Nathan Jolly
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Writing about pop stars and cult leaders - in no particular order. Host of Listen Carefully podcast. Buy my book through Barnes and Noble.
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Articles by Nathan Jolly
News.com.au topples the ABC as Australia’s most-read news site
News.com.au is once again the most-read news site in the country, according to the latest Ipsos iris ranking report. During September, both sites had an audience just shy of 11m, with news.com.au pipping ABC News by just 25,000 readers. ABC News had 340,000 fewer readers than the previous month, while news.com.au picked up half a million.
Exclusives for everyone as Ben Roberts-Smith goes on legally risky media blitz
Ben Roberts-Smith is looking to be judged in the court of public opinion, as he goes on a media blitz to protest his innocence ahead of his trial for war crimes. The former soldier was arrested in April and charged with five counts of murder. He faces life in prison if found guilty. Roberts-Smith denies all charges. “I didn’t bloody murder anybody,” he told Ben Fordham on Thursday during a two-hour chat broadcast on Tapt’s 2GB. Enjoying Mumbrella? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.
Mumbrellacast: ABC, it’s easy as one, two, Seven
Welcome to this week’s Mumbrellacast, where Seven and ABC announce the latest intellectual property for Meta to steal. We are winging our way towards the end of upfronts season, a time of year that usually results in a 400% increase in the number of arancini balls eaten within the city limits.
The marketing funnel is flattening as websites become libraries for LLMs
Consumers can now research products, compare options, and receive recommendations within an AI conversation, sometimes without visiting the websites that would previously have supported those stages. This shift in user behaviour and technology is changing the role of a brand’s website, and how it needs to do more than guide visitors through a traditional path to conversion.
Seven renames but the song remains the same
The combined SCA/Seven officially unveiled its shiny new name, Seven Media Group, at its first upfront event on Thursday in Sydney. Held at Luna Park, the country’s most psychedelic/haunted theme park, the event marked the company’s first upfront presentation since SCA and Seven completed its conscious coupling in January.
AI is making PR a lot easier. That’s a problem
Something interesting is happening to PR. At exactly the moment earned media is becoming more valuable to brands, getting the attention of the journalists and newsrooms who produce it is becoming significantly harder. AI is partly responsible for both. Brands and organisations are suddenly asking how they appear when someone asks ChatGPT, Claude or another AI platform about their company.
Nine confirms police are investigating MAFS production
The forthcoming series of Married At First Sight has been disrupted by a police investigation after one of the contestants filed an official complaint. According to TV Blackbox, a male cast member made an official police report after an alleged breach of New South Wales’ revenge porn laws by the show’s producers. The publication reports that the cast member was “allegedly ambushed by producers”, who shared something “very personal” between him and an ex-girlfriend with his on-set bride.
Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little to depart SCA after 10 years in drive
Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little will be leaving Southern Cross Austereo at the end of the year, after hosting the Hit Network’s national drive show for a decade. The pair joined SCA in January 2017, with both coming across from the Nova network to host the lead-in show to then-network stars Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. The talent presenting either side of their time slot changed a lot over the ensuing decade, but Bickmore and Little remained in place.
Hamish and Andy reclaim the podcast throne from Mamamia
Hamish and Andy managed to reclaim the Podcast Ranker crown in September, after Mamamia Out Loud stole it in January and managed to fend the radio duo off for most of 2026. Apart from in April, when Hamish and Andy briefly slipped back into the top spot, Mamamia Out Loud has ruled the ranker every month so far this year, topping out with an extraordinary 2.74m downloads in July.
MFW leverages Helen Haines attack in fundraising ask
Activist group Mad Fucking Witches has published a lengthy post linking disparaging statements about women with the recent violent attack against politician Helen Haines and asking its followers for money. The Facebook post lists a number of offensive and violent quotes by prominent members of the Australian media and politicians, including regular targets Kyle Sandilands and Karl Stefanovic.
Star Observer undertakes restructure in battle for survival
The publisher of Australia’s longest-running LGBTQ+ masthead the Star Observer has undertaken a formal restructure to buy time to make a deal with its creditors and stave off liquidation. Out Publications, which also publishes website Q News and the Pride Guide directory, appointed small-business restructuring practitioner Graeme Beattie on 1 October, according to an ASIC notice dated the following day.
