Hal Crawford - Podcast Details

Shows

Mumbrellacast The $300m Australian content law; Woolies pre-loved Xmas campaign; and SCA and Seven green light upsets investorIn this week's Mumbrellacast, Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes, Nathan Jolly, Eleanor Dickinson and Abe Udy dig into the new legislation that will require streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime, dedicate 10% of their total local expenditure to Australian content. You can get up to speed with the proposed law here. Isn't it great: Australian screen production just won a $300m+ lottery Meanwhile, 'tis the season for Christmas campaigns and Woolworths launched its 2025 platform using last year's creative. Eleanor asks whether the move is really all about saving money, and notes that...

2025-11-0523 min

Mumbrellacast ARN delivers the goods at latest upfront, and a News Corp insider opens up29 October 2025 In this week's Mumbrellacast, Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes and Nathan Jolly discuss ARN's packed upfront. Having taken over the Star Casino in Sydney, the radio network announced a slew of new content. Check out Nathan's breakdown here. Yesterday, leaders of the Australian publishing industry gathered for Mumbrella's Publish conference. Nicholas Gray, News Corp Australia's MD and publisher of The Australian and Prestige, took to the stage with Mumbrella's Hal Crawford to discuss a range of topics, including AI, the News Media Bargaining Code, and News Corp's culture. The session is included in full.

2025-10-2936 min

Tights and Fights Ep. 460: Alicia Fox/Veronica Crawford has returned to WWEWWE’s Crown Jewel PLE is in the books– and we actually think that Perth Australia got a pretty solid show!Hal, Danielle and Julian discuss what they think worked: Roman continuing his drama with the Bloodline was really compelling and something that we missed a lot; John Cena and AJ Styles had a great match acknowledging their collective decades of wrestling; and Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes proved that they can deliver a main event on any given night.But now there’s word that Seth is injured, a story that was see...

2025-10-1850 min

Mumbrellacast ‘The merger’ – SCA/SWM dissected, ex-Edelman CCO weighs in on redundancy crisis, and ChatGPT’s major move2 October 2025 Southern Cross Austereo and Seven West Media’s proposed merger is fascinating: a power move or alliance between two disrupted businesses? We go over the merger’s details to determine which company’s culture — TV or radio — will dominate. Last week, Mumbrella ran a story on the redundancy crisis that has struck the marketing and media sector in recent times. One of the leaders we spoke to, Edelman’s former chief client officer Amber di Scotto Perta, chatted with Hal about her experiences. Meanwhile, ChatGPT has a new buying feature in the US that allo...

2025-10-0234 min

Mumbrellacast Remade revelations, the Murdoch Tiktok deal, and unpicking Optus' latest PR nightmare24 September 2025 This week: Yesterday's Remade event put retail media under the microscope. In separate sessions, Zitcha's Alberto Vergara shared his theory that impulse buying is going to be destroyed by AI agents, and Jonathan Hopkins of Sonder and Commbank's Patrick Crowley dove deep into Commbank's journey of building its own retail media network. So, does retail media have a bright future? Meanwhile, this week saw Donald Trump drop a Tiktok bombshell, claming that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch were considering investing in the short form video platform in the United States. Fresh off exploring...

2025-09-2424 min

Mumbrellacast Mat Baxter's tattoo skincare venture, inside Mumbrella360 2026, and marketing death successfully18 September 2025 Expert marketer Mat Baxter rolled out a tattoo luxury skincare line, Skingraphica, after finding that popular cosmetic brands didn't supply products specifically for tattoo skincare. He spoke with Hal about the new venture, and revealed the unorthodox marketing practices he's going to deploy for it. Meanwhile, Mumbrella360 2026 has been officially announced. "Catalyst" is the theme for Australia's top media and marketing event, and our head of curation, Cat McGinn, is here to share what delegates can expect. The government has elaborated on the under-16s social media ban, publishing guidelines that explain...

2025-09-1723 min

Mumbrellacast Youtube going strong at 20, Mamamia starts its engines for new era, and Mango Comms Sydney is no more11 September 2025 Youtube marked its 20th birthday by gathering 600 industry personnel in Sydney and dazzling them with its own version of a TV upfront. The video streaming platform shared its latest products with the crowd, and Hal was there to see if it was all worth it. The latest radio ratings are in, and Nine Radio climbed back in Melbourne. Kyle and Jackie O have also gained some ground in the Victorian city. We go over the results to see who's currently on top. In this week's Upfronts season, Mamamia announced a refreshed strategy...

2025-09-1124 min

Mumbrellacast Nine posts big numbers, ARN vs SCA financial results, and AANA responds to health concerns28 August 2025 Nine's finances for FY2025 were released this morning, and the combined weight of the Olympics, Stan and Domain helped the media organisation stay upright. But should Nine be celebrating? Meanwhile, rivals ARN and SCA have released their own financial results, while rumours of Nine being interested in buying SCA continue. Nathan is here to break down the numbers and share what SCA CEO John Kelly said of the rumours during their recent chat. The Australian Association of National Advertisers released a report that stated most people say junk food advertising doesn't affect...

