Media Unmade – Chapter 25: Friday The Thirteenth

Welcome to the latest Unmade podcast. Today’s edition features the penultimate extract from the audio edition of my book, Media Unmade, which is published by Hardie Grant and available online and in book stores.

In today’s chapter, we reach 2020. It was shaping up to be a typical year for the media, with the Olympics set to boost ad spend, but media bosses complaining they were still having to scrap for every dollar.

And then, on Friday 13 March, Covid upended everything. The Melbourne Grand Prix was cancelled and the shutdowns began.

Cinema was hit first and hardest. Then out of home advertising. Bauer Media began to feel an extreme case of buyers remorse in its agreement to purchase Pacific Magazines. In television, Ten cut its on air talent while Seven and Nine negotiated their sports rights costs downwards. News Corp axed most of its community newspapers, with a devastating impact on local communities.