ALDI Turns ‘Smart Shopping’ Into a National Game with ALDI IQ Push
ALDI Australia has unveiled ALDI IQ, a national, social‑first campaign that turns grocery shopping into an interactive quiz. Developed by agency Bastion, the ALDI IQ Test scores shoppers from ‘Apprentice’ to ‘Genius’, reinforcing the retailer’s value‑focused brand promise. The 10‑week rollout, beginning 19 April 2026, will run across Meta, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube and audio platforms, supported by influencers and radio. The initiative seeks to broaden awareness of ALDI’s ‘Good Different’ positioning and encourage more Australians to shop with the discount grocer.
Disney+ Sets Date for Ad-Supported Tier Launch in AUNZ
Disney+ will roll out an ad‑supported "Standard with Ads" tier in Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday, priced at $9.99 AUD (about $6.60 USD) per month. The new plan delivers full‑HD video, two simultaneous streams and no download capability, sitting alongside the existing...
Is This the Man Who Will Replace Kyle Sandilands? Industry Experts Say Yes
Industry chatter intensifies as ARN searches for a successor to Kyle Sandilands, with Dubai‑based radio star Kris Fade emerging as the frontrunner. Experts on the RadioToday and GameChangers podcasts highlighted Fade’s recent relocation to Sydney and his proven track record...
Making It Rain: Scroll Media Lands AccuWeather Exclusivity
Scroll Media has secured an exclusive agreement to represent AccuWeather’s premium advertising inventory across Australia and New Zealand. The deal enables advertisers to launch hyper‑local, weather‑triggered campaigns that sync brand messages with real‑time forecast data. AccuWeather now reaches over two...
This Is Australia’s Most-Loved Ad for 2026 (so Far)
The Research Agency’s 2026 Favourite Ads survey, based on 1,600+ Australian responses, named Budget Direct’s “Insurance Solved” campaign as the most‑loved ad. The top five also included Allianz, Toyota HiLux, Youi and Telstra, each praised for standing out in their...
DoubleVerify Creates AI SlopStopper for Social to Tackle Low-Quality AI Content
DoubleVerify has launched AI SlopStopper, a new tool within its DV AI Verification suite designed to identify and block low‑quality AI‑generated content on social and video platforms. The solution blends proprietary AI detection with human oversight, feeding results into the...
Chemist Warehouse Renews AFL Deal with ‘ALL IN for Footy’ Push
Chemist Warehouse has renewed its partnership with the Australian Football League, extending the deal through 2029 under the "ALL IN for Footy" platform. The retailer will invest at least $1 million AUD (about $660,000 USD) over five years in the AFL Umpires...
Triple J Reshuffles Breakfast and Drive Line-Up From July
Triple J announced a major on‑air reshuffle effective July. Abby & Tyrone will move from the Drive slot to host Breakfast, while longtime Breakfast co‑host Concetta Caristo will depart after three years. Luka Muller will shift from Breakfast to Drive, with a new co‑host...
AARON Awards Crown Inaugural Winners Spotlighting Rise of AI-Native Creative
The inaugural AARON Awards announced their first global winners, drawing entries from 45 countries and positioning AI as a standalone creative discipline in advertising. Judges praised projects that treated AI as a medium requiring direction and restraint, rather than a...
Netflix Stumbles as Co-Founder Reed Hastings Hits the Eject Button
Netflix co‑founder Reed Hastings announced he will step down from the board in June to pursue philanthropy, a move that surprised investors. The timing coincided with a Q1 earnings release that showed $12.25 billion in revenue, largely inflated by a $2.8 billion...
Havas on the Lookout as Omnicom and WPP Assets Emerge as M&A Targets
Havas is actively scouting acquisition targets as rivals Omnicom and WPP appear poised to divest assets. The French group has continued its bolt‑on pace, adding five agencies in 2025 and taking majority stakes in four more this year, raising its...
Yahoo DSP Taps Guardian in Push for Cleaner Programmatic Supply
Yahoo DSP has partnered with The Guardian to create a direct‑to‑publisher pathway that lets advertisers buy the newspaper’s premium digital inventory through Yahoo Backstage. The integration simplifies campaign discovery, activation and optimisation, reducing the complexity of programmatic buying. The Guardian...
