StW: Media's 'extinction level event'; What to expect from SCA's financials; Another Google AI brand blunder

---

Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday scene-setter for the week ahead.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:

• Member-only pricing for our HumAIn (May 28) and REmade (October 1) conferences;

• A complimentary invitation to Unmade’s Compass event;

• Member-only content and our paywalled archives;

• Your own copy of Media Unmade

Upgrade today

---

From Bard to worse during media’s cold snap

Google has switched off Gemini image generation

Today:

• Is media’s deep freeze finally hitting bottom?

• Countdown to the end of the Meta money

• Digital growth plateaus

• What to look out for in the Southern Cross Austereo financial update

• Google’s image generator Gemini’s rogue woke embarrassment

---

---

Further reading:

• Brisbane Times: Former digital darling Vice Media to slash jobs, shutter website

• Unmade: ‘Very close to the bottom’: As bad as it gets (or as good as it gets?) for Nine and ARN Media

• Australian Financial Review: Australian media’s $70m lifeline ends in months. Meta isn’t picking up

• Brisbane Times: $1b for journalism at risk in new warning over Google, Facebook

• The Australian: Online advertising market spend was $14.7bn in 2023, slowest annual growth since 2020

• Sweathead: How brands are using AI

• The Verge: How AI copyright lawsuits could make the whole industry go extinct

• Unmade: Why Australia's marketers need to worry about the lack of local artificial intelligence laws

---

---

Today’s episode features Tim Burrowes, Abe Udy and Cat McGinn

Time to leave you to start your week.

Editing was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.

Message us: letters@unmade.media

Toodlepip…

Tim Burrowes

tim@unmade.media