Netflix blames ad sales miss on rollout issues as revenue growth slows
Netflix has lowered its yearly ad revenue forecast by A$430m to A$3.9b, blaming a “slower than expected rollout” of new ad products. This has dragged down its overall full-year revenue forecast by 0.2% to $73.2b, despite subscription revenue growth outperforming expectations. The streamer posted an 11.8% revenue rise for the third quarter of the calendar year, meeting its own expectations but marking the company’s smallest year-on-year revenue growth in three years.
Foxtel pinged by ACMA for airing vintage Marlboro car branding
Foxtel has been found in breach of the Broadcasting Services Act after broadcasting a live tribute race featuring vintage cars with historic cigarette branding. There is no financial penalty. The race was part of a program of motorsport events at the New Zealand Grand Prix, which was broadcast live by Foxtel on 31 January. It featured a variety of open-wheel racing cars from the 1970s to the 1990s, with the 20-minute race held in tribute to deceased NZ driver Tim Miles.
Australian music royalties up, but not through radio play
Royalties paid to Australian songwriters and music publishers rose by 8.8% over the last financial year, despite money paid out through radio play dropping by 5%. According to the annual report from APRA AMCOS, the collection society for Australian and New Zealand songwriters, its group revenue for financial year 2026 was $857.4m, with digital royalties making up more than half of the payouts.
‘It really was the death knell’: Reality TV casting agent Castasugar closes shop after 17 years
Have you ever stared, jaw agape, during an episode of a reality TV show and wondered aloud: “Where do they find these people?” Until recently, the answer to your semi-rhetorical rant was most likely “through Castasugar”, a Melbourne-based digital casting agency that has been responsible for many of the faces seen across The Block, Big Brother, The Voice, The Great Australian Bake Off, The Bachelor, Australia’s Next Top Model, Love on the Spectrum, The Biggest Loser, and numerous other reality...
Nine restructures commercial leadership team under Nick Young
Digital sales veteran Nick Young has expanded his remit within Nine as the media giant adjusts to the absence of ousted TV boss Amanda Laing. Young, formerly Nine’s digital commercial director, will become executive director of advanced trading and digital commercialisation, with responsibility for its digital product teams.
Nielsen loses New Zealand TV audience measurement contract
Nielsen has lost the New Zealand TV audience measurement contract to UK company TV Beat, which will provide a new system combining broadcast and streaming figures. The new system will be built primarily from first-party viewing data from TVNZ and Sky’s broadcast and streaming platforms, complemented by Mediacell data panel results provided by Ipsos. It will launch in mid-2027.
AI can replace your PR agency for less money? Sorry, but the maths doesn’t work
There’s a bold new sales pitch doing the rounds in the PR industry: ditch your agency, buy an AI platform, and get the same results for a fraction of the cost. It sounds fantastic, except for one rather inconvenient problem. The maths ain’t mathing. I recently listened to Tim Burrowes’ interview with Barney Chunn on Mumbrella’s The Unmakers podcast, where Chunn made the case for his AI platform Drumbeat as an alternative to traditional PR agencies. Enjoying Mumbrella?
Mumbrellacast: The execution will be televised
Welcome to the latest Mumbrellacast, live streamed from the Pentagon to your pocket. The Mumbrella team has been on a bit of a conference crawl this week, our necks weighed down with lanyards, clothing covered in ID badges, coffee cups disposed of thoughtfully. Eleanor Dickinson reports back from the WPP Media Futures Event and the HumAIn conference, where she was schooled on how agentic AI is changing marketing as we know it.
Commonwealth Bank restructures its marketing with three CMOs and an agency manager
Commonwealth Bank has structured its marketing leadership ahead of the pending exit of CMO Jo Boundy, with four internal promotions. The bank today announced a new model with a chief marketing officer for the brand and Olympics, two CMOs responsible for CBA’s business divisions, and a managing director of its in house agency. Di Everett has been appointed the CMO for brand and partnerships, including Football Australia, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Algo opt-out coming as digital duty of care introduced to Parliament
New digital duty of care laws that will force tech giants to implement and police safety standards on social media platforms, apps, games, and AI chatbots will be introduced to the Federal Parliament today. The laws will require platforms such as Meta and Tiktok to protect Australian users from “seriously harmful material and conduct”, and to make sure its own tools don’t cause harm to users.
