What the media industry in Australia has been talking about over the last few days

Agencies & HoldCos

• 1HOUSE: Vodka Cruiser X turns up the strength with 10% RTD launch and Gen Z campaign via Supermassive and 1House (Mi3)
• ACCENTURE SONG: Accenture Song adds ANZ to Patricio De Matteis’ SEA remit (Mumbrella)
• ACCENTURE SONG: EssenceMediacom’s Katherine Pochroj To Join Accenture Song (B&T)
• ALCHEMY ONE: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• BONFIRE: Bonfire hosts Multiplier Melbourne event on AI and search (AdNews)
• BONFIRE: Bonfire packs out Google Melbourne for sold-out ‘Multiplier’ event (Mi3)
• CHEIL: Movers & Shakers: DO. ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• DENTSU: The Betoota Advocate Brings The Banter As Dentsu Wins GumGum’s Inagural Pub Quiz (B&T)
• DO: Movers & Shakers: DO.ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• EMOTIVE: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• ESSENCEMEDIACOM: EssenceMediacom’s Katherine Pochroj To Join Accenture Song (B&T)
• HAVAS: Cross selling and bolt-on acquisitions drive Havas priority list as it reports +2.5 per cent Q3 total net revenue growth (Mi3)
• HOWATSON+CO: Zelora introduces Gary in first-ever brand campaign via Howatson+Company (Mi3)
• MATCH & WOOD: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• PHD: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• SECOND SUNDAY: TBA Group takes majority stake in Second Sunday in first Australian acquisition (Mi3)
• SUNDAY GRAVY: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• SUPERMASSIVE: Vodka Cruiser X turns up the strength with 10% RTD launch and Gen Z campaign via Supermassive and 1House (Mi3)
• TBA GROUP: TBA Group takes majority stake in Second Sunday in first Australian acquisition (Mi3)
• WAVEMAKER: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• WPP: Movers & Shakers: DO. ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• WPP: WPP Media: Brands now have two audiences, humans and machines (mediaweek)

Companies & Advertisers

• ACCENTURE: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• CBUS: QMS launches SHOP retail OOH network with Ford, Cbus and MYOB as first partners (mediaweek)
• COUNTRY STYLE: Country Style taps Edwina Bartholomew for new brand collaboration (Mi3)
• FORD: Ford & MYOB Among First Brands To Leverage QMS’ Retail OOH Network (B&T)
• FORD: QMS launches SHOP retail OOH network with Ford, Cbus and MYOB as first partners (mediaweek)
• GYMSHARK: Gymshark Bite Back At Shane Gillis’ SNL Blunder With New Megan Thee Stallion Campaign (B&T)
• MYOB: Ford & MYOB Among First Brands To Leverage QMS’ Retail OOH Network (B&T)
• MYOB: QMS launches SHOP retail OOH network with Ford, Cbus and MYOB as first partners (mediaweek)
• RED CROSS: Uber’s Nicole Bardsley Clears Out Wardrobe & Explains Why Sporty Spice Ticked Every Box For Red Cross Campaign (B&T)
• RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP: TV Ratings (15/10/26): Rugby League World Cup Kicks Off On Seven In Front Of 3.3M Viewers (B&T)
• SAMSUNG: ‘Big Win For Agencies’: Samsung Ads Uses Inaugural Upfront To Reveal Its Home Screen Can Now Be Bought Programmatically (B&T)
• SAMSUNG: “Level of saturation advertisers can no longer ignore”: Samsung Ads promises guaranteed incremental reach, attention as it makes inaugural upfronts showing (Mi3)
• SAMSUNG: Samsung Upfront: Agencies want proof of CTV’s business impact (AdNews)
• UBER: Uber’s Nicole Bardsley Clears Out Wardrobe & Explains Why Sporty Spice Ticked Every Box For Red Cross Campaign (B&T)
• VODKA CRUISER: Vodka Cruiser X turns up the strength with 10% RTD launch and Gen Z campaign via Supermassive and 1House (Mi3)
• VODKA CRUISER X: Vodka Cruiser X turns up the strength with 10% RTD launch and Gen Z campaign via Supermassive and 1House (Mi3)
• ZELORA: Zelora introduces Gary in first-ever brand campaign via Howatson+Company (Mi3)

Industry & General Topics

• ADVERTISING: Big brands spending less on advertising (AdNews)
• AGENCIES: ‘Big Win For Agencies’: Samsung Ads Uses Inaugural Upfront To Reveal Its Home Screen Can Now Be Bought Programmatically (B&T)
• AI: ‘We’re Creating A Deluded Generation’: The Dangers LLM-Reliant Marketers Face Choosing ‘Regurgitation’ Over Originality (B&T)
• AI: Dan Ilic deepfakes Anika Wells in campaign calling for AI ad ban (Mumbrella)
• AI: WPP Media: Brands now have two audiences, humans and machines (mediaweek)
• AUTOMATION: Foxtel exec: ‘We wasted all this effort trying to automate people out of the business’ (Mumbrella)
• BRANDS: Big brands spending less on advertising (AdNews)
• DIGITAL DUTY OF CARE: ‘If you build it, you are responsible for its risks’: $109m Digital Duty of Care bill lands in Parliament (Mi3)
• DIGITAL DUTY OF CARE BILL: ‘If you build it, you are responsible for its risks’: $109m Digital Duty of Care bill lands in Parliament (Mi3)
• INNOCEAN: Pitch Wrap – Accenture, Wavemaker, PHD, Innocean, Alchemy One, Sunday Gravy, Emotive, Match & Wood (AdNews)
• NIELSEN: Nielsen loses New Zealand TV audience measurement contract (Mumbrella)
• PRIVACY: Children’s privacy code to switch off marketing by default (AdNews)
• SPYWARE: No-click spyware enabler ‘served ads on Australian media networks’ (Mumbrella)
• TRA: TRA puts singles under the microscope in new ‘Solo’ study (Mi3)

