Red Monday for Unmade index; Take our AI survey

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Apr 07, 2025

Welcome to an update on a day when the Unmade Index took a pounding as financial markets panicked about the global economy. And we ask for your help in figuring out the state of play for AI inside the media and marketing industry

Today is a good day to upgrade to a paid membership of Unmade. Your annual membership includes:

A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade’s events, including HumAIn (May 6), REmade (September 23), Unlock (October), and Compass (across November)
Member-only content and our paywalled archives;
Your own copy of Media Unmade.

Mind the gap: Help us figure out the state of AI adoption with HumAIn’s industry survey

HumAIn curator Cat McGinn writes:

We’ve joined forces with AI experience agency Time Under Tension to launch an industry survey exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping the media and marketing landscape across Australia and New Zealand.

Launched today, the survey aims to uncover the blockers and drivers of AI adoption across agencies, brands, publishers, and tech providers. As the pace of AI innovation accelerates, the research is designed to help businesses benchmark their progress and identify the areas that need the most support. The results wiull be shared at next month’s HumAIn conference, organised by Unmade.

The goal is not just to gather data, but to bring the industry together. The industry’s adoption of AI has been inconsistent—held back by a lack of education, capability, and real-world use cases. By sharing knowledge and creating space for open discussion, the project aims to raise the collective capability of the sector and help professionals across Australia and New Zealand perform at a more competitive level on the global stage.

All survey participants will receive a copy of the results. These findings will also shape the round table conversations at the upcoming humAIn conference.

Last year’s HumAIn survey revealed a significant disconnect in attitudes to AI between industry leaders and more junior staff. Senior leadership were more likely to expect cost savings and efficiency gains, while younger professionals reported higher anxiety about job security, and less optimism that the tools themselves would benefit them.

Jason Ross, co-founder of Time Under Tension, says :“The challenge of AI adoption isn’t awareness, it’s action. This research gives us a chance to strip away the hype, identify the real friction points, and help Australian and New Zealand companies lead rather than lag.”

Ahead of the HumAIn conference, Ross will be running a two-hour workshop for marketers to explore AI integration in workflows, experiment with tools, and gain confidence in deploying AI. Tickets are available on the HumAIn website.

Please tell us how you are (or aren’t) using generative AI in your work here: https://humain2025.typeform.com/aiadopt

Blood on the Index

Tim Burrowes writes:

The board went entirely red on Monday as listed media and marketing stocks were swept up in the Trump-induced market panic.

Among the worst hit was ARN Media during the day, dipping to an all time low before coming back later in the day. It dropped -2.82% to land on a closing market capitalisation of just under $184m.

Fellow audio stock Southern Cross Austereo fared even worse, losing close to 8% to land on a closing price of 60c, its worst point since the start of the year.

Seven West Media took a punishing 10% hit to fall to just 14c a share.

Despite an offering being on the table from CoStar for Nine’s real majority-owned estate platform Domain, both stocks took a hit. Nine was down a painful 7.17% to $1.36 while Domain lost 2.83%.

Vinyl Group slumped 4% to land on a total cap of $120.9m.

The Unmade Index fell by 5.32% to land on 489.8, still better than the darkest days of November 2024. The fall was worse than the wider ASX All Ordinaries, which lost 4.12% during today’s selloff.

Unmade: media and marketing analysis

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