The Fold

Glen Kyne returns to join Duncan Greive on The Fold for an epic year in review, going deep on all the big storylines that defined a year which broke New Zealand's media. Including, but by no means limited to: the end of Newshub, Sunday and Fair Go; the downsizing of Shortland Street and challenges to the productions sector; a dive into Australia's approach to big tech; assessments of every major m...

In the second of two episodes looking at New Zealand from Australia, Duncan Greive speaks to Paul McIntyre – founder and publisher at Mi3 – and one of the most credentialed journalists on advertising, tech and media in this part of the world. He wrote a story in late October which detailed the perverse incentives of the move to so-called "principal media", and how Australia's media looked at New Z...

Last week brought confirmation that Whakaata Māori was ending Te Ao Māori News 4.30pm bulletin to focus on a pure digital future for news, while also moving its Te Reo channel to solely online distribution. The Spinoff Ātea editor Liam Rātana joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the move, and also assess the state of Māori news and current affairs more broadly. Learn more about your ad choic...

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 authority, Australia is a global leader, while New Zealand is nowhere to be found. In the first of two episodes focused on Australia, for...

Normally on The Fold, we discuss events in the wider media, but today, the subject is us and the future of The Spinoff. Published on site today is an open letter from Duncan, The Spinoff’s editor Madeleine Chapman, and its CEO Amber Easby. It toplines where The Spinoff is right now as a platform – this paradoxical place where our audience is the strongest it has ever been, outside of events like C...

It's fair to assume a near total correlation between Media Insider readers and The Fold's listeners – so if you've read Shayne Currie's report into job losses at The Spinoff yesterday, you'll know that we're all feeling pretty low here. My heart and thoughts are with my affected colleagues – but I wanted to give some background and context beyond that story, and talk about the most recent NZ on Ai...

It’s a throwback monopod today – Duncan Greive goes solo in a pretty raw episode, reflecting on a wonderful event with a very sobering reflection on the present and likely future of institutional media in Aotearoa. It’s a look at what’s driving the cataclysmic events of this year, and whether they’re likely to be temporary, or are baked in. And finally, why it is that the political response here s...

Kristy McGregor was an Australian with no experience in media before founding Shepherdess, a magazine dedicated to the life and experience of rural women. However she proved a total natural, and has developed it into one of the most fascinating and instructive startups in New Zealand media. What started as a print magazine now encompasses a festival and a TV show, all made by women working part-ti...

Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to dissect the 50 proposed redundancies at TVNZ, and the confirmation that news will now be part of content, rather than its own unit. Next, they analyse the extraordinary drama between podcast star Frances Cook and her former employer, NZME – particularly what it says about legacy media's relationship with digital. Finally, they talk about Trump's election, and what...

Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the fallout from Jeff Bezos' decision to halt the practise of endorsements at the Washington Post, and what it says about the swing away from institutional to social media. Next they discuss TVNZ's backtrack on its decision to close the 1news.co.nz site, and a trio of worrying signals from smaller publishers Crux. NZ Geographic and Ca...

Duncan Greive is joined by his longtime Real Pod co-host Alex Casey to talk through the Top 100 NZ TV shows project, which ran on site last week and climaxes with a Q Theatre live show tonight. She talks about the way the list was assembled, what it says about us as a country, and why this is a particularly poignant moment to do this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Sky announced it had secured the rights to run Max as a channel within Neon, bringing one of the strongest and deepest TV catalogues to its streaming service, and taking a potential competitor off the map (for now, at least). Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive to discuss the implications of the deal, why it's great for Sky now, and what risks it contains for the future. They also discuss Amaz...

Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie grew up in small town South Island, but is now one of the most influential figures in US media (according to New York magazine). That’s because the platform, which started out with paid newsletters, is now starting to establish itself in social, audio and video. Hamish joins Duncan to discuss its latest moves, its relationship with legacy media and whether it ca...

