluencers’ and influencer advertising directed at children.

“The rules go beyond Australian Consumer Law recognising the subtle, embedded nature of influencer advertising directed at children which research says lowers children’s ability to recognise it as advertising. It must now be immediately clear to a child that they are interacting with advertising content,” Faulks said.

The new Children’s Advertising Code will come into effect on 1 December 2023 and complements AANA’s Food & Beverage Advertising Code which already bans advertising of occasional food and beverages to children. This applies to all advertising, across all media channels at all times of the day.

See also: AANA dismisses calls to ban food and beverage advertising amid concerns about childhood obesity

To support Australian advertisers in complying with the new rules, AANA will provide comprehensive training to the industry. Additionally, AANA members have exclusive access to free advice and tailored training.

Complaints about advertising that raise issues under the Children’s Advertising Code are handled by Ad Standards and are determined by the independent Ad Standards Community Panel, whose members are representative of the Australian community.

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Top image: Josh Faulks

Are Media has announced the appointment of Nicole Byers to the newly created role of general manager – Lifestyle, effective immediately.

In a media career spanning more than 20 years, Byer was most recently editor-in-chief of The Australian Women’s Weekly, a role she has held for six years. Before that, she held senior positions across many Are Media titles, including Woman’s Day, NW, TV WEEK and OK! Magazine.

In her new role, Byer will lead Are Media’s lifestyle vertical, including The Australian Women’s Weekly, The Australian Women’s Weekly Food, Gourmet Traveller, Diabetic Living, New Idea Food and Books, and more.

Byer joins Susan Armstrong, general manager – entertainment, and Nicky Briger, general manager – fashion and beauty, in the newly created General Manager roles, as part of the company’s strategy to step up its investment in content verticals.

Are Media chief executive officer, Jane Huxley, said: “I am thrilled Nicole has been appointed to this important new role at such a significant time for our business. As general manager – Lifestyle, she will focus on developing our lifestyle strategy and transforming the vertical into a powerful omnichannel content commerce business.

“Nicole has a fantastic track record with Are Media, leading many of our biggest titles. She did a fantastic job at the helm of The Australian Women’s Weekly, where she has been instrumental in leading the Big 5 initiative and the brand’s digital transformation, as well as being a key stakeholder in the evolution of the One Best Way.”

Byer said: “After six years running The Australian Women’s Weekly, I’m very excited to step up in this new role. The lifestyle division is home to some of the best and most-loved media brands in Australia and I look forward to working with the team and stakeholders across the business to expand the reach, engagement and success of this key vertical.”

Are Media is currently recruiting for a new editorial director of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

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Top image: Nicole Byers

As World Cup fever spreads and the Matilda’s waltz to the tournament’s semi-finals, are the brands backing the tournament and women’s support solidifying a soft spot in the minds of consumers?

Fresh data from brand tracking platform Tracksuit says yes.

Their survey of 4000+ Aussies in fact showed that 42% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that actively promotes and supports women’s sports over brands who do not.

Beyond this, the survey also showed:

• Gen Z are leading the charge with 60% of Aussies aged 18-24 prefer brands that back women’s sport (compared to only 40% for those aged  35-64)
• 45% of men are more likely to purchase from a brand backing  female sport compared to 39% of women 
• Almost 77% of Aussies have noticed an improvement in attention and support towards women’s sport in recent years
• Those aged 65 or older have noticed the change the most (81%)

In response to the data, Tracksuit’s head of marketing Mikayla Hopkins said:

“Brands that have prioritised supporting women’s sport are reaping the rewards. While many said there’s no money in women’s sport, this data proves the exact opposite.

“The Matildas versus France game was the largest TV sport event in Australia in over a decade, with an average audience of 4.17 million viewers throughout the game.

“More businesses should be capitalising on the opportunity that comes with backing women’s sports and building brand awareness and consideration with these highly engaged consumers.”

The Matildas v France game’s adjusted average audience of 4.17 million included a national broadcast audience of 3.69 million viewers on Seven (2.62 million in the capital cities) plus 472,000 viewers on 7plus making it the biggest streaming event ever seen in Australia. It was also the highest rating TV sport program of the past decade.

