Mumbrellacast: Adland still isn’t learning, media plays and Katie Rigg-Smith
On this week's Mumbrellacast: the team breaks down media plays from Racat Group, SCA and Ten ViacomCBS, the ad industry’s poor record in sexist attitudes and harassment, and finally Mumbrella’s Calum Jaspan speaks to Mindshare CEO, Katie Rigg-Smith.
In a podcast interview on Tim Burrowes on Unmade, Ten ViacomCBS chief sales officer, Rod Prosser revealed that Network Ten’s parent brand would be launching its Pluto streaming platform in Australia. This will add another streaming platform to the already saturated Australian streaming market, despite Pluto being AVOD – advertising-supported video on demand.
Southern Cross Austereo’s LiSTNR added to its podcast suite by acquiring Kinderling, a popular Australian kids’ radio and podcast company. Kinderling’s suite of audio content will join LiSTNR’s existing kids and family podcast series including The Beanies, Zero Waste Baby and Birth, Baby & Beyond, among others.
In a week of media plays, Ooh Media finalised the sale of Junkee to surprise buyer Racat Group on Wednesday morning. Junkee will join Racat’s portfolio of publishing, production and digital assets which includes Australian Geographic, game developer and publisher Runaway Play as well as production company, Northern Pictures. It’ll be headed up by Piers Grove, one of the founders and publisher of satirical news site Betoota Advocate.
The Australian ad industry was once again put on notice this week over its sexist attitudes and behaviour towards women, in a report from ShEqual, an initiative led by Women’s Health Victoria. The report was centred on the culture of misogyny and sexual harassment within the advertising industry, following an online survey in October 2021 which resulted in 598 responses.
Most respondents in the survey were currently working within advertising and in agencies. Respondents were more likely to identify female over male, with most aged 30-49 years and women aged 25-39 made up a third of respondents. While being an area that has plagued the industry for some time, it presented some pretty sobering findings.
Finally, an interview with GroupM agency, Mindshare’s CEO, Katie Rigg-Smith Rigg-Smith speaks about the ups and downs of the past 18 months at the GroupM agency, including client wins and losses, as well as a report card on her tenure in the role, coming into the role as the only female media agency CEO in Australia, what lays ahead for her career, the new GroupM layout and stepping down from the MFA board.
In the news
- Media plays from Ten ViacomCBS, SCA and Racat Group (03:24)
- The Australian ad industry is again lagging on its sexist attitudes and behaviour towards women (13:19)
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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