2025-08-2723 min

Mumbrellacast Dentsu ANZ's leadership bombshell, News Corp's full-year financials, and the great copyright debate6 August 2025 Dentsu ANZ dropped a bomb this morning, revealing that its CEO Patricio De Matteis is leaving the business with the company's New Zealand boss, Rob Harvey, stepping in as his replacement. We discuss what this means for the holdco. News Corp released its full-year financials, and despite declining revenue for its Australian operations, the media giant's results are strong. Hal dissects the major numbers and the reasons for them. Meanwhile, the radio industry has been buzzing with ARN's plans for the Christian O'Connell Show. Nath and Tim discuss the "national live" launch...

2025-08-0627 min

Mumbrellacast Google's legal threats, Solstice Media's latest acquisition, and the media industry's season of change30th July 2025 Over the weekend, Google ramped up the under-16s social media ban fight by sending at letter to the Australian government with legal claims for exemption (which it has just officially lost). We analyse Google's arguments to see if the tech juggernaut has a case or if it's shouting at a wall. Hal interviews executive director of media and data at Spinach Advertising Ben Willee about the commercial impact of the under-16s ban on Google. Meanwhile, Solstice Media announced it is acquiring a majority shareholding in Australian Traveller Media — and it...

2025-07-3024 min

Mumbrellacast Commbank goes big with new campaign, media mushroom sins, and Mat Baxter's take on agencyland9 July 2025 The Commonwealth Bank has the industry and consumers talking about its latest ad campaign. But it's not just the 90-second whirlwind of a TVC featuring cars, several Matildas, and even a biplane that has captured people's attention — it's the 'Australian first' media strategy leveraging a 48-hour roadblock across BVOD. We break down the work to answer what everyone's asking: how effective is it? Mitsubishi Australia and creative agency Richards Rose spent serious cash to secure the rights to AC/DC’s ‘It’s a Long Way To The Top (If You Wann...

2025-07-0927 min

Mumbrellacast Aussies win big at Cannes, the trouble at Clems, and are women avoiding news?18 June 2025 Telstra and creative agency Bear Meets Eagle On Fire won the Film Craft Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It's one of the most prestigious awards in adland — Lauren breaks down the win and shares an update on other awards the Australian industry has secured. Clemenger Group's changing of the guard continues with the announcement that its CEO Les Timar handed in his resignation after spending more than two decades with the business. Jonathan Hunt, head of content at HubSpot, had a chat with Hal about what platforms ar...

2025-06-1826 min

Mumbrellacast The Project and Q+A get the boot; Challenges women face in media; and Greg Hywood's thoughts on Nine11 June 2025 Two long-running television shows, ABC's Q+A and Ten's The Project, have officially been axed at their respective networks. Q+A is being replaced by documentaries, while The Project is being replaced by an investigative news and current affairs program. We discuss what these major changes mean for Australian TV. Meanwhile, a new Women in Media Industry Insight report has uncovered the key workplace issues women are facing in the media sector. Should we be surprised by the findings? Last week, former Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood announced he would be...

2025-06-1128 min

Mumbrellacast Adland’s revolving door; Clive Dickens’ new business venture; and Mamamia’s new video strategy4 June 2025 Last week, iconic Australian adland figure David Droga announced he would be stepping down from Accenture Song. Since then, M+C Saatchi’s APAC CEO, Justin Graham, and Dentsu Creative ANZ’s chief creative officer, Ben Coulson, also revealed they were moving on. They’re just a few among the many major talent movements in the industry — we go over them all and examine the root of all the turmoil. Optus’ ex-digital product boss Clive Dickens is officially setting up his own AI consultancy. With a track record like his, people are paying att...

2025-06-0421 min

Mumbrellacast ABC, SBS and the gender pay gaps data; inside outdoor media; marketers and Google’s AI Mode; Resolution Digital’s new chapter21 May 2025 For the first time ever, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency has released the gender pay gaps of companies in the Commonwealth public sector — and that includes broadcasters ABC and SBS. We unpack the data to see who’s winning and who needs to catch up. Last week, Hal interviewed Ooh Media’s chief revenue officer, Mark Fairhurst, who threw back the curtain on outdoor media. The conversation was rich: we share the highlights and go in-depth on the challenges in the sector. Google recently announced a new search tool, AI Mode, that’s gearin...

2025-05-2122 min

Mumbrellacast Are Media CEO on US deal; SCA finally exits TV; Netflix's Aussie earnings; will AI take jobs?7 May 2025 This morning, Are Media announced a deal that it would sell ads for US publisher Dotdash Meredith in the Australian market. Hal had a rare chat with Are Media's CEO Jane Huxley who claims the sun has come out. Meanwhile, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) is officially selling its remaining regional TV licences to Seven West Media — and not Australian Digital Holdings (ADH) as was originally planned. We discuss if this was a good move for SCA, and ADH's response to the news. Netflix's Australian financial accounts have been filed and they're raking in...

2025-05-0719 min

Mumbrellacast A nothing-off-limits chat with Meta ANZ boss Will Easton30 April 2025 Metafest has just wrapped up for 2025, and to mark the occasion, Hal and Tim sat down with Meta's ANZ managing director Will Easton. From the News Media Bargaining Code to Meta's tax payments and the highly publicised social media ban for people under the age of 16, Easton faced questions on some controversial issues in this special episode of the Mumbrellacast. Join Hal Crawford and Tim Burrowes for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

2025-04-3028 min

Mumbrellacast The Chrome threat; Click-through down on Google ads; Liz Hayes joins Seven23 April 2025The US Department of Justice recently stood in court and said it wants Google to sell Chrome — and since the tech giant has already been found to possess an illegal search monopoly, there is actually a chance it will have to give up the world’s most popular web browser.Hal spoke with In Marketing We Trust’s CEO Paul Hewett to unpack the impact the sale would have on marketers, and discovered that click-through is down on search ads thanks to AI overviews.Mean...

