New ways to measure television

Welcome to the Mumbrellacast, where television assets might be written down, but they are never written off.

This week, Nine presented a set of truly baffling financial results that didn't include its former radio division, Pedestrian or Domain, and pretended it had owned outdoor company QMS since the start of FY25 instead of for three months at the end of FY26. It also wrote down its television assets by a staggering $404m, suggesting they are suddenly worth less than half of what they once did.

Also measuring the worth of television this week is the Video Futures Collective, which launched a new (well, forthcoming) TV ratings system that will measure advertiser reach across different platforms. As we explain, under the new system, if I see a Gatorade ad on Disney+, then on Netflix, then on my mobile while watching Kayo Sports, I would be counted as one human, rather than three separate humans (albeit one human with a large entertainment bill). They aren't doing public-facing TV ratings initially, nor are they measuring free-to-air TV, but interim CEO Toby Dewar hinted to Mumbrella that both might be coming soon.

And to round out the episode, Tim talks to one of Australia’s most interesting tabloid exports, Breaker Media founder Lachlan Cartwright, ahead of his keynote at Mumbrella Publish next week. 

Get the latest episodes here.

Podcast edit by Abe’s Audio.