Welcome to a midweek edition of Unmade, mostly written on this morning’s flight from Canberra into Sydney.
Today: The takeouts from last night’s Free TV showcase.
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Seeing how the sausage gets made
Going to Canberra yesterday reminded me of a trip to Dallas to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band a few years back.
Visiting Dealey Plaza, the scene of JFK’s assassination, created a distinct sense of deja vu after seeing the grainy Zapruder footage so many times over the years.
It felt the same arriving at Canberra.
Here we are in airport arrivals, on the spot where Peter Costello ended his Nine chairmanship by barging The Australian’s Liam Mendes to the floor while being filmed on a Go Pro.
Now we’re passing through the scanners at Parliament House, where that grainy security camera footage of Bruce Lehrmann and Brittney Higgins arriving for their late night return to the office became so momentous.
And then up to the Theatrette Foyer for the main event.
It’s fascinating seeing lobbying up close. Until last night’s Shaping A Nation showcase at Parliament House in Canberra, I hadn’t really done that.
It’s all so… convivial.
It was a set piece with fewer than 100 people in the room.
There were gaggles while they waited for the PM to arrive. Over at one side, Nine’s CEO Matt Stanton, WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster and Seven West Media’s boss Jeff Howard were deep in conversation, until I interrupted. In another corner, Paramount and Ten Network president Beverley McGarvey with her talent phalanx including Sandra Sully and Julia Morris, until I interrupted.
The focus of the room shifted when Anthony Albanese arrived and joined the bosses for photographs in front of the logo wall.
It was reminiscent of the moment eight years ago when the media bosses trooped into Canberra to tell the government they wanted the media ownership laws changed.
While Albo was on stage, a couple of bodyguards watched the room from either side, without looking jumpy. He was among friends.
For the presentation, everybody in the room was the best of friends. Seven, Nine and Ten got equal billing. Sunrise presenter Matt Shirvington (looking down the barrel of a rare lie-in the next day, thanks to the trip) was joined by ACA’s Ally Langdon and I’m A Celebrity’s Julia Morris on stage to break the ice.
Similar warm feelings came back from the politicians. Albo was preceded by communications minister Annika Wells. Opposition leader Sussan Ley joined the love in too.
Free TV, everybody agreed, does a lot for the nation. It deserves more help.
This time the shopping list from Free TV has five items. They want to stop paying their annual fee to access the pubic spectrum; they want to revisit the updated anti-siphoning law which didn’t address streaming; they want more done to support regional broadcasting; and they want the impending betting ads ban to hurt everyone.
And the fifth item is the one that fascinates me: “Introduce a News Production Offset to support investment in and delivery of this vital community service for all Australians”.
Suddenly, this proposal seems to be moving up the agenda. As a main policy of the Free TV Australia group, this is a new thing.
It would be unlikely to work exactly like the film production offset, but would likely mean providing a tax benefit against each journalist employed.
It’s a fascinating idea. Effectively it would be a government subsidy on journalism jobs via the tax system.
One improvement on the News Media Bargaining Code is that this would create a more level playing field. A major criticism of the previous initiative was that Google and Meta ended up in the business of picking winners, with most of that money going to the big end of town. That created even bigger disparities with those who missed out struggling to compete on salaries. It would also answer the criticism that last time the money went to greater profits for shareholders, not more jobs.
An offset might make all that fairer.
But there would still be problems. It would seem highly rortable. I already know sales people who take on editorial-style job titles because it gets them into meetings that otherwise would not be taken.
And there’s the grey area of writers of content marketing.
If there’s a tax benefit for every journo job, then I suspect a lot of sales job titles would suddenly change.
Nonetheless, perhaps the government might bite on this alternative if it gives it an opportunity to quietly drop the News Bargaining Incentive policy now that Donald Trump has made digital levies politically radioactive.
This is suddenly where the agenda is moving.
