Business of Media
The ad guru selling Australia to the world
There must be something in the water in Perisher Valley, a small ski resort in the Snowy Mountains, and the unlikely location for producing arguably the world’s most famous ad man, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
He may not be a household name like other Australian A-listers – Margot Robbie or Hugh Jackman – but David Droga traverses the advertising and business worlds at the helm of creative consulting giant Accenture Song.
Advertisers axe corporate responsibility scheme after lawsuit from Musk’s X
A global advertiser alliance has discontinued its corporate responsibility program after a lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X accused the group of orchestrating a “massive advertiser boycott”, reports The Guardian’s Kari Paul.
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) told members on Thursday that it would shut down the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm) following legal attacks from X, formerly Twitter, according to Business Insider, which first reported the news. Garm is a not-for-profit initiative within the WFA that helps brands avoid advertising alongside or monetizing harmful content.
Google has been declared a monopoly and now we should all think about the digital future we want
It’s so rare to wake up to good tech news. But on Tuesday morning, coffee in hand, it happened: Google has been declared a monopoly. And while the ruling may feel somewhat late to the party — Google is probably the most obvious monopoly in modern tech, duh! — seeing the official recognition of its illegal monopolistic practices felt like a big win, reports Crikey’s Samantha Floreani.
But how much can it repair the damage that tech behemoths have done to our collective digital life?
Specifically, Judge Mehta ruled in favour of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), finding that Google broke US antitrust laws; building a monopoly over online search and suppressing competition by creating billion-dollar deals with companies like Apple and Samsung to ensure that Google is the default search engine on their devices.
News Brands
Paramount to cut 15% of U.S. workforce in major layoff plan
Paramount continued to push forward on its $500 million cost-savings plan and goal of reaching sustained profitability in streaming by 2025, in the company’s first earnings report since the Skydance deal was announced, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston.
On Thursday, the company said its cost-savings plan will include reducing its U.S.-based workforce by approximately 15 percent. The areas hit will be redundant functions within marketing and communications and in finance, legal, technology, and other support functions. These actions will take place in the coming weeks and will largely be completed by the end of the year, according to management.
TV bosses bracing ahead of bombshell investigation
A Four Corners investigation into Seven’s workplace culture titled Don’t Speak that has already led to a high profile departures will air on Monday night with TV executives bracing for fallout, reports News Corp’s Samantha Maiden.
Featuring interviews with Amber Harrison, the former lover of Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner and current and former staff, the program follows the sex and cocaine scandal that erupted over Spotlight’s attempts to woo former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann with boozy dinners on a Channel 7 credit card.
In a teaser for the program released on Thursday Ms Harrison utters the words, “silence for life” suggesting her interview will be short as she remains bound by a strict confidentiality clause.
Publishing
Playboy to bring back print magazine after covid shutdown
Playboy Magazine, the once pace-setting journal that chronicled the sexual revolution through a mix of high-gloss nude photographs and top-rate fiction and journalism, is making a comeback, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Sabela Ojea.
Its owner PLBY Group on Thursday said that it’s relaunching Playboy Magazine with an annual edition that will be released in February 2025, a decision that comes about four years after announcing it would be shut down as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The highly anticipated return of these Playboy franchises marks a new chapter in the brand’s storied legacy and celebrates 70 years of the company’s flagship property,” the company said.
Radio
Real reason 2Day FM radio show was axed
The rumour mill is in overdrive after Dave Hughes’ Sydney radio show was suddenly axed on Wednesday night. 2Day FM released a statement just before 6pm announcing its breakfast show, hosted by Hughesy, Erin Molan and Ed Kavalee, had come to an immediate end, reports News Corp’s Andrew Bucklow.
The announcement was particularly surprising because it came midweek and well before radio’s “killing season” (when shows are typically axed), which usually starts in September or October.
It was also odd that the trio, who had been hosting the 2Day FM breakfast show since 2021, did not say goodbye to their listeners on air.
Following the axing of his Sydney radio show is Hughesy going to land in Triple M breakfast?
Hughesy, aka Dave Hughes, looks to be in the box seat to take over the Triple M Melbourne breakfast shift next year after his Sydney radio show was axed on Wednesday, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
Now free of his 2DayFM commitments Hughes looks like the front runner to parachute into the Triple M breakfast shift next year with rumours running hot that he and Kate Langbroek are being courted to join forces once again for the gig.
Hughes and Langbroek enjoyed great success as a radio team at Nova, KIIS and on the Hit Network.
Television
Disney CEO announces plans to crackdown on password-sharing
The dream is about to be over for many Disney+ users, with the company announcing its intention to officially crack down on password-sharing, reports News Corp’s Lexie Cartwright.
Five years after the entertainment conglomerate launched its streaming platform, Disney CEO Bob Iger has said the service will begin rolling out password measures “in earnest” in most countries outside of the US from September, as streamers continue to brainstorm avenues to maximise profitability.
Despite the shtick, Micallef’s new chat show is brilliantly simple
Once upon a time there was a show called Micallef Tonight. Touted as a bid to return to the days when variety ruled the airwaves, it was a bold, absurd, warped version of a chat show, with Shaun Micallef, Australia’s greatest ever comedy product – you can fight me if you disagree – delivering sketches, satirical deconstructions of the format, and segments of bizarre genius like “Shaun on His High Horse” in which he donned a cowboy hat, sat on a gymnastics vault, and ranted about the irritating minutiae of life. It was a spectacularly funny show, its only weakness being the “chat” segments, reports Nine Publishing’s Ben Pobjie.
Forced by commercial imperatives to conduct puff interviews with mostly uninterested celebrities plugging their latest project, the comic genius struggled to derive great amounts of either humour or insight from the cross-promotion game.
Neighbours EP on writing out Toadie: “Our long-term plans will become clearer”
Neighbours star Ryan Moloney this week confirmed his departure from Neighbours was not his decision telling Back to the Bay, “It actually wasn’t my choice. It was their choice,” but adding, “I’m quite grateful that they actually made that decision for me because I don’t think that I could ever say no to a contract. I think I’d always be kind of like, ‘oh, yes, okay, I’ll do another one,’” reports TV Tonight.
With this in mind, TV Tonight asked Executive Producer Jason Herbison about the decision to wrap a much-loved character.