2025-04-2322 min

Mumbrellacast ESPN levels up; the federal budget's impact on adland; the Gazette blow-up26 March 2025This week:Two big streaming television plays, and the Australian federal budget are dominating media and marketing industry chatter at the moment.This week, American sports channel ESPN is launching in Australia on Disney+, while on Monday, Warner Bros Discovery is rolling out its streaming service, Max. What does this mean for sporting rights, and the advertising world? Will we see Sportsbets ads at the house of the mouse?Meanwhile, the 2025 federal budget had something for everyone — including HE...

2025-03-2619 min

Mumbrellacast The latest at Nine; results season for media companies; Max's launch date set; Ita Buttrose's explosive legal letter26 February 2025Half-year results, massive takeover bids, and the ABC's ongoing legal battle with Antoinette Lattouf have given the industry much to talk about in the last seven days.This week:The saga between Nine Entertainment Company, Costar and Domain; the financial half-year results from ARN, SCA, Ooh Media and Nine; Warner Bros Discovery's launch of its long-awaited Max streaming service in Australia; and Ita Buttrose's must-read legal letter on alleged misrepresentation by ex-ABC managing director David Anderson.Join Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes and Nathan Jolly for a look at everything under...

2025-02-2621 min

Mumbrellacast Luke Girgis suing Vinyl Group; Defending NZ Tourism's 'Everyone Must Go' campaign; The Atlantic's interview with James Murdoch; Ooh Media's greenwashing mistakes19 February 2025Between Unmade's Compass event in Auckland on Tuesday evening and James Murdoch's juicy interview, the media and marketing industry has had much to discuss.This week:The former chief executive officer and founder of The Brag Media, Luke Girgis, is taking Vinyl Group to court for unfair dismissal; the Warehouse Group's chief marketing officer, Jo Mitchell, defends NZ Tourism's 'Everyone Must Go' campaign; James Murdoch shares insights into his famous family's highly publicised succession battle; and Ooh Media gets caught in a greenwashing scandal.Join Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes and...

2025-02-1921 min

Mumbrellacast Seven West Media's first half-year financials; Ita Buttrose takes the stand in ABC vs Antoinette Lattouf case; ESPN heading to Australia; Jackie O responds to Melbourne expansion failure12 February 2025A lot has gone down in the media lately.This week:Seven West Media's first half-year financials for FY25; Ita Buttrose taking the stand in the highly publicised ABC vs Antoinette Lattouf court case; American sports broadcaster, ESPN heading to Disney+; and Jackie 'O' Henderson sharing her thoughts on the Kyle & Jackie O Show not making a splash in Melbourne.Join Hal Crawford, Tim Burrowes and Nathan Jolly for a look at everything under Australia’s media and marketing umbrella.

2025-02-1223 min

The Fold Summer reissue: Australia has banned social media for under 16s. And that's just the beginningThe 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 authority, Australia is a global leader, while New Zealand is nowhere to be found.In the first of two episodes focused on A...

2025-01-1555 min

The Fold Australia has banned social media for under 16s. And that's just the beginningIn 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, former Newshub boss Hal Crawford joins Duncan to discuss a raft of legislation aimed at big tech, which has either been proposed or passed - sometimes...

2024-12-0356 min

The Fold A strange trip through the end of Newshub and the beginning of crypto gamingHal Crawford ran Newshub through a crucial era – but has traveled a strange path since. He joins Duncan Greive to discuss the unique personality of Three News, the prospects of Stuff at 6pm – and his very different career since he returned to Australia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2024-06-3051 min

Double Take News Saviour or Platform Shakedown?Early next year, Australia’s world-first news media bargaining turns 3, meaning that many of the deals Google and Meta have done with Australian news media businesses are about to expire. Worth well over $200m annually, these deals have prompted a host of other jurisdictions to follow suit. Yet critics argue the code is flawed, unfair and lacks transparency. CMT's Sacha Molitorisz speaks with ex-ACCC chair Rod Sims, Columbia journalism scholar Anya Schiffrin, and author and consultant Hal Crawford about the code and its impact, three years on and beyond.

2023-12-131h 05

Key Characters Bo Daly on why first-time developers try too hard Bo Daly has seen a lot in game development. He started straight out of university, worked at Rockstar on the Red Dead games, founded studio Super Evil Megacorp and developed mobile hit Vainglory. He’s now CEO and founder at Bazooka Tango and is making a blockchain game called Shardbound, a card-based tactical battler with blockchain elements. In this Key Characters interview, Hal Crawford asks Daly what it was like picking up Shardbound as a game half-built by somebody else, and how the game appears on Steam despite that platform’s ban on blockchain content. Subscribe to Key...

2023-10-1728 min

The Web3 Gamer #11 - Decoding Web3 Gaming with Hal Crawford: From Journalism to Blockchain ChallengesShow Notes - The Web3 Gamer - Episode 11: Decoding Web3 Gaming with Hal Crawford: From Journalism to Blockchain ChallengesIn this episode of The Web3 Gamer, we welcome Hal Crawford, a former news executive and an experienced journalist. He's worked in print, digital, radio, TV and was once, a long time ago, a games reviewer. Hal is currently the head of content for Polemos a Web3 Gaming news platform. Join us as we explore a variety of topics around Journalism, gaming, and Web3 gaming.Listen in to this insightful conversation and discover the...