See Also: TV Ratings August 12, 2023: Matildas win over France biggest broadcast of year, biggest sport event in decade

With the FIFA Women’s World Cup taking place in Australia for the first time, adidas has announced its partnership with The Brag Media to support and promote the event in a fresh and interesting way, particularly for audiences outside of the sporting bubble.

Inspired by adidas’ three stripes motif, the brand recruited local artists Mallrat and Kwame to sample the sounds of football from Matildas’ star striker, Caitlin Foord, to create ‘Back Of The Net Beats’.

Foord, who has been playing football since she was nine, took to the field to do some of her training drills. Mallrat then sampled the audio and followed its natural rhythms. From there, she chopped it up, slowed it down, created chords and found moments to partner with her voice.

The process resulted in the creation of a brand new song – ‘Forums’ by Mallrat (feat. Kwame)

The Brag Media studio team then shot, directed and produced an accompanying short film that showcased the authentic connection between sport and music. This culminated in a piece of content that had significant talkability that was amplified across The Brag Media’s broader media cultural network including Rolling Stone Australia, Tone Deaf, Hypebeast, Life Without Andy and The Music Network.

The Brag Media head of production, Brad Arnold, said: “Our speciality is helping brands entrench their message within culture, so the idea with this campaign was to natively weave the message of the WWC into mainstream consciousness.

“We wanted to create a song that performed this role, but also lived as its own artform. Listening to the track on its own, you would not easily know the secret behind the song; where the beat is actually captured football sounds and the lyrics are underlined with football metaphors and references.

“The hero film was then created to connect people with that insight, to tell the story of the project, and the meaning and creation behind the song.”

News Corp Australia have announced that interest in the FIFA Women’s World Cup has intensified with news.com.au’s traffic for the Matildas’ quarter-final match soaring 90 per cent compared with their first match against Ireland. 

The quarter-finals coverage has so far generated a quarter of the site’s total World Cup 2023 traffic, which has generated more than 6.7 million page views since kick-off on July 20.

News.com.au editor-in-chief Lisa Muxworthy said: “We have all the talking points covered, whether it’s the moment Sam Kerr gave her match-worn shirt to a young fan after defeating France or Ellie Carpenter’s epic, visceral reaction to the penalty shootout win.”

News Corp Australia also reports that their other sites are also seeing an uplift.

Average daily page views for CODE Sports, the company’s dedicated premium sports platform, have increased by more than 50 per cent from the start of the World Cup, and average daily unique visitors have increased by more than 46 per cent compared with the rest of this year.

Digital editions of state-based and regional mastheads have seen an uplift over the past five weeks with an incremental 2.86 million page views. State-based masthead apps such as the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph have also reported an uptick in interest.

Today’s print editions of The Daily Tillygraph (NSW), Herald Sam (VIC), The Kerr-ier Mail (QLD) and The AdvertisKerr (SA) will feature 16-page wraps, including colour posters of Mary Fowler and Mackenzie Arnold. A special glossy Sam Kerr face mask and Go Matildas sign will also be inserted in every edition.

Muxworthy said Australians were embracing multiple screens for all their Matilda news and information.

“Australians are embracing the ultimate second screen experience – watching the live broadcast and heading to news.com.au for all the moments they might have missed during the coverage,” Muxworthy said.

“News.com.au tells the stories about the team that new fans might not know, like why Mary Fowler wears gloves while playing, the story behind Hayley Raso’s ribbon in her hair, and why Sam Kerr hid her gender when playing AFL as a child.

“News.com.au is the perfect companion while watching live and we will be delivering all the best angles tonight as Australia takes on England in the semi-final.”

News.com.au has also turned its logo green and gold and will have a message board live today for fans to leave messages of support for the Matildas ahead of tonight’s semi-final against England.

See also: Michael Miller on News Corp revenues, growth targets and growing client solutions

Compare the Market, has appointed David “Kochie” Koch as its new economic director.

Following a long and successful career at the helm of Australian breakfast show, Sunrise, Kochie said he was determined to make his next move as purposeful as possible by helping Australians improve their financial health. 

Now, as Australia faces its biggest cost of living crisis in decades, Kochie said it’s never been more important to ensure all Australians understand their options and know they can switch easily if a better deal is available. 

See Also: “All I can say is thank you”: Kochie signs off from Sunrise

Koch said: “Helping people make positive financial decisions is something very close to my heart, and I know the Compare the Market team feel the same.