It is, incidentally, a topic where I have a pretty big conflict of interest as a co-owner of Mumbrella and Unmade. Unmade has been accepted onto the register of eligible news businesses run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which would have been the starting point if a platform was designated under the News Media Bargaining Code. We might benefit from such a policy too.
Is a journalism offset a good idea? You’ll have to decide for yourself.
Amazon, Coles360, Criteo, Google, Reo, CommBank to solve retail media’s growing pains on stage at REmade
Unmade curator Cat McGinn writes:
The final sessions have been confirmed for REmade 2025, rounding out a program that maps the rapid evolution of retail media from every angle.
Connecting the dots: retail media and omnichannel attribution will see Accolade Wines, Criteo, Endeavour Media Group and Amperity tackle one of the sector’s most pressing challenges: linking retail media investment to sales outcomes across both digital and physical channels. The panel will explore how first-party data partnerships are powering closed-loop attribution, breaking down silos, and demonstrating return on investment (ROI).
Beyond the shelf: retail media’s reshaping of the advertising landscape brings the perspective of the media platforms, as retail media spending continues to divert an estimated 47% of budgets from traditional channels. Leaders from Google, WPP Media, Meta and OOH will examine how established players are adapting to shifting joint business plans (JBPs), deepening their collaboration with retailers, and developing new offerings to drive sales.
With these additions, the REmade 2025 agenda is set, offering a comprehensive view of the opportunities, tensions and transformations shaping retail media’s next phase.
The program also includes an opening keynote from Amazon Ads ANZ boss Willie Pang on how AI-powered optimisation and connected TV are reshaping the path to purchase, a debate on Who Owns Retail Media?, where leaders from Terry White Chemart, digiDirect, Retail Media Works grapple with the often vexed question of organisational ownership and accountability.
Epsilon’s APAC lead Lachlan Brahe is to share lessons from mature markets, and Broadsign, reo and Market Media will cover the convergence of retail media and out-of-home. A mythbusting session from Coles360, Coca-Cola and Circana will debunk myths around retail media’s impact, outline a playbook for integrating trade and brand campaigns and launch brand new research into best practice, and McCain Foods, PHD and Uber Advertising examine how instant delivery and quick commerce are rewriting the funnel.
Later in the day, Flywheel and Logitech share insights from their journey through Amazon’s Business Maturity Framework, and Zitcha will challenge delegates to consider how agentic AI could reshape everything from ad inventory to shopper behaviour. CommBank and Sonder are to lift the lid on building one of Australia’s largest small-format retail media networks, before the closing panel titled "Retail Media Needs to Grow Up" featuring Tenet Advisory’s Paul Brooks, David Jones’ Melissa Polglase, Hatched’s Simon Porter and LiveRamp’s Kate Steven will debate what maturity in the sector looks like, and why retail media in ANZ needs to leave its teenage phase behind.
REmade also features round table discussions to be held under the Chatham House Rule, covering AI, female leadership in the sector, walled gardens, measurement and more.
REmade takes place on 23 September in Sydney. Tickets are on sale now.
More from Mumbrella…
Senior jobs gone at Vinyl Media as company looks for path to profit
Opinion: Marketing to a dual audience: The human and the machine
Time to leave you to your afternoon.
We’ll be back with more soon.
Have a great night
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade + Mumbrella
tim@unmade.media
A tax offset for journalists' salaries is one of those ideas that has been floating around for years... much like the idea that the government will, at some point, back up its three-year-old promises about a News Media Assistance Program with an ongoing, actual program of some kind – any kind. My publication, Murray Bridge News, was the grateful recipient of one-off funding via the News Media Relief Fund, which resembled an apology for the government not having achieved almost anything whatsoever in the space during its previous term. But at this point I almost don't care what action the government takes to support media, so long as it hurries up and does it. Imagine certainty!
Presumably the cost of journalists are already tax deductible, so adding an extra tax benefit means double deductions?
Also, this means the government would effectively be paying for the benefit rather than charging the digital platforms that were going to be billed - so yet more additional government spend & the big tech companies go scot-free again!