2023-10-0857 min

Key Characters David Johansson on sticking to the blockchain The founder of the studio behind Blocklords, David Johansson, is refusing to back down and hide the blockchain like many other game developers in the space. In the face of intense mainstream gamer hostility against crypto and NFTs, many developers are removing references to blockchain in their marketing materials and either hiding, delaying or outright removing crypto integrations in their games. In this interview Johansson explains why this isn’t the path he is taking, and why he thinks his medieval strategy game can sign up a million gamers by the end of next year. He also discusses his ec...

2023-09-1524 min

Key Characters Chandler Thomlison on the brutal road of game development When Chandler Thomlison began developing a game seven years ago, he had no idea how long and hard the road would be … and he’s not done yet. In this interview with Hal Crawford, Thomlison lays out what he’s learned, including how difficult it is to raise money as an independent game studio, the dynamics of crypto funding, and how that blockchain connection has turned out to be a problem when it comes to gamers. Thomlison’s game is called Sparkball. Subscribe to Key Characters on your favorite podcast app or listen directly on the Pole...

2023-08-2230 min

Key Characters Jerry Singer on Metalcore and firefighting Jerry Singer leads business development on Metalcore, a mech shooter with blockchain integrations. He is also a former professional firefighter, college baseball player, and closet World of Warcraft fanatic. In this episode of Key Characters, Jerry discusses the change in attitudes towards gaming – moving away from stigma to mainstream commercialisation – the difficulty of building games, and Metalcore’s decision to de-emphasise the blockchain in order that “the gameplay experience feels native to whoever”. Subscribe to Key Characters on your favorite podcast app or listen directly on the Polemos website.

2023-07-2128 min

STAY Sustainable Astounding innovation is driving progress in sustainability! An interview with Hal StillmanAlec welcomes inventor and entrepreneur Hal Stillman to the STAY Sustainable podcast! He talks about some incredible innovation driving progress in sustainability, as well as his own career journey starting at General Electric Reentry and Environmental Systems in the 1970s and progressing through various startups. We also touch on his new carbon-positive home in New Mexico! An incredible breadth of discussion.

2023-07-1636 min

Key Characters Volkin on giving up on web3 gaming Volkin is a YouTube content creator and former web3 enthusiast, who has stepped back from the blockchain because of the lack of games. The former electrician from Melbourne built his substantial following (>100k) on mobile gacha games like Honkai Star Rail, and has a deep curiosity around gaming tech, including blockchain. He still believes in projects such as Illuvium, but is waiting for the big games. “Every project in web3 … I don’t think anyone’s ever met a deadline, so I just think whitepapers are just fluff and I just don’t look at them anymore. I didn’t w...

2023-07-1318 min

Key Characters Sarah West on the power of nostalgia Sarah West is the head of marketing at 1980s-themed trading card game The Nemots. She’s also a powerful advocate for women in web3, and a kind of ground-wire back to gaming’s universal roots. In this Key Characters interview she talks about nostalgia, owning a ZX Spectrum, the psychology of games, and how blockchain gaming pushes people away in the very act of attempting to reach them. Subscribe to Key Characters on your favorite podcast app or listen directly on the Polemos website.

2023-06-2126 min

Key Characters Yan Liberman on bankrolling blockchain games Yan Liberman, co-founder at Delphi Digital, knows as much as anyone about how to pick the highest potential blockchain games. He is backing his “bets” with hard cash – his own, and other peoples’. In this interview with Hal Crawford, he talks about unfairness in gaming, why pay-to-win is not a binary state, the importance of experience for game developers, and how to ride the volatility of the crypto market. Note that the web version of this podcast is accompanied by a pixel art image of Liberman that bears little relation to reality. The scene is an invention.

2023-05-2927 min

Key Characters The Bettners on making Wildcard, a game with a shot at glory Katy Drake Bettner and Paul Bettner are the force behind Wildcard, an arena battler hybrid game that has been in development for six years. In this rambling, entertaining discussion with Hal Crawford, they explain their vision of creating a spectator experience with all the hooks of broadcast TV sport. Their intention is to use the blockchain to not only attract audiences, but also distribute profits among the players.

2023-05-1236 min

Key Characters Sascha Zehe on how to explain blockchain gaming Polemos co-CEO Sascha Zehe struggled with explaining what he does to his family … and that was before he got into blockchain gaming. In this interview he tells Hal Crawford his tactics for making BG relatable and comprehensible, and also talks about his lightning conversion to blockchain belief in 2021. Check out polemos.io for blockchain gaming news, past episodes of Key Characters, and also to sign up to our weekly newsletter.

2023-05-0624 min

Key Characters Aaron Warwick on life inside Illuvium Aaron Warwick is one of the key characters behind mega blockchain game project Illuvium, the brainchild of four Sydney brothers. In this interview he gives insights into game economy and development, and goes into his childhood growing up as the son a professional tennis player. Despite loving maths, puzzles and “the nerdier elements of life”, Aaron always thought he would be a professional sportsman.