The Spinoff’s editor-at-large Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive to discuss SXSW and the launch of Auckland FC, and what each says about the vitality of Sydney and Auckland. Duncan toplines the Campaign Brief and Nine drama in Australia, which shows where that country is (still) at, in some ways. Next, they hit SPADA’s warnings about the future of screen production in New Zealand, and what that indu...

It's a week since TVNZ shocked the media with a proposal to shut down 1news.co.nz and merge news with content. Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the merits of the approach, what it implies about the future of the business, and other ways it might save $30m and provide a pathway to a sustainable future. Plus – reflections on the debut of Stuff's HOW:TO, and what it might mean for...

Sam Stuchbury founded Motion Sickness as a brand and advertising agency in a flat in Ōtepoti. 10 years on, it has become known for powerful campaigns like 'Proud to be Māori' and 'Rep your Suburb' for Whānau Ora. The company dominated the Axis Awards and picked up silver in the Global Agency of the Year awards in London. Stuchbury and Motion Sickness head of strategy Hilary Ngan Kee join Duncan Gr...

On Friday afternoon, Google published a post to its little-read New Zealand blog, one which immediately sent shockwaves through the local news media. It confirmed what had been rumoured – that if the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill passes in its current form, Google will pull news from all its systems and services, and cancel all its agreements with local news media. It sets up an enormously hig...

Matt Bain spent a career working across prestige brands in digital contexts before returning to New Zealand to become Data and Marketing Director (CMO in all but name) of the telco-turned-digital services provider that is Spark. It's one of the biggest marketing jobs in the country, with a budget to match – but figuring out what Spark is and how it sells itself isn't easy, especially given its rec...

Anna Rawhiti-Connell is head of audience for The Spinoff, but spent most of the last decade working in social media for BNZ and the Auckland Theatre Company. She joins Duncan to do a deep dive into the changing nature and shape of social platforms – specifically what happened to links, and therefore traffic. Then they discuss two changes at Stuff – the end of Newsable, and the removal of vertical...

James Hurman is a globally recognised expert in advertising effectiveness – and believes many businesses have become transfixed by generating present day sales through social and search, at the expense of those in the future, generated by brand building on other surfaces. Together they examine what New Zealand's large advertisers and media agencies are doing with their advertising spend. Learn mor...

Glen Kyne returns to join host Duncan Greive to discuss a pair of different stories which seem to head to the same conclusion. The first is Shayne Currie's report on a leaked email from TVNZ CEO Jodi O'Donnell flagging more cuts at the broadcaster, potentially at 1news.co.nz. The second is a Newsroom story about fast-rising ratings at RNZ's website. It all points to a newsroom merger, something di...

Craig Fenton has been boss of NZ Rugby Commercial for a little over six months, but is already in the midst of a crucial deal, one which will shape not just his period in charge, but the whole future of rugby in New Zealand. He joins Duncan Greive to discuss the evolving sports rights landscape in New Zealand, and how Craig sees the All Blacks, Black Ferns and Super Rugby taking advantage of the l...

Tamar Münch joins Duncan Greive to discuss the challenges facing screen and news media – and how they intertwine. They also discuss the resignation of Mike Sneesby at Nine, and the way Australian media is following a bad trail blazed by New Zealand media. Finally, a look at Snapchat's hold on teenagers and an intriguing new BSA survey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duncan Greive has a solo podcast this week, talking about the debut of Spark Game Arena Live, a huge new event at Spark Arena. He looks at the upside and downsides of the trend away from sponsorships towards brands creating their own projects. Plus: who's number one? Both NZME and Stuff claimed the title this week – but does it even matter? And finally, a look at the way you can see shrinking medi...

One eked out a flat result, the other had a giant loss. Toby Manhire and Duncan Greive discuss what that says about their revenue models. They also discuss the downward trend for RNZ, one mirrored by public media entities around the world. Finally, they look at X’s ban in Brazil and the arrest of Telegram’s founder in France, as a window into the global techlash. Learn more about your ad choices....