Mumbrellacast

Welcome to this week's Mumbrellacast, although we left the studio hours ago, so you'll have to help yourself to tap water and snacks. This week: Seven Media Group is born again at the AGM; we hear from marketers and media in the field as the Compass roadshow hits Sydney and Brisbane; and the government has just doled out $31m dollars to news organisations in the name of News Innovation – who got the money? Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio. 

Welcome to the Mumbrellacast, which opens today with a rousing speech given by Mamamia co-founder Mia Freedman at the company's upfront yesterday morning. Mia implored advertisers to stop pumping three-quarters of their ad buying budgets into the social media networks, which are playing havoc with our mental health, damaging our children, and destroying our local media industry to boot. It's quite the call to arms. Elsewhere on the podcast, we discuss Paramount Australia's upfront, run a ruler over the annual reports issued by ABC and SBS, and interview Margaret Simons, author of 'Going Digital: The Transformation of the ABC'. Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio. 

Beverley McGarvey, the president of Network 10 and head of streaming at Paramount ANZ speaks to Tim Burrowes ahead of the company's upfront presentation in Melbourne. Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio. 

Fresh from a well-received Upfront presentation, Seven Media Group CEO Rohan Lund and chief revenue officer Natalie Harvey talked to Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes for a wide ranging conversation about their plans for 2027, the new brand and resetting the company culture with no tolerance for bad behaviour. They also addressed the question of further industry consolidation, whether the TV companies could come together to jointly own a single premium content exchange, and how the media ownership laws may need to change again. The interview explores why Lund has returned to the brand Seven Media Group, how Harvey recognises that Seven and the wider TV industry need to become easier to buy advertising from, and an Upfronts season where none of the media companies have taken big swings.

Welcome to this week's Mumbrellacast, where Seven and ABC announce the latest intellectual property for Meta to steal. In this episode, we discuss Meta's insane terms and conditions that were seemingly written by Dr. Evil; ABC invites the media to the old Q&A studio to announce how much drama they have commissioned this year (still no Recovery reboot); and Seven decides on a new/old name for the company and leans into some classic/fresh formats. You know we belong together. Happy listening. Get the latest episodes here.  Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.