“For me, it’s always been so important to find roles where I can make a difference and I’m not comfortable sitting back when I have the power to help. 

“Looking at Compare the Market’s mission to drive comparison, boost competition, and save Australians money, it was the obvious next step. 

“People have been hit from every direction with soaring energy bills, insurance premiums, and mortgage rates – forcing many into tough financial decisions.

“We want to empower Australians to compare, switch and save wherever savings are available.”

Compare the Market’s chief executive officer, Rob Clancy, said he was thrilled to welcome Kochie as a senior voice on economic issues and personal finance, to lead Compare the Market’s research and commentary on a wide range of issues affecting Australians.

Clancy commented: “Kochie’s appointment as our economic director comes as so many Australians are in need of a cost-of-living champion. 

“We started our comparison service just over 10 years ago, with a mission to help people save on their home loans, insurance and energy bills and we’ve since helped millions of Australians compare and switch to suit their needs and their budget.

“Kochie’s extensive credentials in finance and business journalism will take our research to the next level and ensure we can help Australians make better everyday financial decisions.

“The vast majority of Australians stick with the same providers despite receiving jaw-dropping figures on their bills and renewal notices. We hope that by raising awareness, we can help drive greater competition in the market and encourage more Australians to reap the benefits of comparison.”

See Also: Kochie’s Pinstripe Media announces new travel show, Passport, to air on Seven

The Independent Media Agencies (IMAA) of Australia has helped fund and support an innovative barber training program to offer would-be barbers from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds in the Northern Territory a chance to hone their scissor skills and provide haircuts to the community.

Barber Blak Kings is a new initiative offering a barbery training course for disadvantaged Indigenous young people created by Aboriginal social enterprise Kings Narrative, which is supported by the IMAA as part of its Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

The six-week program, delivered by Kings Narrative in partnership with Ballaman Wellness, will be facilitated by Aboriginal men, for Aboriginal men, and will provide participants the opportunity to learn the foundational skills of Barbering.

Trainees will master skills in shampoo and basin services, traditional and classic men’s haircuts, shaved heads and faces, fade techniques, customer service and basic administration.

As part of the initiative, Kings Narrative will also establish an Aboriginal-owned-and-operated barber shop, Barber Blak Kings, designed to provide graduates with meaningful employment opportunities. Initially, the barber service will be mobile, setting up at community events, football carnivals, markets, the Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre, and bail facilities, while also providing free cuts several nights a month to Aboriginal men living in poverty.

The IMAA launched its Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in May with a mission to educate its members on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture. The plan includes an investment in Imparja Television’s Make a Difference program, with 10% of IMAA members’ combined media spend invested in grass-root initiatives like Barber Blak Kings. The program is also supported by Imparja Television’s Make A Difference program and Victims of Crime NT.

The IMAA and a group of its members travelled to Alice Springs to attend the launch of Barber Blak Kings and to be immersed in Aboriginal culture. The group spent a night under the stars at Black Tank, or Apmwerre, a significant sacred site for Kings Narrative Managing Director, Tyson Mpetyane Carmody and where his grandfathers are from. IMAA members on the tour also donated Barbering products to the Barber Blak Kings program.

IMAA Reconciliation chair, Steve Fagan, said: “We’re incredibly proud to support Kings Narrative and the Barber Blak Kings initiative. This program is a true example of an initiative delivered for and by the community, offering meaningful employment pathways for budding barbers, while also providing haircuts to the community. The program directly aligns with the IMAA’s commitment as part of our RAP to educate the media industry on the importance of helping fund and support the future of Indigenous Australians.”

IMAA CEO, Sam Buchanan, said: “To see first hand with some of our members how these young Aboriginal men have learned barbering skills and take such pride in the work they do and seeing this important initiative come to life, is deeply moving and a privilege to be a part of.”

Tyson Mpetyane Carmody, said: “Our Barber Blak Kings program is a project that is facilitated by Aboriginal men for Aboriginal men and is purposely developed to engage disadvantaged young people who have been involved in the justice system and/or are participating in anti-social behaviour It gives them access to meaningful employment, while celebrating their individual culture and employable skills.

“The concept for Barber Blak Kings came from the young men participating in ongoing Kings Narrative programs, with one man in particular who had an opportunity to participate in Barber training. When asked why he liked cutting hair for other young people in the facility, he said: ‘It makes me feel good, helping them to feel good’.

