BotD: Aussies fall for US podcaster; Seven West Media capitalisation falls to $200m; SBS sense of humor failure over streaming glitches
Welcome to Best of the Day on a day when Seven West Media took a market hit; and podcast data suggested that 1.9m Aussies downloaded a podcast from a US self help guru.
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Historic low for Seven West Media
The value of Seven West Media fell to the milestone low of $200m this afternoon. A 3.30pm trade saw the company’s share price drop to 13c, the lowest apart from the early weeks of Covid in 2020 when it briefly hit 6c before recovering to a high spot of 75c in 2022.
SWM closed down 5.7% for the day. It’s the closest SWM’s market cap has come to ARN Media, which currently has a market cap of $178m. A merger of the two companies is one logical possibility of the likely next round of media consolidation.
Shortly before the market closed, SWM’s price edged up a little, leaving it on a market cap of $203m.
Meanwhile real estate platform Domain’s valuation slipped by 5c to $4.01 as the market continues to contemplate whether the CoStar takeover bid really will close at the $4.43 currently on the table.
The Unmade Index closed down slightly on 490.6 points, a drop of 0.3%.
The Day Today: SBS blocked streaming skit; Mel who?; The GrowthOps debacle
SBS censors itself
Comedian Mark Humphries revealed that SBS self censored itself, dropping a 2017 sketch on The Feed which poked fun at the broadcaster’s glitchy streaming service. The incident was so long ago that nobody seemed to care.
Misfits Media worker killed in alleged domestic violence incident
Police revealed that Claire Austin, an events producer for The Misfits Media, owners of B&T, and previously with SXSW Sydney, had died in hospital after an alleged domestic violence incident.
Reddit, the human search engine?
Reddit told Mumbrella that it wants to get into the business of search.
Mel of a podcast audience
US-based self help guru Mel Robbins’s podcast is listened to by 7% of Australia’s population every month, new data from Triton’s Australian Podcast Ranker suggested.
As well as the most monthly listens (1.9m) in March, Robbins also topped the local ranker for most monthly downloads (3.5m). The show comes from the Sirius XM stable, with local representation by Southern Cross Austereo’s Listnr.
Media commentator Ben Shepherd pointed out on LinkedIn: “Biggest story out of the March Triton podcast rankings is the incredible rise of Mel Robbins. Listeners and downloads of her podcast have increased by 10x YOY, and searches for her name across Google have done the same.
The top locally made podcast was ABC News Top Stories, with 1m listeners. Next came Hamish Blake and Andy Lee.
How GrowthOps blew out
Cratered agency rollup GrowthOps sank with debts of $48m and just $318 in the bank, ASIC documents revealed.
More from Mumbrella…
No hidden veggies or voting advice in Masterfoods’ Democracy Sauce
Peter Defries and Alan Wilson return to Australia to join Special
Time to leave you to your evening.
If you’d like more from me, this week’s edition of the Mumbrellacast has just dropped. Hal Crawford and I discuss Facebook’s ghost stores; Ben Shepherd’s proposed walled garden for premium advertising; and Albo’s love of newspapers. Plus, I talk to Rob Mayhew, the opening keynote of Mumbrella360, about the joys of being a LinkedIn influencer.
Do give us a listen on your way home. We’ll be back with more soon. Have a great night.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Mumbrella + Unmade
tim@unmade.media