Media Owners & Content

• FOXTEL: Foxtel exec: ‘We wasted all this effort trying to automate people out of the business’ (Mumbrella)
• GLAMOUR: Glamour Australia Celebrates Launch With Zara Larsson Print Debut (B&T)
• GLAMOUR: Glamour Australia launches special print edition (AdNews)
• GLAMOUR: Glamour Australia launches with print edition featuring Zara Larsson (Mi3)
• GOOGLE: Bonfire packs out Google Melbourne for sold-out ‘Multiplier’ event (Mi3)
• GOOGLE: Google ANZ appoints Caroline Oates to lead Agency and Partners Team (Mi3)
• GOOGLE: Movers & Shakers: DO. ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• GUMGUM: The Betoota Advocate Brings The Banter As Dentsu Wins GumGum’s Inagural Pub Quiz (B&T)
• JCDECAUX: Movers & Shakers: DO. ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• MAMAMIA: Movers & Shakers: DO. ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• MAMAMIA: Movers & Shakers: DO.ANZ, Mamamia, WPP Creative, JCDecaux, Google, Cheil (AdNews)
• META: Meta Gives Brands More Ways To Get In Your Feed With New Ad Tools (B&T)
• META: Meta Gives Brands More Ways To Maximise Ad Relevancy & Visibility With New Formats (B&T)
• META: Meta launches new targeting options for advertisers (AdNews)
• META: Meta taps legacy TV tactic in latest pitch to advertisers (Mumbrella)
• NETFLIX: What’s going on at Netflix? Content chief tipped to exit as 1,000 jobs go worldwide (mediaweek)
• QMS: Ford & MYOB Among First Brands To Leverage QMS’ Retail OOH Network (B&T)
• QMS: QMS launches ‘Shop’ digital retail out of home network (Mi3)
• QMS: QMS launches SHOP retail OOH network with Ford, Cbus and MYOB as first partners (mediaweek)
• QMS: QMS names foundation partners for new retail OOH network SHOP (AdNews)
• SCA: Vinyl, SCA down for the day after bumpy week on Unmade Index (Mumbrella)
• SEVEN: TV Ratings (15/10/26): Rugby League World Cup Kicks Off On Seven In Front Of 3.3M Viewers (B&T)
• STAN: Stan transforms Cockatoo Island for ‘Friday the 13th’ prequel series premiere (Mi3)
• THE BETOOTA ADVOCATE: The Betoota Advocate Brings The Banter As Dentsu Wins GumGum’s Inagural Pub Quiz (B&T)
• THE BLOCK: The Block’s $3.45m question: what is Mount Eliza actually worth? (mediaweek)
• TODAY: Something had to give’: Danika Mason departs Today Show (mediaweek)
• VAL MORGAN: VMO’s Ultimate Media Champion Is Not For The Faint Hearted (B&T)
• VINYL GROUP: Vinyl, SCA down for the day after bumpy week on Unmade Index (Mumbrella)

People & Personalities

• ANIKA WELLS: Dan Ilic deepfakes Anika Wells in campaign calling for AI ad ban (Mumbrella)
• ANTONY CATALANO: Catalano open to plea deal but still denies some charges (AFR)
• CAROLINE OATES: Google ANZ appoints Caroline Oates to lead Agency and Partners Team (Mi3)
• DAN ILIC: Dan Ilic deepfakes Anika Wells in campaign calling for AI ad ban (Mumbrella)
• DANIKA MASON: Something had to give’: Danika Mason departs Today Show (mediaweek)
• EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW: Country Style taps Edwina Bartholomew for new brand collaboration (Mi3)
• GARY: Zelora introduces Gary in first-ever brand campaign via Howatson+Company (Mi3)
• JERRY SEINFELD: Jerry Seinfeld declares: ‘I’m racist. It’s a genocide. I’m into it.’ (mediaweek)
• KATHERINE POCHROJ: EssenceMediacom’s Katherine Pochroj To Join Accenture Song (B&T)
• KELLY: Kelly’s millions of fans are a lesson in the power of personal brand. But at what cost? (mediaweek)
• MARK ZUCKERBERG: That’s just my face’: Mark Zuckerberg responds to being trolled over Guinness clip (mediaweek)
• MEGAN THEE STALLION: Gymshark Bite Back At Shane Gillis’ SNL Blunder With New Megan Thee Stallion Campaign (B&T)
• NICOLE BARDSLEY: Uber’s Nicole Bardsley Clears Out Wardrobe & Explains Why Sporty Spice Ticked Every Box For Red Cross Campaign (B&T)
• PATRICIO DE MATTEIS: Accenture Song adds ANZ to Patricio De Matteis’ SEA remit (Mumbrella)
• RUSSELL BRAND: Photo of shirtless Russell Brand before alleged assault shown to jury (mediaweek)
• SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE: Mediaweek’s Newsmakers: Samantha Armytage has more to say. This time, she’s her own boss (mediaweek)
• SHANE GILLIS: Gymshark Bite Back At Shane Gillis’ SNL Blunder With New Megan Thee Stallion Campaign (B&T)
• SPORTY SPICE: Uber’s Nicole Bardsley Clears Out Wardrobe & Explains Why Sporty Spice Ticked Every Box For Red Cross Campaign (B&T)
• TRUMP: Donald Trump pulls plug on execution livestream (mediaweek)
• ZARA LARSSON: Glamour Australia Celebrates Launch With Zara Larsson Print Debut (B&T)
• ZARA LARSSON: Glamour Australia launches with print edition featuring Zara Larsson (Mi3)

Updated: Sun 18 Oct 2026, 9:00 am