David Hovenden

It would appear the early mornings induced by Australia’s fixation with the beautiful game are taking their toll on our late-night viewing habits. Despite a lengthy weather delay, the 2026 FIFA World Cup group match between France and Iraq attracted a Total TV national reach of 1,049,000 (the weather delay had a mere 2000 fewer), according to OZTAM’s overnight VOZ report.

Few executives in Australian media embody resilience, reinvention and purpose-driven leadership quite like Tanya Denning-Orman. As director of Indigenous content at Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and the architect behind the rise of National Indigenous Television (NITV), Denning-Orman has spent nearly two decades building one of the country’s most culturally important — and increasingly commercially influential — media brands.

At B&T's latest breakfast session - brought to you by Quantcast - senior marketers pulled apart the industry's obsession with optimisation and asked a more uncomfortable question: what if efficiency is the problem, not the solution? There's a quiet crisis brewing in marketing. Every dashboard is up and to the right. Every platform promises smarter optimisation. Every campaign is "working". And yet... plenty of brands still feel like they're treading water.