Qantas needs visible leaders taking account, not another half-baked statement
Qantas has been the poster child for “how not to handle a crisis” these past few years, with a string of cyber breaches, the ghost flights controversy, drama with former CEO Alan Joyce, a near collision at Sydney Airport, labour disputes, illegal sackings, court cases, and now a bed bug infestation.
News Corp marketing director Bettina Brown to depart
Long-serving News Corp executive Bettina Brown has resigned from her role as director of marketing, states and territories. She will stay at the company until the end of the year. Brown has worked at News Corp for close to 15 years in various marketing leadership roles. Earlier this year, she spearheaded the “We’re For You 2026” campaign that positioned the journalists at its state and community mastheads as trusted sources of news in a sea of slop.
The Unmakers: Can an AI tool replace your PR agency? Barney Chunn makes the case
In today’s episode of The Unmakers, Tim Burrowes speaks to Barney Chunn, the co-founder of a new PR tech start-up, Drumbeat, which uses AI to better target and pitch stories to journalists. “Drumbeat is a PR and comms platform for high-growth businesses,” Chunn explains.
Old-school tool: Aussie newsrooms ranked on Facebook performance
When Meta was attempting to dodge the original News Media Bargaining Code in Australia, its major argument rested on the fact that people do not come to Facebook for news content. Obviously, the tech giant hadn’t visited the Facebook page for Hobart’s Pulse Tasmania, where each post from the small independent news website is engaged with 740 times on average.
News24 to capitalise on Youtube success with dedicated US and UK programs
News24 is launching two new digital shows in the United States and United Kingdom, hosted by former Trump staffer Elizabeth Pipko and Talk TV commentator Samara Gill, respectively. The News Corp-owned news broadcaster (formerly named Sky News) will also launch a dedicated London bureau and has hired an Asia correspondent, based in Taiwan, as it looks to capitalise on the global reach of its Youtube channel.
Former Seven news boss Anthony De Ceglie exits the Perth Bears
Anthony De Ceglie has stepped down as the CEO of the Perth Bears after almost two years in the role and just months ahead of the rugby league club’s debut in the NRL next year. The former Seven West Media news boss led the Perth Bears through the establishment and start-up phase of the club, but bowed out before the team plays a single first-grade game. De Ceglie’s exit follows reports that he had lost the support of the Perth Bears board, which was seeking to remove him as CEO. Enjoying Mumbrella?
Tapt Media fires back with counterclaim in trademark battle
Tapt Media, the radio network owned by hoteliers the Laundy family, has filed a counterclaim against Melbourne tech start-up Tapt by Hatch over the use of the Tapt name. In early September, digital business card business, Tapt by Hatch, filed an intellectual property claim against Tapt Media in the Federal Court over the use of the Tapt name. Founder Elon Datt launched the Tapt by Hatch venture as an offshoot of Hatch Digital in 2020, and the business trademarked the name Tapt in October 2021.
Brands aren’t your friend, and they should stop trying to be
Does your best friend have an add to cart button? I have seen countless brand decks where the brand personality is written in some form of “bestie” form. Whether it’s “her closest confidante”, “the older sister” or “best friend in [blank]”, this trope is totally overdone. To think that a business could ever come close to the shared confidence, admiration, and fierce protection one feels for their best friend is absolutely misguided. You also can’t be a best friend without having a best friend.
‘Celebrate activity less’: New boss plans to bring Silicon Valley to the BBC
The BBC’s recently appointed director general Matt Brittin has announced a radical shake-up at the British institution, seemingly heavily inspired by his two decades working for tech innovator Google. Brittin called a town hall in the BBC Radio Theatre this week to ask staff for less slide decks and more experimentation. According to Deadline, which obtained a tape of the speech, Brittin told staff to “understand and protect the magic of the BBC” but “change everything else.” Enjoying Mumbrella?