2023-04-2925 min

Key Characters Frank Cheng on drinking, games, and strange names Foonie Magus co-founder Frank Cheng speaks with Hal Crawford about swimming against the tide and making a god game. Apeiron, currently in beta testing, is a blockchain gaming (BG) project that Cheng hopes will form the basis of an intellectual property franchise. Like many BG projects, Apeiron is multi-game, multi-token and mega ambitious. Cheng discusses his background in Asian private equity and serious gaming, and makes a case for building a gaming system for different types of players. Subscribe to the Key Characters podcast by searching for it in your favourite podcast app, or head to our...

2023-04-2021 min

Backstage Babble Ben Crawford, Broadway’s Final PhantomOn April 16, The Phantom of the Opera will take its final Broadway bow. And today, I am so honored to be joined by Ben Crawford, the last man to wear the iconic mask before the show closes. Tune in today to hear Ben talk about funniest audience reactions, onstage mishaps, the physical challenges of singing through a mask, the unique feedback he got from Hal Prince, and his long audition process for the role. There are also stories about the rest of Ben’s great career, including the genius of Scott Ellis, the musical he’d like to be in n...

2023-04-0848 min

Crawford Media Podcast Zara Seidler: "For a long time, youth news has been deeply subjective"Zara Seidler has taken The Daily Aus in a different direction from most youth news publishers: it’s straight-down-the-line, objective news. Zara, as co-founder, has seen her Instagram-based service grow to more than 400k followers, receive substantial investment and begin considering expansion beyond Australia. Subscribe to the Crawford Media podcast for this 1:1 discussion. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halcrawford.substack.com

2022-12-0225 min

Our Strange Skies: UFOs Throughout History 122: The Anomalous Bigfoot with Jordan HeathWhen it comes to the big hairy guy in the woods, most people are of the mind that Bigfoot is a salt of the earth creature, feet firmly planted on the ground. Well, on this episode, we talk about the Bigfoot that may have hitched a ride on a UFO. For decades, hairy creatures have been associated with the UFO phenomenon. In 1954, Venezuela was besieged by short, stocky creatures, with glowing yellow eyes. This particular hairy humanoid was particularly aggressive, scratching many witnesses. The link between the two phenomena would become stronger in the early 70s after...

2022-10-101h 33

Crawford Media Podcast "Talk" supersedes podcasting: Spotify's Ben Watts on getting people to listenSpotify’s Head of Studios ANZ Ben Watts has always been fixated on audio, whether music or spoken word, and now he’s bringing the two together at the global streaming giant. In this conversation Ben traces his moves through the digital platform and publishing industry and how his thinking has evolved around the use of metrics. Along the way there are a few valuable pointers for successful podcasts and how the world’s dominant podcast platform, Spotify, is thinking about “talk”. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...

2022-10-1027 min

Crawford Media Podcast Taking the world one post at a time: Lucy BlakistonLucy Blakiston might be young (24), but she’s been publishing to big audiences for the best part of a decade. The force behind youth news brand S**t You Should Care About is a one-person social media phenomenon: 3.6 million Instagram followers and tens of thousands of newsletter subscribers want to hear what she has to say about world affairs, Formula 1 and Harry Styles. In this Crawford Media conversation, Lucy shares her thoughts on corrections (good), TikTok (so-so) and cancelling people (bad). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with ot...

2022-09-0528 min

Crawford Media Podcast No advice, but plenty of help: Tim Griggs and the news missionTim Griggs is the force behind Blue Engine Collaborative, a company that has run accelerator programs all over the world helping businesses make digital news pay. One of the first things he tells program participants is that there is no magic bullet. As the guy behind The New York Times’ early foray into news subscriptions, Tim is well-qualified to give advice. He prefers not to, instead encouraging people to break their problems down into manageable pieces. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus ep...

2022-08-2424 min

Crawford Media Podcast Genevieve Jacobs on "cracking local"Genevieve Jacobs believes she and her company, Region Media, have cracked the secret to doing local publishing profitably. If so, why are so many other outfits struggling to stay open? In this Crawford Media podcast, the Canberra-based publisher describes a business model that leans heavily on search traffic and local business reviews, along with integrated sponsored content. Genevieve is not short on confidence: as she says, “I talk a good game, Hal”. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halc...

2022-08-0124 min

Crawford Media Podcast How to make a buck while sticking to the mission: Dan StintonDan Stinton is the Managing Director of The Guardian in Australia and New Zealand and is forthright in this podcast about the main thing holding growth back: "half the country hasn't heard of us". To that end, The Guardian is launching a new marketing campaign with a new tagline around "the fight for progress". Stinton also dives into the need for top-of-the-funnel focus and his optimism about news' continuing role in digital advertising. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit halcrawford...

2022-07-0430 min

Crawford Media Podcast The Unwilled Writer Part 2Hello everybody,Here is the much-anticipated second part of my journey into AI-land with OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model. In addition to continuing my conversation with The Open University’s Mike Sharples, I spoke to another education scholar: Stephen Marshall, Director of the Centre for Academic Development at Victoria University in Wellington.In this part, I ask Stephen and Mike how universities are going to deal with students using AIs to generate plausible essays with a single mouse click. The answer: stop thinking you can just assign an essay and mark it at the end. Wake...

2022-06-0822 min

Crawford Media Podcast The Unwilled WriterHello everyone,This week is the first part of a two-part podcast on AI language transformers in general and GPT-3 in particular. First up, I am dealing with general impacts and impressions and next week I’ll go deeper into the effects of text generators on education. All of this is a follow-up to The Machines Have Acquired Language, which I wrote two weeks ago. It also touches on an article I wrote for The Spinoff, AI Writing Has Entered A New Dimension.I have to make this succinct, because last time I published a po...

