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Conversations about the intersections of media, culture and technology in New Zealand, hosted by Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff.
306 Episodes
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Last week we kicked off a new partnership with New Zealand's leading media agency, PHD, which will partner with The Spinoff and The Fold on a series of podcasts on the increasingly complex intersection of media, advertising and technology. We held a live event at The Spinoff in front of a room full of senior marketers, featuring Helen Brown (PHD Chief Investment Officer) and Rachel Bayfield (PHD Chief Technology & Innovation Officer), along with James Davidson, (PHD Chief Strategy and Planning Officer). We reviewed the year in local media, highlighted by a pair of major deals at Stuff and Sky, while surveying big changes in search and the continued strength of OOH and radio. Finally we cast ahead with some predictions for 2026.
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Duncan Greive goes solo to deliver a quick response to the NZ Screen Awards, which fused film with television in a way which showed a lot of promise while also needing some serious tightening. There were big wins for The Convert, and a big beautiful crowd, but Tinā felt neglected and the randomised nature of the awards meant that energy came and went. The highlights more than justified the exercise – but a more streamlined and sequenced show should be the aim for 2026.
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2025 sees the release of the latest in The Fold’s obsession: NZ on Air’s Where Are the Audiences research. This time the focus is on children’s media – the third time this subject has been assessed, following work in 2015 and 2020. It tells a story even more stark and challenging than that which comes out of the bigger grown-ups survey. The Spinoff’s head of audience Anna Rawhiti-Connell has dug into the report, and talks with Duncan Greive about its most interesting insights. Then they dig into a fascinating new piece of research from the Broadcasting Standards Authority on the often vexed issue of trust in news media – one which has fresh detail both on types of media consumed, and how trust actually works in this context.
https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/where-are-the-audiences-childrens-media-use-report-2025/
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The Spinoff editor-at-large Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive this week to discuss a very unfortunate case of journalistic mistaken identity. Former Herald reporter Bevan Hurley had an explosive exclusive with former Bill de Blasio, in which the former New York mayor critiqued Zohran Mamdani, the current mayoral candidate he had previously strongly endorsed. Or so Hurley thought – he had in fact been talking to a wine importer by the name of Bill DeBlasio, who holds very different views to his near-namesake. It blew up into an international media storm, which the pair break down, along with a confession from Toby's past at the Guardian. Also, the succession situations at Morning Report and TVNZ’s 6pm bulletin – what are the risks and opportunities for those two big dogs of our news media? And finally, a word on Juggernaut II – the sequel to our hit 2024 podcast which launches next week.
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Liam Rātana, editor of The Spinoff Ātea, joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a piece he wrote last week, about some seismic changes to the Māori media landscape. Two iconic shows, Te Karere and The Hui, one of which has been on the air for more than 40 years, were turned down for funding in the most recent Te Māngai Pāho round. The decision was in part financially driven – there’s a fiscal cliff coming – but also a recognition that these shows, which have their origins in linear and still feel built around that medium’s preferences, are not necessarily where the majority of Māori find their news. Rātana explains the background, and where Māori media is going – potentially presaging moves mainstream news funders will have to make in years to come.
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Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to discuss the background, stakes and possible outcome of a small battle that sets up a much larger question: how do we regulate the internet? It's one successive governments have thought about then studiously avoided. The BSA might just have forced them to confront it.
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The biggest phenomenon in pop culture released her latest album a week ago. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl smashed records wherever it went, but was also greeted by an unfamiliar reaction: indifference. Not just by critics, but by her fans too. Duncan Greive is joined by The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith – two lifelong Swift fans who also felt the bubble pop this week – to discuss an album that promised much but felt like a letdown to many.
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From a traditional "direct" medium to a data-driven powerhouse, out-of-home media has undergone a true evolution. Over a 17-year period, the out-of-home space has gone from commanding a mere 3% of industry ad revenue to approximately 18%, expanding to fill the void left by fragmenting media channels like linear television.
Duncan Greive is joined by Kurt Malcolm, Head of Trading and Platforms at JCDecaux NZ, and Richard Thompson, Founder of D3, to discuss how innovations like knOOH - a cross-industry collaboration to measure audience - have contributed to the continued rise of out-of-home in Aotearoa.