“This young man was recently released and has experienced anxiety worrying about the reality of having no genuine employment opportunities outside the walls of the detention centre. Ongoing and meaningful employment is an important factor in minimising reoffending. However, there is an even more important step before men can obtain and maintain meaningful employment and that is to have access to culturally competent counselling services first to reconnect to culture and secondly to unpack and understand trauma to see the effects this has on their lives. 

“Kings Narrative decided to create a project that is led by the young men so that they could have access to this counselling support as well as meaningful employment that celebrates their individual cultural and employable skills.”

While not cutting hair, barber staff will maintain the mobile barber, undertake further training, and work in other Kings Narrative operations such as cultural men’s camps, immersions and bush medicines.

A custom-built truck equipped with high-quality barber accessories and tools, will launch later this year. The mobile salon will be used to deliver training and programs in remote communities, and to provide barber services.

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Top image: Sam Buchanan

InMobi has announced the acquisition of Quantcast Choice, a consent management platform (CMP) designed to help publishers seamlessly align with the rapidly changing global privacy regulations.

This strategic acquisition reinforces InMobi‘s commitment to bolstering its privacy management platform for mobile app and web publishers, empowering them to navigate the dynamic and intricate privacy landscape.

As privacy regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) evolved, CMPs have become critical for publishers to ensure compliance and maintain ad revenue. The lack of a proven CMP often results in lost opportunities for publishers, as many of the leading demand partners require the use of a CMP that supports the latest privacy standards maintained by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Quantcast Choice supports more than 500 Google-Certified, 800 IAB-approved vendors, and non-certified vendors specific to publishers’ needs. This inclusive approach helps publishers increase monetisation, higher fill rates, and sometimes up to a 35% boost in eCPMs in certain regions. As part of the acquisition, InMobi will uphold the platform’s free availability for existing customers and remains committed to extending this promise to both existing and new customers.

Kunal Nagpal, chief business officer, InMobi Advertising, said: “InMobi has always been at the forefront of building solutions that help brands and publishers alike navigate the complex global privacy landscape. This acquisition allows us to bring the power of a proven world-class CMP into the in-app ecosystem where the challenges remain enormous and unresolved.”

“Quantcast Choice is a gold standard for thousands of Web publishers; we are excited to build and extend its benefits to the 40,000 mobile apps that currently work with InMobi.”

Peter Day, CTO, Quantcast, said: “Quantcast Choice was born of our commitment to protecting consumer privacy and we’re proud of helping so many businesses meet the needs of an evolving regulatory landscape.

“InMobi understands the needs of publishers and we’re delighted that this market leading CMP will continue to be available as a free solution. We remain committed to our customers and have formed a close partnership with InMobi to ensure a seamless transition.”

The addition of a reliable, scalable and versatile CMP aligns with InMobi‘s commitment in delivering comprehensive publisher monetisation solutions. InMobi plans to seamlessly integrate the CMP within its extensive publisher SDK offering, delivering improved data governance, easy consent management, and heightened privacy control, thereby ensuring full compliance with global privacy regulations and fostering trust with their audiences.

The transition of Quantcast Choice customers to InMobi‘s offering is set to begin in the coming months, with the launch of the new publisher offering expected in the early fall.

Bench Media has been appointed to manage the digital media strategy, planning and buying account for Jaycar Electronics Group and Road Tech Marine across Australia and New Zealand.

Dave Burns, Jaycar Electronics’s general manager marketing, said of the appointment: “The digital media landscape is in constant evolution, and we felt Bench Media with their expertise and willingness to be a partner (not just a supplier) made them the ideal choice for us. We’re confident Bench will deliver improved results from our digital media than what our internal resources will allow.”

Shai Luft, co-founder and COO at Bench, said: “Bench is all about Digital Disruption and Jaycar has a unique focus on electronic enthusiasts and digitally savvy customers so we couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful partnership.”

“The digital media landscape is evolving rapidly. We’ve invested heavily in expanding our media and data partnerships which offers a distinct advantage to brands such as Jaycar Electronics and Road Tech Marine who have niche audiences that are not that easy to find.

“We’re thrilled that the marketing team at Jaycar have chosen to partner with Bench, and we’re looking forward to working closely together to grow Jaycar further”, Luft added.