2022-06-0120 min

Crawford Media Podcast Get bored, get brave: Tim Duggan on making ideas betterKia ora koutou,In this week’s podcast I am speaking with journalist, entrepreneur and author Tim Duggan. Today just happens to be the day he is launching his new book, Killer Thinking.I won’t summarise the book’s thesis, but I will let you know that I enjoyed reading it, and that it is full of information to challenge you and help take your idea (which he defines as a solution to some problem) from ok to awesome. Or in Tim’s parlance, KILLER.As an experiment, I am cutting and pasting...

2022-05-0338 min

Crawford Media Podcast Gideon Haigh on the longest form of journalismHappy Friday all,Gideon Haigh is in the Crawford Media spotlight today.If you’re any kind of Australian cricket fan at all, you will be familiar with Haigh’s writing. He’s been covering the game for more than three decades, but that’s far from his only area of activity. Haigh has become a specialist in the longest form of journalism available: books.He’s very good at it, and he seems to be able to turn his hand to any subject.The trick is to do things that you're rea...

2022-04-0136 min

Crawford Media Podcast Where fact and melody collide: Victor Vlam on news musicHello everyoneSpecial treat for you today if you’re a Crawford Media podcast listener: I’m speaking to Victor Vlam, a Dutch journalist who also happens to curate the world’s biggest collection of news theme music.I wrote earlier in the year about the power of audio, and how the majority of news publishers intend to increase investment in podcasts and other audio products this year. They would do well to pay attention to music. There’s nothing like it for setting an emotional atmosphere, grabbing attention, and efficiently branding a piece of audio or...

2022-03-1535 min

Crawford Media Podcast Keep calm and make a plan: Sarah Bristow on news directingAs noted in this week’s newsletter, the latest Crawford Media podcast is an interview with Sarah Bristow, News Director at Discovery in New Zealand. Bristow is a former colleague and an interesting character: I wanted to ask how she’s finding things, the practical difficulties trying to transition from TV to digital (still happening, even if the story is old), and what it’s like to lead a 24-hour national newsroom. I was Bristow’s predecessor, when Discovery was not on the scene and the operation was owned by Mediaworks, so the kinds of questions I ask her...

2022-03-0831 min

Crawford Media Podcast On assignment in Australia: Bill GrueskinHello everyone,Today in the Crawford Media podcast I have a conversation, recorded last week, with visiting US journalist and professor Bill Grueskin. Grueskin is in Sydney at the invitation of the Judith Nielsen Institute (JNI) to engage with Australian journalists and educators - delivering lectures and sitting on panels - and to investigate the Media Bargaining Code. The code, you will recall, passed into Australian law a year ago amid much clamour and has subsequently lain dormant while Google and Facebook finalised deals with big and medium-sized Australian media organisations.It is a measure...

2022-02-2026 min

Crawford Media Podcast Paul Henry on being dislikedHello everyone,I find the process of putting together these podcasts immensely satisfying, and never more than when I have beautiful material to work with. It’s like woodworking with good timber. That’s the situation I found myself in this week with this week’s conversation with Paul Henry, a New Zealand broadcaster of long experience and great skill.This podcast is a companion piece to my interview with Michael Anderson, which was published at the end of last year. In both I have used a list of 10 encouragements drawn from the work of Alfred...

2022-02-0625 min

Crawford Media Podcast Cross-examining the boss: Michael Anderson on victims, hierarchy, and stressMichael Anderson was the CEO of Mediaworks and my boss for more than three years. We talked a lot together, particularly about the difficulties of managing people within media companies, and two days before I left my news director job in 2020 I asked his permission to record our final conversation.At the time, I was much occupied with the ideas of Alfred Adler, an early 20th-century Viennese psychologist. Adler’s ideas form the basis of The Courage To Be Disliked, and after reading that book, I distilled his wisdom into 10 short encouragements I thought might be useful fo...

2021-12-1031 min

Crawford Media Podcast Chasing quality: Andrew Jaspan's academic wire serviceHello everyoneAndrew Jaspan is the founder of The Conversation and the “force of nature” behind a new news startup called 360info. 360info is conducting a closed trial right now, but will open for business in the new year.In the podcast this week Jaspan reveals his thinking behind what is best described as an academic wire service, or news agency. While playing in the same space as The Conversation, which he began in 2011, his new venture avoids going head-to-head with it.Yes, 360info is a research-fuelled content creator based at a university (Mona...

2021-12-0129 min

Crawford Media Podcast Trust, money and politics: Caroline FisherHello everyoneToday I have a podcast with University of Canberra Associate Professor Caroline Fisher for you. Fisher is a former broadcast journalist working at the News and Media Research Centre - with Professor Sora Park among others - and she has some important data on who is willing to pay for news. She’s also currently researching whether trusting news sources influences your willingness to pay (the answer seems to be a little bit, but not nearly as much as being into politics).Because Fisher’s interests are diverse and because she is the co-a...

2021-11-2428 min

Crawford Media Podcast How the BBC bankrolls local reporters: Matthew BarracloughHello everyone,Funding news is not easy.It’s tough to commercially fund news. Everyone know this. In fact, we’ve heard so much about how hard it is to fund news commercially that it’s become a bit dull. Advertising is owned by the digital platform companies and only a small percentage of people subscribe.What you may not realise is that funding news is difficult in the non-commercial world too.Here, there are a huge range of options: philanthropy, independent not-for-profit (like The Conversation), public broadcasting, contestable government funding (the NZ...