Google Details AI Push Against Harmful Ads
Google announced that its Gemini‑powered AI models are now filtering harmful ads more effectively, removing 438.6 million ads and suspending 594,000 advertiser accounts in Australia during 2025. The same technology blocked over 8.3 billion ads worldwide and shut down 24.9 million accounts, including...
SCA–Seven Deal ‘Snuck in’ Before ACCC Overhaul
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) completed a $385 million AUD (≈$254 million USD) acquisition of Seven West Media in early January 2026. The deal was finalized just days before Australia’s mandatory, public merger regime took effect on 1 January 2026, allowing it to avoid...
David Ellison’s Nightmare: A-List Coalition Unites to Kill the AU$156B Warner Merger
Paramount Skydance, led by David Ellison, is pursuing a US$111 billion (AU$156 billion) acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the largest media merger in Hollywood history. More than 1,000 actors, directors and writers have signed an open letter on BlocktheMerger.com demanding the deal...
ACAM Warns Marketers as AI Drives Surge in Zero-Click Search
Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) warns that AI‑generated answers are causing a surge in zero‑click searches, with more than 70% of Google queries in Australia yielding no click‑through by early 2026. When AI summaries appear, click‑through falls to...
Saatchi & Saatchi Drives Toyota’s ‘Long Live Recreation’ Push for New RAV4
Toyota Australia unveiled a new brand platform “Long Live Recreation” for the all‑new sixth‑generation RAV4, developed with Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and media by Spark Foundry. The integrated campaign highlights the RAV4’s first plug‑in hybrid powertrain and positions the model...
Media Editor Natasha Lee Moonlights on ‘Media Tarts’ Podcast
Mediaweek editor Natasha Lee has joined creative entrepreneur Wade Kingsley as co‑host of the new "Media Tarts" podcast, a Friday‑afternoon show that blends casual conversation with industry analysis. The format features the hosts sipping drinks, dissecting the week’s media news,...
AI Could Make MEDVi $1b in Sales – but It Could Also Break It
MEDVi, an online GLP‑1 weight‑loss drug retailer, posted $401 million in 2025 sales and is projected to reach $1.8 billion in 2026 after scaling from a $20,000, two‑person AI‑built operation. Founder Matthew Gallagher leveraged generative AI for everything from code to customer...
Brené Brown Misquoted in Error of Epic Proportions
The Financial Times published an interview with Brené Brown that mistakenly quoted her as saying she was "solidly in my f*ck it era" instead of the intended "f*cking era." The error was flagged by Stanford professor Bob Sutton and quickly...
Seven Ramps up Glasgow 2026 Coverage with 800+ Hours Across Platforms
Seven Network is expanding its role as the official Australian media partner for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, committing more than 800 hours of content across broadcast, streaming and audio platforms. The plan includes 150 hours of linear TV, over...
Are Media’s Blake Talarico Says Marketers Have a Signal Quality Problem, Not a Data One.
Blake Talarico, head of commercial data at Are Media, says marketers face a signal‑quality problem rather than a data shortage. He points to tightening privacy rules, fragmented identifiers and AI‑driven data volume that have shifted focus from scale to the...
‘Two Aussie Icons’: Cadbury Old Gold Teams up with Bundaberg Rum for Limited-Edition Bark
Cadbury’s Old Gold brand has partnered with Bundaberg Rum to release a limited‑edition chocolate bar that blends 45% dark chocolate with a rum‑infused centre. The product, developed by agency Asembl, is now stocked across Coles, Woolworths and independent retailers nationwide....
OMA and RSL to Roll Out National ANZAC Day OOH Campaign
The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) and the Returned and Services League (RSL) have renewed their partnership for a seventh‑year, national out‑of‑home (OOH) campaign marking ANZAC Day 2026. Running from April 13 to April 25, the message “The ANZAC spirit lives here” will...