See also: Bench announces repositioning to reflect its enhanced offerings

This win comes after the digital media and adtech specialist recently announced a major repositioning of its business as the digital disruption agency to reflect the enhanced capability of its offering.

Last week, Ori Gold, co-founder and CEO of the digital media agency said of the changes: “Our enhanced offer reflects the changing needs of our clients as they compete in an ever-evolving digital media landscape.

“When we founded Bench 11 years ago, we did it with a strong belief that digital disruption would accelerate with time and that we needed to help marketers keep ahead of the curve and take full advantage of new opportunities. This ambition is even more relevant today as we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the way that consumers connect with brands in the online world.

“This has increased the complexity of the market with clients having a multitude of digital channels and audience data options available. Our clients need a trusted partner that can help them navigate the complex world of digital media,” Gold said.

“We are excited to position ourselves as the Digital Disruption Agency that finds better ways to establish powerful connections between people and brands. 

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Top image: Shai Luft and David Burns

Social media management platform, Hootsuite, announced Elina Vilk as chief marketing officer, Vilk will join the company’s executive leadership team. The team is comprised of 75% women, and Vilk will report to chief executive officer, Irina Novoselsky.

Novoselsky commented: “As I looked for our next CMO, Elina stood out for her expertise in harnessing the power of social to glean insights into the needs, wants and pain points throughout the customer’s journey.

“With that she builds authentic relationships that drive revenue and through her role will help guide our customers to do the same.”

Vilk joins the Hootsuite “nest” most recently from WooCommerce where she was global chief marketing officer. Prior to that, Vilk has led global marketing teams at Meta, PayPal, eBay and Visa.

Vilk commented: “The future of marketing is relationships – and in our increasingly digital world, where better to forge those relationships than on social.

“I’m truly invigorated to be joining Hootsuite at this unique time when the true value of social for businesses and brands has only just started to be realised. I look forward to driving even more value and strengthening those relationships for and with our customers.”

With over two decades of marketing experience, Elina brings a customer-first approach to the CMO role at Hootsuite. She is a design thinking leader who has proven methodologies that harness the brainpower of the collective, bringing to the forefront deep empathy, insights and customer driven innovation.

Novoselsky added, “Our audience is 35 times larger than that of our main competitors—marketers trust Hootsuite to be their guide to the wild world of social.

“I am thrilled to welcome Elina to the nest to continue to provide our customers with what they need to innovate on social.”

Read Also: Hootsuite launches an enhanced Inbox to address ‘always-on’ customer service challenges

Hosted by IAB Australia and UnLtd, the world premiere of “Addy Lala and the MOOD Tea Thieves” will be held at the Seymour Centre in Sydney on December 5th.

It will tell the tale of a poor young media sales rep, Addy, struggling to meet targets. One day Addy overhears a group of peers with a magic phrase that may just change his chances of success.

IAB Australia says: “Sure, our industry has perfected the art of drinking rosé, entering awards, and writing humble brag posts on LinkedIn but can we pull together to put on a good old-fashioned festive panto? Yes, we can!”

The production will have all the hallmarks of a classic pantomime with lush costumes, cameos from well-loved and known ad market celebrities and a humorous look at the media industry and the themes of 2023.

All profits from the production will go to UnLtd to help young people in need. Chris Freel (CEO of UnLtd) and Gai Le Roy (CEO of IAB Australia) are the people behind the initiative and co-producers of the show.

Those interested in getting involved are encouraged to submit expressions of interest for a range of specialist roles including production manager, sound & musical director, costume designer and the lead role of Addy.

Tickets will go on sale in the coming weeks.

Last month, IAB reported that the the Australian digital advertising and ad tech industry job vacancy rates have dropped from 11.8% in July 2022 to just 4.5% in July 2023.

Demand for entry-level employees has also plummeted from 27% of job openings to just 14%, with organisations instead seeking more experienced and commercially driven leaders.  The vast majority of open roles are currently for sales managers and sales strategists, with companies focusing on driving revenue and seeking ways to stand out from their competitors.

While the Report found no evidence of any organisations planning to significantly increase their workforce over the next six months, it did find cautious optimism, with more than half of companies looking to make modest increases to staffing levels.

Read more: New IAB report reveals digital advertising industry job vacancy rates have dropped