2021-11-1135 min

Crawford Media Podcast Unsafe thinking about news with Jonah SachsHello everyoneAs promised, this week I have marketing and storytelling guru Jonah Sachs on the podcast. Sachs wrote “Winning the Story Wars” back in 2012, following up with “Unsafe Thinking” in 2018. Both are excellent books. I wanted to speak to Sachs in particular about what has been happening to Facebook in the story arena: I thought he would have an interesting take on how and why the social media giant was getting narratively beaten up.As you’ll hear in the interview, Sachs is negative about Facebook and alarmed about humanity’s trajectory in general. Back in the...

2021-11-0429 min

Crawford Media Podcast "Only now can I talk about it"Gautam Mishra is the founder and CEO of Inkl, a Melbourne-based news aggregator that has been quietly building audience for the past seven years.Years ago Mishra and his news app were mentioned to me by Jack Matthews, the former Fairfax Metro CEO, and I went and downloaded Inkl. Mishra had worked with Matthews at Fairfax, where he set up the paywalls on The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and Matthews was pretty enthusiastic about him. For whatever reason, the product wasn’t what I needed at that point, and I never got in contact....

2021-10-2638 min

Crawford Media Podcast Money for nothingHello everyone,Today, I present you with Margy Vary, former marketing director at The Guardian Australia, and the possessor of a keen analytical mind. Vary has applied that mind to the thorny and important question of how to coax money out of news audiences.In the podcast, Vary explains how she and her colleagues at The Guardian began with the belief that they had to offer objects and tangible benefits in order to get people to contribute, but they quickly found their assumptions were incorrect.“We started with this big grand plan of a...

2021-10-1928 min

The Fold Hal Crawford on the Facebook FilesReturning guest Hal Crawford (Crawford Media) joins The Fold for a discussion about Facebook in light of the Wall Street Journal’s recent Facebook Files investigation. What did they reveal, and what can be done about it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2021-10-1754 min

Crawford Media Podcast Big money for a small audienceHello tribe,Many Crawford Media readers work inside the companies I write about, and today that is particularly relevant. Some of you will have much better knowledge of the deals for news content made in the shadow the Australian News Bargaining Code than both me and this week’s podcast interviewee, William Turvill. These deals are something we need to talk about, because around the globe, two of the world’s most powerful companies, Google and Facebook, are handing over cash to news media.The terms of the deals are confidential.Turvill, who is t...

2021-10-1419 min

Crawford Media Podcast The Conversation is the new face of public mediaHello everyone!Recently I had a great discussion with the CEO of The Conversation in Australia and New Zealand, Lisa Watts. I wanted to dig a bit more into the success of the university/news hybrid that began in Melbourne 10 years ago, and how it has expanded globally. The idea of using subject matter experts within academia to explain the issues behind current news stories seems like an obvious content play now that The Conversation has been successful, but as Watts points out in the podcast, it would not have worked if the platform had...

2021-09-2934 min

Crawford Media Podcast How to become a TV naturalPatrick Gower, or Paddy as he is known, was one of my first and favourite New Zealand news discoveries. Not that I discovered him in the sense of a talent scout. As you’ll hear in the podcast, Paddy moved years ago from print to broadcast, where he established himself as one of the most well-known and loved NZ TV personalities.What fascinates me about Paddy is that his on-screen persona is so close to the off-screen reality. Also that he has no discernible “TV voice”, is a master analyst and communicator, and seems to love the consta...

2021-09-2237 min

Crawford Media Podcast Defamation capital of the worldHello everyoneLast week I mentioned the Australian High Court decision in the Dylan Voller defamation case, and how it was freaking a lot of people out. The High Court found that three news organisations being sued for defamation were in fact the publishers of comments attached to their posts in Facebook, despite the fact they didn’t write them, approve them, or possibly even know of their existence. News of the decision has spread all over the world. In many cases, it is being taken as evidence of the bizarre state of things digital in...

2021-09-1518 min

Crawford Media Podcast Michael Miller and the Digital News AcademyHello everyoneA few weeks ago News Corp and Google announced the creation of the Digital News Academy in Australia. The Academy is a 3-year, 250-student program for working journalists within News Corp and other smaller media companies. It has been championed by News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller. As you’ll hear, I didn’t manage to get many more concrete details about the course, which could be because they don’t yet exist. What I did get, however, was an insight into how Miller thinks about the business of news, including the decline of advert...

2021-09-0926 min

Crawford Media Podcast Buying a stake in local news: Simon CrerarHello everyone,This week I bring you Simon Crerar, the founding editor of Buzzfeed Australia and now the co-founder of a local news startup called PS Media. To date Crerar and crew haven’t publicly disclosed details of how PS Media is going to work, so I relished the opportunity to get him talking.I’ll leave you to listen to the podcast to find out more. My advice is to stick with it as the picture of this new concept in news publishing takes shape during the conversation.What I will tell you...