Partners Named for Prince Harry-Led InterEdge Summit
The InterEdge Summit, debuting in Melbourne on 15‑16 April, will be headlined by Prince Harry and feature more than 18 Australian and international speakers on workplace wellbeing, psychosocial safety and organisational performance. Major partners MINI Australia, Lander & Rogers and...
Omnicom Lands IBM Global Media Account
Omnicom has been awarded IBM’s global media account, a remit valued at roughly $330 million in 2024. The award follows IBM’s media review that began in December 2025 after incumbent WPP Media declined to defend the business. IBM’s broader agency reset...
StreetIQ Hires Dave Mullan to Drive Programmatic DOOH Push
Australian out‑of‑home platform StreetIQ has hired Dave Mullan as sales director to accelerate its national expansion and programmatic DOOH push. Mullan will lead agency and brand growth, steer the company’s programmatic strategy across DSPs and trading desks, and oversee the...
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds Bring Chaos, Banter (and Sailing) Ahead of Rio Grand Prix
Hollywood stars Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds have fronted a new advertising spot for the BONDS Flying Roos, co‑owned by the duo, in partnership with work‑management platform monday.com. The campaign, released ahead of the SailGP Rio Grand Prix on April...
How Kia Cracked Reddit: Inside the Tasman Campaign that Delivered Standout Results
Kia Australia leveraged Reddit’s community‑driven format to launch the Tasman model campaign, focusing on relevance over traditional social. The brand used long‑form, Reddit‑native ads that mimicked real threads, targeting niche outdoor and automotive subreddits. The effort delivered a 480% lift...
Australian Marketing Institute CEO Bronwyn Heys Departs
The Australian Marketing Institute announced that CEO Bronwyn Heys is stepping down to become a chief marketing officer elsewhere, with Kathryn Illy named Acting CEO. Heys’ four‑year tenure saw steady membership growth, a revamped brand, and the launch of a...
OpenAI Co-Founder Sam Altman Accused of Sexual Abuse by Sister
Sam Altman's sister, Annie Altman, has filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was sexually abused and raped by him between 1997 and 2006 in Missouri. A federal judge dismissed most claims due to the 2008 statute of limitations but allowed...
We Asked a Lawyer to Unpack Jackie O’s $82m Case, and Where It Could Land for ARN and Kyle
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has lodged a full Statement of Claim in the Federal Court, seeking more than $82 million from ARN Media. She alleges the broadcaster ignored repeated complaints about Kyle Sandilands’ on‑air behaviour, breached the Fair Work Act’s general protections,...
Taboola’s DeeperDive AI Hits 7 Million Monthly Users in 8 Months
Taboola’s generative AI answer engine DeeperDive has amassed nearly 7 million monthly active users just eight months after launch. The tool is live on major publisher sites such as USA Today Network, India Today and BuzzFeed Asia, with up to 17%...
Where to Watch: The Masters 2026
Nine Radio has secured Australia’s exclusive audio rights to stream The Masters 2026, delivering live coverage from Augusta National Golf Club via pop‑up channels on its 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR apps. The service will run each round from midnight...
TPB Wins WeThinkMedia to Streamline Trans-Tasman Programmatic Buying
The Programmatic Bureau (TPB) has named WeThinkMedia as its exclusive Australian sales representative, giving Australian advertisers a single gateway to New Zealand programmatic inventory across DOOH, CTV, audio and display. The partnership aims to cut the fragmentation that has traditionally complicated...
Curious Nation Adds Two Hires as Activation Demand Drives Trans-Tasman Growth
Curious Nation, the independent activation agency, announced two senior hires to strengthen its trans‑Tasman operations: Christina Crawford as senior producer in New Zealand and Anna Smith as account manager in Sydney. Crawford brings over two decades of global event‑production experience, while...
Aussie Indie Crashes US Podcast Charts, Takes on NYT and NPR
Mashed Pumpkin Productions, a Queensland indie, has entered the U.S. podcast arena with its series “What I Survived,” reaching #31 on the overall Apple Podcasts chart. The show also topped the Documentary chart and placed fourth in Society & Culture...
