Hal Crawford

Sydney

Editorial Director at Mumbrella

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Articles

Skint LINA asks members to write to minister

1 week ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

The Local and Independent News Association (LINA) is about to run out of funding and has called on its members to write to Communications Minister Anika Wells to intervene. LINA executive director Claire Stuchbery has written to members saying “the end-of-financial-year cliff is fast approaching” and that the association could “go under”. Stuchbery asked members to directly appeal to Wells to intervene with bridging funding.
Hywood’s view from the balcony: ‘Nine and Fairfax hasn’t worked’

2 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

Former Fairfax CEO and key architect of the Fairfax/Nine merger Greg Hywood says the unprecedented coming-together to create one of Australia’s biggest media companies has not been a success. In a sit-down interview with Mumbrella after Hywood announced his departure as chair of lobby group Free TV, the media veteran said the clear indicator of failure was Nine Entertainment Company’s (NEC) share price. “It’s barely where it was at the beginning,” he said.
Monash IVF narrative out of control as CEO quits

2 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

The Monash IVF CEO is gone. The Herald Sun used the inflammatory word “sacked” in its email blast on Thursday morning, and “axed” in its opening paragraph. The official ASX release was a little softer, calling Michael Knaap’s departure a resignation, which the Board acknowledged and respected. Either way, it’s the latest in a string of dramatic headlines for a company that usually prefers to focus on positive, miraculous and heart-warming narratives. Lately, it’s been anything but positive.
Jake Powell takes breakfast slot at CADA

2 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

There have been more talent shake-ups at ARN’s youth radio station experiment Cada, with content director Jake Powell taking the reins in the key breakfast slot. Powell has replaced Sophie Nathan, who has left the broadcaster. Aside from Powell, the only other human talent listed on Cada’s program page is K-Sera, who has the 3pm to 7pm slot on weekdays. The controversial AI-generated host ‘Thy’ fills the 11am to 3pm ‘Workdays’ slot.
Q+A axed as Marks moves to streamline ABC

2 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

The ABC’s current affairs talk show Q+A has reportedly been axed, joining Ten’s The Project on TV’s scrapheap of long-running shows. The show’s cancellation, which has reportedly been announced to Q+A’s leadership, is seen as ABC managing director Hugh Mark’s first big move to streamline the public broadcaster. Marks is expected to formally communicate Q+A’s fate — which was first broken in Capital Brief — along with other changes imminently.
Ten axes The Project after 16 years, goes for 6pm current affairs show down

2 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

Ten has confirmed it will shut down The Project later this month after 16 years and more than 4500 episodes. Ten says it will replace the “news done differently” panel with an hour-long news and current affairs show that will go head-to-head with Seven and Nine’s news bulletins at 6pm. That as-yet unnamed show will be followed by game show Deal Or No Deal at 7pm. The change represents Ten’s biggest programming shakeup in over a decade.
Seven secures rights to US T20 Major League Cricket

3 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

Seven has signed a multi-year, exclusive Australian rights deal for America’s Major League Cricket, a T20 competition in its third season this year. MLC is the first professional T20 league in the US. It runs a lightning season in the Southern Hemisphere winter, allowing Australian professionals to play. Squad lists include Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh and David Warner. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting also coaches one of the six MLC teams.
Mamamia gears up for Youtube podcast push

3 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

Mamamia is investing heavily in a video push that it hopes will grow its podcasting audience through Youtube. As part of the video drive, the female-focussed media company has fitted out its new Sydney office with vodcasting studios, a control room, voiceover booth and infinity cove studio. CEO Natalie Harvey told Mumbrella that Mamamia was reaching between 1.2-1.5 million listeners through podcasts every month, and that the best way to grow that number was through Youtube.
R/GA appoints Ben Cooper to lead global AI products team

3 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

R/GA has appointed Ben Cooper as global executive director of its AI Products team. The new role follows a period of collaboration between Cooper and R/GA, including work on AI strategy and product development. Cooper, a creative technologist best known for award-winning work such as Optus’ Clever Buoy and NRMA’s Fireblanket, joins R/GA at a time when many agencies are tightening headcount. R/GA is adding roles to build its AI capability.
Meta launches new AI-powered ad tools

3 weeks ago | mumbrella.com.au | Hal Crawford

Meta is rolling out three new ad optimisation tools that it says will let advertisers target valuable customers better and re-allocate spend that isn’t delivering results. Meta’s APAC director of monetisation Damian Kim said the three new tools were called “value rules”, “value optimisation” and “incremental attribution”. “Value rules is a product that gives an advertiser the ability to upfront indicate their own value system.