2021-09-0335 min

Crawford Media Podcast Making independent news work: Schwartz CEO Rebecca CostelloI first met Schwartz Media CEO Rebecca Costello en route to a news industry “offsite” in Tasmania: we were flying in on a tiny plane. Small, dangerous-feeling spaces are good for creating connections, and I immediately took to Costello’s straight-talking approach to the event we were about to attend.Costello has presided over the independent, high-end and low-cost publisher as it gradually carved out a bigger and more stable position within the news industry. In this conversation we cover the logic behind launching a print-based newspaper in the middle of a digital revolution (The Saturday Paper, 2014) and th...

2021-08-1332 min

Crawford Media Podcast Gaven Morris on waking the ABC digital news giantEarlier this week I wrote about Nine and the ABC being recognised internationally for their fast-growing news sites. I took the opportunity to examine the ways that metrics can be used and abused in newsrooms, and from the comments I received on that piece it’s clear that I hit a nerve with many people who have worked in digital. If you’ve been inside a focussed, competitive big general news website you don’t forget the pressure, and many people wanted to back up what I said about insulating reporters from metrics.For the record: I have b...

2021-08-0631 min

Crawford Media Podcast Benedict Evans takes news to taskHello everyone - and happy Friday.This is the podcast follow-up to this week’s newsletter, and you’ll find it incredibly dense with interesting ideas. Benedict Evans is one of the smartest tech analysts in the world, and in this interview he’s turned his mind to the business of news.We cover:* How the internet not only changed advertising, it changed businesses to the extent that many gave up using advertising, and how that impacts the news industry* Subscriptions and how they work for big brands and niche titles...

2021-07-3034 min

Crawford Media Podcast In conversation with Tim BurrowesFor the first podcast of the Crawford Media experience I have the honour of presenting Mumbrella founder Tim Burrowes. The discussion covers the tumultuous last decade in Australian media history, as told in his book Media Unmade.I went deep into the book in my review. Here you have a chance to hear Burrowes explain his thinking around the book’s structure and subjects, and also go into some of the bigger characters in recent media history.While I intend to publish interviews where possible, I can’t promise podcasts with the regularity of the news...

2021-07-2336 min

The Fold Hal Crawford on reviewing the NZ Media FundIn this episode of The Spinoff’s media podcast The Fold, Duncan Greive talks to ex-head of news at Mediaworks, Hal Crawford, who's just completed a review into the NZ Media Fund.The NZ Media Fund was introduced by New Zealand On Air in 2017 to cover television, radio, music and online media, in hopes that it would more successfully represent the growing diversity of media than past funds. Now, three years later, former Mediaworks head of news Hal Crawford has conducted an independent review into this fund, hoping to grasp the industry's feelings about ho...

2021-03-1853 min

The Fold Exit interview: Newshub's Hal Crawford on Weldon, Paul Henry and the truth about TV ratingsIn episode two of The Spinoff newish media podcast The Fold, host Duncan Greive conducts an exit interview with Hal Crawford, the departing head of Newshub. Hal Crawford landed into a TV3 newsroom in crisis in 2016, just after Campbell Live had been axed, and Hilary Barry had resigned. He had been hired by Mark Weldon, the much-maligned CEO who oversaw a transformation at MediaWorks, from a news-first organisation, to one whose schedule was increasingly dominated by reality TV – but Weldon himself resigned before Crawford even started.He was born and raised in Per...

2020-01-261h 11 $Equity One: Broadway\'s Happy Hour$

Equity One: Broadway's Happy Hour The Majestic Prince with Ben Crawford, Jay Armstrong Johnson & Eryn LeCroy (The Phantom of the Opera)We are back, folks! After a busy summer, the boys catch up with each other before the catch up with the stars of The Phantom of the Opera! We sit with Ben Crawford, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Eryn LeCroy and chat about all things Phantom related. We raise a glass to Hal Prince, talk crazy Broadway debuts and if terrific is better than swell! Rate, review and subscribe on iTunes!https://www.instagram.com/crawdady21/https://www.instagram.com/jay_a_johnson/https://www.instagram.com/erynlecroy/https://lpr.com/?date=20190822&attrs...

2019-09-031h 34

WalkleyTalks Podcast The Rally Cry: Stories that inspire changeJoin Patrick Abboud, Hal Crawford and 2013 Walkley Award winner Madhvi Pankhania as they discuss with Christopher Warren how social media and multi-media storytelling are changing journalism. Presented by the Walkley Foundation in partnership with the Sydney Writers Festival.

2014-06-1759 min

WalkleyTalks Podcast The Buzz on sharing: Buzzfeed Australia LaunchWhat makes people share content, and how can sharing drive media – and profit? To mark the much anticipated arrival of BuzzFeed in Australia, the Walkleys hosted a special Storyology satellite event on the art and science of sharing. The event began with a keynote address by vice president of Buzzfeed, Scott Lamb…. Followed by a Q&A with the host of Media Watch Paul Barry and a panel discussion with news.com.au’s Melissa Hoyer, Ninemsn’s Hal Crawford, and the Guardian Australia’s Katharine Viner.

2014-02-051h 11

WalkleyTalks Podcast Public Knowledge Forum: Engaged AudiencesIn conjunction with the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and Sky News Australia’s APAC, the Walkley Foundation is delighted to present this series of six podcasts from the Public Knowledge Forum examining the state of journalism and asking: where to next? What affects have the use of social media platforms had on journalism? Does having direct and active relationships with the 'audience' change the way stories are chosen and told? Does this engagement represent a welcome corrective to the imperfect closeted journalism of the past or is it a threat to the quality of public kn...

2013-11-1546 min