Seven News Anchor Mark Ferguson Drops Thursdays After ‘Shake-Up’
Seven News veteran anchor Mark Ferguson will no longer present the Thursday 6 p.m. bulletin, reducing his on‑air schedule from five nights to four. Co‑host Angela Cox is making the same cut, while Michael Usher and Angie Asimus will front the...
From Priming to Performance: The Omnichannel Multiplier
Atomic 212° demonstrated that pairing digital audio with programmatic digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) creates a measurable priming effect, boosting long‑term memory encoding by roughly 17‑18%. The combined media sequence drove a 5.2‑times increase in conversion efficiency when retargeted through Yahoo DSP....
Sydney Zoo Appoints Sandbox Media to Its Media Account
Sydney Zoo has appointed Sandbox Media to manage its digital and above‑the‑line media planning and buying after a competitive pitch. The partnership leverages Sandbox Media’s decades of experience in attractions and ticketing, aiming to boost visitation through data‑driven, locally relevant...
Ciaran Davis Exits ARN with $2.17 Million Final Pay
Former ARN Media chief executive Ciaran Davis left the company after a 16‑year tenure, receiving a final remuneration package of $2.17 million AUD (about $1.43 million USD), up from the previous year. The payout includes a sizable termination payment and reflects his...
Sea Cleaners, JCDecaux Target Litter as Brand Risk
Sea Cleaners and JCDecaux have launched Reverse Media Schedules, a model that treats littered branded packaging as negative outdoor advertising. The system blends litter audits, audience data and media modelling to estimate how many people see branded waste and its...
AOOA’s ‘Get Drizzling’ Returns with Chef-Led Push to Drive Olive Oil Usage
The Australian Olive Oil Association has relaunched its ‘Get Drizzling’ campaign for Autumn 2026, running from mid‑March to mid‑May. The two‑month, social‑first initiative pairs paid digital media with short‑form creator content to make olive oil a finishing step in everyday...
Acast Signs Abbie Chatfield Podcast in Multi-Year Deal
Acast has inked a multi‑year exclusive partnership with Australian media personality Abbie Chatfield, bringing her podcast “It’s A Lot” back to the platform. The show already attracts over 500,000 monthly listens and has amassed nearly 40 million downloads since its 2020...
‘It’s About Showing up Better’: Herd MSL and Publicis Groupe Unveil Elevate AI Search Offering
Australian agency Herd MSL, together with Publicis Groupe ANZ, has launched Elevate, an AI‑driven search visibility and authority service. Elevate combines category‑level search intelligence, AI‑optimized content structuring, and earned‑owned authority building to help brands shape how they appear in AI‑generated...
Nine Completes QMS Acquisition
Nine Entertainment has finalized its purchase of QMS Media, adding the outdoor advertising specialist to its portfolio. The deal brings QMS’s 300‑staff network in Australia and New Zealand under Nine’s umbrella while keeping it as a separate division led by CEO...
Are Media Taps Rachel Fountain as Head of Vodcasts
Are Media has created a new Head of Vodcasts position and appointed Rachel Fountain to lead it, signaling the publisher’s accelerated push into video‑led storytelling. Fountain, a former ABC, News Corp, Deadset Studios and Nine executive and founder of Fountain...
Eminem Trademark Fight with Swim Shady Heads to First Hearing
U.S. rapper Eminem, legally Marshall Mathers, is fighting Australian beachwear startup Swim Shady over the similarity of the latter’s name to his Slim Shady moniker. A first hearing in Australia is set for 1 April, while parallel opposition and cancellation proceedings continue in...
Brent Smart Steps Down as Telstra CMO
Brent Smart is leaving his role as Telstra’s chief marketing officer after nearly four years, during which he drove a high‑profile creative turnaround and won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Film Craft. His "Wherever We Go" platform helped lift...
Tackling the ‘I Don’t Watch TV’ Myth
Kath Sroka of Nine argues the "I don’t watch TV" claim is a myth, noting that viewers still consume premium long‑form content on smartphones, laptops and shared screens. The shift is driven by live sport, reality shows and on‑demand series,...