News Analysis

The Optus data breach of nearly 10 million customer records could trigger the toughest privacy law reforms in 35 years, warn experts across the marketing, legal, CX, martech, media, consulting and adtech sectors. It could mean widespread change and cost increases for companies to identify and acquire new customers and reskill their legal, digital, e-comm, retail, marketing, CX, tech stack and regulatory teams.

Linear television was almost absent in Nine’s 2023 upfront presentation as it finally shed its historical roots as a TV broadcaster and embraced its future as a unified media company. The old monarch of TV – still Nine's biggest cash cow – was all but usurped publicly by Nine's federation of diverse media assets covering publishing, radio, connected TV and unified users and data. But clouds are looming for Nine and its rivals as media buyers signalled yesterday that economic uncertainty and audience volatility – particularly in linear TV – meant they could withhold the largest pot of advertiser budgets in decades from year-long spending pre-commitments, known as the "float", or the scatter market in US TV parlance. Buyers want to ensure flexibility in following audience changes through 2023 and pressure media companies into better ad rate positions by going short for next year.      

The financial services sector, with upwards of $1 billion in annual marketing investment, is moving on marketing. ANZ’s takeover of Suncorp spells intrigue for the two CMOs at the top of those companies; Commonwealth Bank completed its marketing refit and broadened remit six months ago, Westpac is somewhere in between and IAG has gone global looking for a new CMO. NAB is the outlier; less volatile in marketing leadership but is actively overhauling its customer, data and marketing capabilities. Here’s how the new line-up at the top in financial services marketing is taking shape.   

Just when News Corp finally had its nemesis pipped as the media group with the largest database of audience IDs in the country – 16 million – Nine last week doubled down. After bumper FY22 financials, Nine said its group-wide audience database now held 20 million IDs but signalled its early move into “people-based marketing” – those logged in and known – announced two years ago at its upfronts presentation, had seen slow take-up from blue chip advertisers although was set to turn. Nine CEO Mike Sneesby pointed to Stan’s 5m sleeper customers, ready with credit card details, as a competitive edge as households reduce their subscription streaming services in the current economic cycle.  

It’s almost enough to entice a journalist to go agency-side. Australia's ad and media agencies are upping the ante, funding everything from fertility treatment, through gender affirmation leave, to $4000 referral bonuses even for staff who have left. Slumber days sit alongside free financial advice, home office funding and laundry services as agencies vie for talent in a labour market that has never been tighter. With salaries rising, the perks arms race is intensifying. Here's a sample of the spoils.

Leading media owners and agencies are in solidarity: The unprecedented and unsustainable growth surge in the $22 billion ad market over the past 12 months has peaked in the first half of this year and matching comparable reporting period increases is impossible. Linear TV, say new forecasts from Mediabrands’ investment arm Magna and GroupM, will hit real growth headwinds for 2023 but radio and Out of Home will join digital media as the next-wave growth darlings.

Yes, you've heard the abounding talent war stories. Salaries have surged 20 per cent across all job functions say agency bosses, brands and recruiters.  Juniors are asking for $90,000; those with two years experience are shopping for $150,000 and content roles, particularly, are spiking. The biggest concern? Young talent is struggling with the increased responsibility and workloads that come with their bigger pay cheques.  “Everyone is poaching everyone”, says one agency boss as immigration numbers show Australia is at less than a quarter of its pre-Covid peak – and more people are leaving Australia than arriving.

The world’s biggest ad holdcos – and Australia's top brands – are racing to build media carbon calculators and metrics to allocate spend based on publisher carbon footprints, but locally we're way off the pace. The UK TV industry is a decade ahead, using an industry standard calculator for production emissions. Australia could use the same tool, but seems to be ignoring it. "There's a framework to follow, literally. It's a gift," say ITV Studios' UK sustainable production chief Phil Holdgate and sustainability manager Jeremy Mathieu. As brands eye their advertising supply chain carbon footprints, ITV's green team are juggling virtual production, no fly zones, remote live hubs and recycled sets. Here, ITV produces The Voice, The Chase, Love Island and Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell – with more shows to come, and greater investor pressure on networks, agencies and brands is incoming.