SMI: Cinema Reports 17.6% Growth In Softer Market
Australia’s media‑agency ad market fell 5.5% in April after a 97% plunge in political advertising, wiping out roughly $30 million USD in spend. Cinema was the sole medium posting growth, up 17.6% as the Easter weekend box office surged to about $17 million USD, driven by the blockbuster *The Super Mario Galaxy Movie*. Automotive brand ads jumped 34% amid rising EV, SUV and light‑commercial vehicle promotions. Forward bookings for May already cover 93% of last year’s levels, the strongest since the COVID pandemic.
Specsavers Returns To The Bay With New Set Of ‘Mini Soaps’
Specsavers has renewed its sponsorship of Seven Network’s Home and Away for 2026, rolling out a fresh series of 15‑second “mini soaps” that blend drama with brand humor. The new executions introduce hearing‑related mishaps for the first time, alongside classic sight‑related...
McDonald’s, Hyundai & More Sponsor SBS FIFA World Cup 2026 Broadcast
Hyundai, McDonald’s, Commonwealth Bank, Rexona, Hisense, bet365 and Youi Insurance have become official sponsors of SBS’s 2026 FIFA World Cup broadcast. SBS will air all 104 matches free on television and via its On Demand streaming service, delivering more than...
IPREX Appoints InsideOut PR CEO Nicole Reaney As APAC President
Global Communications Group’s IPREX announced a sweeping leadership overhaul at its May 2026 Singapore conference, naming Nicole Reaney, the chief executive of InsideOut PR, as its new Asia‑Pacific president. Reaney will retain her CEO duties while taking on the regional...
Mindshare Wins Asahi Media Pitch
Asahi Beverages has selected Mindshare as its new national media partner, effective July, after a competitive pitch that saw Omnicom’s PHD step aside. Mindshare will handle strategy, planning and buying for flagship brands such as Carlton, Victoria Bitter, Great Northern, Hard Rated...
Samsung TV Plus Australia Rolls Out Content Partnerships With BBC Studios & NBCUniversal
Samsung TV Plus has expanded its free streaming service in Australia with four new content partnerships—BBC Studios, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Television, and Amazon MGM Studios—bringing the total to 200 channels. The rollout includes the launch of GRIT TV, Samsung’s sixth owned‑and‑operated channel focused...
Intuit Mailchimp Launches Analytics AI To Streamline Marketing Data
Intuit’s Mailchimp introduced Analytics AI, a conversational analytics agent that translates campaign, audience, and revenue data into plain‑language insights and actionable recommendations. The feature integrates with Claude, Wix, and WooCommerce, allowing ecommerce merchants to pull unified data into familiar platforms....
TV Ratings (28/5/2026): Blues Clean Sweep Proves Winning Formula For Nine
The third game of the 2026 Women’s State of Origin saw New South Wales complete a historic clean sweep, drawing a national TV reach of 1,993,000 and an average audience of 880,000 on Nine. The broadcast outperformed the AFL’s Thursday...
‘No Brainer’: Nine Reportedly Makes A Play For The Exclusive NRL Rights
Nine is reportedly preparing a bid to acquire the entire National Rugby League (NRL) broadcast package from 2028, expanding beyond its current free‑to‑air coverage of three weekly games, the finals and the State of Origin. The offer, based on the...
CRA Digital Audio Revenue Grows, Total Radio Revenue Dips
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) members posted a 9.9% rise in digital audio revenue, reaching $25.2 million in Q1 2026, while the broader digital audio market grew 8.3% to $83.6 million. CRA now commands roughly 30% of Australia’s digital audio spend. In contrast,...
Culture Kings & Profit Peak Warn Brands Using Discounts As A ‘Sugar Hit’ Are Training Customers To Wait For Them
New data from Klaviyo and analytics firm Profit Peak shows 62% of Australian shoppers postpone purchases until a discount appears. At a Klaviyo K:SYD panel, Culture Kings’ ANZ president Justin Hillberg and Profit Peak CEO Carla Penn‑Kahn warned that habitual "sugar‑hit" discounts erode...
StackAdapt Co-Founder On Cracking The Holy Grail, Training The Next Gen & Why He Won’t Use ‘AI Efficiencies’ To Cut...
StackAdapt co‑founder and CTO Yang Han says AI in advertising is still in its infancy, and the Canadian adtech firm is building a unified end‑to‑end AI platform that links data, creative, buying and measurement within the next year. The company...
Kate O’Ryan-Roeder’s Havas Mission: ‘Deliberately Different’ & Determined To Grow
Kate O’Ryan‑Roeder has taken the helm of Havas Media Australia, leading a 120‑person team that serves clients such as Emirates, Puma and Red Bull. She promotes a "Deliberately Different" model that blends the agility of independent agencies with the technology and...
News Bargaining Incentive Risks Further Concentrating Big Four’s Grip On Publishing: Man Of Many
The Australian government’s News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) will levy a 2.25% tax on Google and Meta unless they negotiate deals worth at least 1.5% of turnover, directing the revenue to Australian publishers. Man of Many warns the current formula will...
X Ad Revenue Still Well Below Twitter Peak, New Filings Show
X’s advertising revenue slipped to $2.3 bn in 2023, with projections of $1.7 bn in 2024 and $1.8 bn in 2025, far below the $4.7 bn generated in Twitter’s final public year. The platform’s share of the U.S. digital‑ad market shrank to roughly 1%...