Karl Stefanovic ends court battle by buying out podcasting partner
Karl Stefanovic has agreed to buy out his former podcast business partner Keshnee Kemp for an undisclosed amount, bringing an end to the court battle between the pair. Stefanovic and Kemp (whose legal name in the filing is Keshnee Ibrahim) each held a 45% stake in 123 Podcast Pty Ltd, which was established in February as the umbrella company for the Karl Stefanovic Show, which had launched onto Youtube days earlier.
Mumbrellacast: Recruitment scams, boy bands, and radio fans
Welcome to this week’s Mumbrellacast, now sent to you from a dodgy Gmail address. This week’s hot topic is scam job recruiters, who are reaching out to members of the marketing and media world with employment opportunities too good to be true. The scammers do this through AI-assisted emails that scrape your biographical details and work history and pepper these throughout a personally addressed introduction letter.
Radio ratings: Less talk, more Smooth with 2GB and Radio National in freefall
Tapt’s 2GB and 3AW talkback stations continue to shed listeners, and ABC’s Radio National had its second worst five-city breakfast ratings of all time in the latest national radio ratings survey. Meanwhile, more and more Melburnians and Sydneysiders are tuning into Smooth. Do listeners want presenters to just shut up and play music? Nova’s Smooth 95.3 continues to be Sydney’s favourite spot on the dial, winning the overall ratings, and every single day slot on the FM band.
I watched the new Uber Eats ad. It made me miss the world it was making fun of
I watched the new Uber Eats ad and had a slightly unexpected reaction. My first thought was that Redfoo looks exactly the same. He genuinely doesn’t seem to have aged. My second was that I hadn’t seen a flash mob in a very long time. Then the ad moves from this slightly daggy 2013 world, where people are outside dancing badly and interacting with each other, to 2026, where a couple in lounge wear accept an Uber Eats bag, sit on the couch and eat lasagne out of a foil container. Enjoying Mumbrella?
Media and marketing recruiters losing trust as AI-targeted scams hit
Legitimate employment recruiters looking to place workers into media and marketing roles are finding it increasingly hard to win trust, with a flood of recruitment scams targeting workers on Linkedin, Facebook, and workplace email accounts. The scams are made more effective with highly personalised messages made possible through AI. According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, job seekers lost over $25.1m in 2025 through recruitment scams, with the mean amount for each person around $4000.
What the customer metrics debate is missing
Net promoter score (NPS) has had an interesting few years. Barely a month goes by without another article asking whether companies should ditch it. But the debate keeps missing the more useful question: if not NPS, then what? Most large businesses track their performance on a balanced scorecard, a short list of measures the board and leadership team watch closely.
Paramount completes WBD acquisition, becomes media powerhouse Skydance
Paramount Skydance has completed its A$160b acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery and has rebadged the combined media conglomerate Skydance.
Commbank signs copyright deal to feed Australian news into workplace gen AI tools
Commonwealth Bank has signed a landmark copyright deal that allows its employees to use Australian news text in its workplace generative AI tools. Crucially, this deal does not include the use of news copy in the training or creation of AI models. Under the licencing deal, brokered by not-for-profit collection organisation the Australian Copyright Agency, CBA staff can use content generated by Australian newsrooms to request summaries, create written articles and documents, or build presentations.
Manchester City’s response to its cheating scandal is an own goal
We never got to run a crisis simulation for Manchester City’s current, widely dubbed “cheating scandal”. Some brands, facing a looming crisis, conduct dry-runs of what’s likely to hit them. Still, watching the City crisis unfold offers brand scholars an instructive case study in what can happen when an organisation’s crisis methodology appears starkly misaligned with its main operating territory.
Reputation is permission, not popularity: OpenAI is about to learn the difference
An OpenAI agent was sent to gather public health statistics and found its way blocked by a Medicare portal. So it found a way around the problem. This breach occurred on 18 June. OpenAI discovered it had happened on 11 August. It finally told the Australian government on 10 September, 84 days after the breach, by emailing a Services Australia public inbox — the same one available to anyone querying a Medicare rebate or a new card.