This is the final episode of our partnership with JC Decaux.
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Critic Te Arohi is the student magazine of the University of Otago, and turns 100 this year, making it the oldest student media in the country, as well as one of its most awarded and impactful. This week, Duncan is joined by the current editor and one of its recent former editors to discuss the evolution of the magazine and how student media, which naturally has the youngest adult demographic in the country, keeps up its mission, despite still relying on the oldest distribution strategy of them all.
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Duncan Greive is joined by Victoria Parsons, insights and strategy director at JCDecaux NZ, and Peter Pynter, prinicpal consultant at Neuro-Insight to talk through JCDecaux’s investment in neuro research. They unpack what science tells us about advertising, and how marketers can make sure their messages cut through the noise in these increasingly advertising-saturated times.
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On this week's episode of The Fold, Duncan Greive sits down with The Spinoff's head of audience Anna Rawhiti-Connell and Now You Know host Robbie Nicol to break down the highly successful strategy behind the new social-first news explainer series.
With over 2.5 million views in just 10 weeks, Now You Know has won the attention of the 18-24 year-olds. Anna and Robbie discuss the philosophy of treating young people as worthy news consumers (not "exotic zoo animals"), the intentional craft used to blend serious journalism with platform-native comedy, and the differences in distributing content across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts. A must-listen for anyone looking for a blueprint on genuinely connecting with the next generation.
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Glen Kyne rejoins The Fold to smash through six of the biggest stories in media, all in six minutes or less (at least in theory). Kyne and Duncan Greive discuss the much larger shareholding Jim Grenon has in NZME, continuing drama for RNZ, the end of the NZFC-NZOA merger, a potential breakup of Mediaworks, a standoff between Stuff the the Police – and the new global media behemoth being built by the Ellisons.
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Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss two violent deaths, one driven by the internet, the other digested by it. They discuss how each shows in different yet profound ways how treating the internet as a separate sphere of life is increasingly impossible – rendering the libertarianism of one incompatible with the laws and mores of the other.
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Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to analyse the annual or half-yearly results from TVNZ, Sky and NZME. TVNZ surprised with an unexpectedly healthy profit, NZME emerged from a bruising board battle and Sky (finally) got its rugby deal. Kyne has it all covered – and picks a clear winner.
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Andrew Tindall and System1 have assembled some of the most massive and comprehensive databases of advertising effectiveness, running the gamut from creative to medium. Tindall joins Duncan Greive on The Fold, in partnership with JCDecaux, to discuss the story all that research tells.
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Sophie Moloney has been CEO of Sky NZ for five years. For much of that time she’s been dealing with downsides – a failed acquisition of Mediaworks, Spark Sports gifting their rights to TVNZ and prolonged satellite issues. But lately, things have been looking up. They successfully brought NZ Cricket rights back, scooped up Three’s assets for $1, and just last week lengthened their rugby deal under very buyer-friendly terms. She joins Duncan Greive on the Fold to dig into all those issues and more.
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The longest-tenured leader in New Zealand media joins Duncan Greive on The Fold for a frank discussion about the state of RNZ. They discuss the sharp decline in radio ratings which prompted him to commission a brutal report from former RNZ news boss Richard Sutherland, while also addressing the growth of digital news and lifestyle content. They also address RNZ’s Auckland problem, the strength of Newstalk ZB and whether RNZ really needs a statement hire, or just to deploy its talent on air.
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Duncan Greive goes solo to dig into some fascinating recent media stories. The details of the Sky-NZ Rugby deal give all parties a chance to plausibly claim a win. The Sutherland report into RNZ National is one of the most challenging and interesting of its type in years. Two of the country’s biggest Substackers have left the platform. And Paramount looks to be building a manosphere streamer with a gigantic UFC deal for the US.
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Duncan Greive is joined by Phil Eastwood, GM of JCDecaux NZ, and Paul Maher, chair of OOHMAA, to discuss the rise and rise of out-of-home media. Once a backwater of the industry, it’s now the only locally operated sector showing robust growth. Partly a result of digital screens, partly a response to the hyper-saturation of ads in digital contexts, out-of-home has become what Eastwood calls “the last true broadcast medium”.
This episode is in partnership with JCDecaux.
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Really interesting overview of the discussion document on this important topic - media reform.