The Fold

The media has always been largely funded by advertising – but that's unlikely to be the case in future. Two stories over the past week addressed different aspects of what might step into the void it creates. Duncan Greive returns alongside Glen Kyne for an episode which explores how media was, is and might be funded in future – taking the NZ on Air system, the screen production rebate, tech fundin...

The job of chief news and content officer at TVNZ has been one of the most talked-about leadership roles in New Zealand media. Last week, it was announced that Nadia Tolich will leave her position as managing director of Stuff Digital to take up the role. Glen Kyne joins Anna Rawhiti-Connell to discuss the enormity of the task ahead for Tolich and why high profile exits mightn’t be as scandalous...

It’s been five years since Bauer exited New Zealand, devastating the magazine industry and heralding an era of enormous disruption for media in this country. Iconic Auckland title, Metro Magazine, was a casualty of that closure. The publication has found its feet again and is flourishing under independent ownership. As Auckland evolves, so too does Metro. Henry Oliver has been the editor of Metro...

Last week, NZME’s board laid out its case against Jim Grenon’s attempt to take control of the board, introducing previously unspoken concerns about editorial influence to the fight. It prompted a new round of reactions and letters and the introduction of a few new players. Following Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, $6.6 trillion was wiped off the value of US stocks in 48 hours, creating fresh...

It's been a rough PR month for Meta, with two of the most-discussed cultural artefacts of the year both directly concerning their two biggest products. Duncan Greive is joined by Anna Rawhiti-Connell to discuss Careless People, the explosive memoir by New Zealand diplomat Sarah Wynn-Williams about her time at Facebook; and Adolescence, the extraordinary Netflix series about a murder which occurs a...

Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on the Fold to discuss a torrid few weeks in media ownership, with billionaire Jim Grenon's attempt to install a new board at NZME and revelations that both parts of Stuff are potentially in play. Kyne and Greive discuss both of Grenon's letters, both the business analysis and the vision for news, while also looking at what Stuff could do if it was part of Trade Me's ...

Love Song is a piece of research that Live Nation has been running for six years. It targets Gen Z and its relationship with music and culture, and – they don’t just do it for fun – about how brands can fit into all that. Duncan Greive is joined by his colleagues Gabi Lardies and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith to talk about that research, using it as a jumping off point to have a wider conversation about gen...

Kevin Chesters has 30 years of experience leading strategy on both agency and client sides, serving as CSO at W+K London, Dentsu, and Ogilvy, as well as Head of Strategy at BT, the UK’s equivalent of Spark. He joins Duncan Greive on The Fold as part of The Spinoff’s 2025 partnership with the Comms Council. The pair cover off Chesters' career, what drew him to advertising, dig into the challenge of...

The second Trump administration has blown apart a multi-decade long rules based order for trade. The White House has put the whole world on notice that it will use tariffs against any perceived slight against its companies. What does that mean for our media reforms? How are we hamstrung by our trade agreements? Do we even have sovereignty on the internet? Duncan Greive is joined by trade specialis...

Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive for an emergency episode of The Fold after an NZX announcement this afternoon revealed that new NZME shareholder James Grenon is seeking to clear the board and install a new set of directors, himself included. He owns 10% of its shares, and claims the backing of 37% more – putting him very close to a majority for the motion. There's a lot we don't know, and a lot of w...

In the third of a three part series analysing the results of the Big Three media companies (or those that release their results, anyway), Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive to look into an impressive result for Sky. After weeks of bad headlines driven by a failing satellite and seemingly stalled negotiations with NZ Rugby, news it had won back the rights to home cricket internationals was welcome. Kyne...

In the second of a three part series analysing the results of the Big Three media companies (or those that release their results, anyway), Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive to look into the results for TVNZ. The state broadcaster has many huge advantages, but remains hamstrung by the lack of audience revenue – newish CEO Jodi O'Donnell is very keen to change that. The loss of cricket was a bitter blow...

In the first of a three part series analysing the results of the Big Three media companies (or those that release their results, anyway), Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive to dig into NZME's 2024 results and some quietly impactful future plans. These include a potential sale of One Roof, shedding writers to launch a new TV-like news "channel" and a mysterious new owner who just bought almost a tenth o...

Duncan Greive is joined by two of New Zealand's most successful Substackers in Bernard Hickey (The Kākā) and Lucy Blakiston (Shit You Should Care About) on stage in Wellington as part of the Fringe Festival. They explore the origin stories of their brands, while delving deep into their relationship with institutional media and the different incentives of a paying audience versus advertising. Learn...

Tim Burrowes is the author of a book and a Substack called Unmade, which are truly essential guides to media in Australia – and a useful way of understanding the similarities and differences which define our two closely linked markets. He joins Duncan Greive ahead of Unmade's first Auckland live event to talk about a torrid decade in Australian media, the forces which are driving that and whether...

Duncan Greive goes solo to break down a discussion document with profound implications for local media. He explains why he thinks this is the best and most coherent policy outline we've seen in a decade, what's in it, what the challenges are and how it would impact local media if it went through. A reminder: The Fold is live in Wellington next week! Get your tickets here. Learn more about your ad...

Recorded on the sandy shores of the mighty North, guest hosts Liam Ratana and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (along with regular producer Te Aihe Butler) take over The Fold for a behind-the-scenes look at how the media covers Waitangi. After three days of politician stand ups, haukāinga-led forum panels and more story leads than we had time to cover, what stood out? What did we learn? And how can The Spinoff...

Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a minor diplomatic incident involving Texas senator Ted Cruz, and what it says about the chaotic information space we now operate in. They also discuss former Spinoff writer Madeleine Holden's new Substack, which launched with a tirade for the ages about a recent Apple ad; Sky TV's satellite woes and an Auckland Council campaign which could v...

Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to discuss the first big media news story of the year – NZME's decision to trade some senior text journalists for a sharp increase in video production. Next we discuss the shocking impact of Chinese-AI lab DeepSeek's world-beating LLM performance on a shoestring budget, Acast's big Between Two Beers podcast pickup and finally how a big success for TVNZ reveals a deepe...

The Spinoff’s resident social media philosopher queen, Anna Rawhiti-Connell, joins Duncan Greive to recap an epochal month in the geopolitics of social media. They talk about Meta’s hard pivot into the MAGA worldview, and what that might mean for audiences and advertisers. Then, examine the fraught status of TikTok in the US, and think about how it might play out. Finally they look at Shayne “Medi...

The Fold is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024: In an effort to get out of his doom spiral, Duncan Greive takes a tour across the Tasman to see how our close neighbours are dealing with a similar set of challenges. From a social media ban, to local content quotas, to news bargaining, to an activist competition au...

The Fold is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024: Glenn McDonald spent more than a decade with a very mysterious and specific job title: data alchemist at Spotify. It's possible – even likely – that no one on Earth knows as much about music streaming. He is in New Zealand for the Going Global music industry confere...

The Fold is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024: The 2024 edition of NZ on Air's Where are the Audiences is a bombshell – largely because so little has changed. The past decade has been characterised by a sharp and consistent rise in UGC, social and SVOD platforms, while local media has slid precipitously. This ye...

The Fold is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024: Friday July 4 marked the end of Newshub, an organisation that has been around for 35 years, and has a strong case as the most original and idiosyncratic newsroom this country has ever known. Sam Hayes and Mike McRoberts have more than 40 years’ combined experience a...

The Fold is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024: Alec Kieft makes games for "YouTube for gaming" platform Roblox, including Break-In, a smash hit that has been played more than two billion times by 80 million people. The platform is wildly popular with pre-teens, and is widely considered the closest thing to an op...