‘No one tried to stop Kyle’s bullying’: Jackie Henderson’s lawyers file new swathe of claims
Jackie Henderson’s lawyers have demanded texts, emails and Whatsapp chats from ARN’s company directors, legal officer, CEO, and Kyle Sandilands, in the latest legal salvo against the radio network. They have also denied claims news presenter Brooklyn Ross, a former ARN employee who is now part of the Kyle Sandilands Live team, intervened in the on-air argument in February that reduced Henderson to tears.
Mumbrellacast: Nine minus two, Meta’s muse, and Dan Illic gets up
Welcome to the Mumbrellacast, the only podcast to win the Pulitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize, and a bronze Logie. This week, Nine has lost two of its biggest decision-makers in the space of 12-or-so hours.
ACCC greenlights Ooh Media sale
The competition regulator has cleared the proposed sale of out-of-home leader Ooh Media to US infrastructure investor I Squared Capital. Last month, Ooh Media agreed to a $1.70-per-share takeover offer by I Squared Capital, after receiving a series of competing offers from Oaktree Capital and Pacific Equity Partners during a three-way bidding war that started in late April. The sale values the company at around $900m, 5% higher than the $850m that Nine paid for out-of-home rival QMS in January.
Mark McGowan and former Twitter boss appointed to SCA board
Former WA premier Mark McGowan and Karen Stocks, the founding managing director of Twitter Australia, have been appointed to the board of the Southern Cross Media Group. Both will join as independent non-executive directors from 28 September, with the appointments made official at the company’s annual general meeting in November, where each will stand for election by shareholders.
Television boss Amanda Laing out at Nine
Television boss Amanda Laing is out at Nine, as part of a wider restructure at the network. Laing rejoined Nine in January 2025 as managing director of the streaming and broadcast division, overseeing Stan, 9Now, and broadcast TV. As part of her remit, Laing led the Nine Group’s “originals” strategy – “championing bold, culturally relevant Australian stories” and building global partnerships that “enhance creative output and monetisation opportunities”. Enjoying Mumbrella?
Gary 'Angry' Anderson, Frontman of Rose Tattoo, Passes Away
The rockers were scheduled to return to Australia this month and also join Suzi Quatro on the Red Hot Summer Tour lineup in November. Formed in 1976, Rose Tattoo released their debut self-titled album in 1978, and went on to have a string of hit songs, including "We Can't Be Beaten," "Bad Boy For Love," and "Nice Boys." They were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006. Their last album, Outlaws, was released in 2020.
Nova expands its audience mix by bringing Mediaworks’ NZ stations to Australia
The names More FM and the Rock don’t mean anything to most radio-listening Australians. But Nova is hoping to turn these big NZ radio brands, plus six other Mediaworks stations, into household names across the continent. The Rock, Channel X, George FM, Magic, Mai FM, More FM, the Edge, and the Sound are all now available to stream through the Nova and Smooth Player apps.
More Aussies reading NYT than the Oz or AFR
More Australians are reading the paywalled New York Times than either the Australian or the Financial Review, according to new data from Ipsos iris. Throughout the month of August, ABC News and news.com.au remained the top two news websites in the country, with the ABC commanding 11.3m visitors, and News Corp’s free offering drawing 10.5m. Lower down in the rankings, things get more interesting. Enjoying Mumbrella? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.
GEO paralysis: Why waiting for the playbook is a fool’s errand
I’ve noticed a change in the briefs we’ve been getting this year. Where GEO used to turn up as a line near the back, tucked in somewhere between the measurement framework and “any other considerations”, it’s now more often than not in the headline. And with LLMs changing consumer behaviour in real time, it’s no wonder. But despite what the grifters and snake oil salesmen filling our feeds would have you believe, the reality is nobody has worked it all out quite yet.
Taking Reddit to the adults table – Sharb Farjami on the ‘most human place on the internet’
Taking Reddit to the adults’ table – Sharb Farjami on social media’s OG platform “You’ve never been able to get to so much information so quickly,” Farjami tells Mumbrella. “It’s never been able to be summarised so effectively, and you can get it from so many different places.” Enjoying Mumbrella? Sign up for our free daily newsletter. Farjami is in Sydney this week, having flown in from his New York City base to Reddit’s Australian offices hours before speaking to Mumbrella.
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