People want free content. Publishers want to pay their bills. Editors want to reach audiences. Brands want to reach customers. But people don’t want to see ads – and adblockers are seriously disrupting what may have been an imperfect but tolerable financial model for many publishers and audiences. So: how are media outlets dealing with different consumer tactics for avoiding ads, and grappling with the question of whether to abandon the web in favour of apps and other platforms? And how are advertisers and technology platforms trying to outsmart their publics?
Featuring
Julian Thomas
Julian Thomas is director of the Swinburne Institute for Social Research and Professor or Media and Communications at Swinburne. His research interests are in new media, information policy and the history of communications technologies.
He is the co-author of a new book, Internet on the Outstation: The Digital Divide and Remote Aboriginal Communities (Institute for Network Cultures, 2016). His other recent books are: The Informal Media Economy (Polity, 2015), Amateur Media (Routledge, 2013), and Fashioning Intellectual Property: Advertising, Exhibition and the Press, 1789-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 2012).
Andrew Hunter
Andrew Hunter is MSN’s editor-in-chief, overseeing the Australian operations of Microsoft’s global content business. Andrew is a founder of the Share Wars social media project and co-author of the book All Your Friends Like This – How Social Networks Took Over News.
Tim Dunlop
Tim Dunlop writes about the media and politics for a number publications, including a regular column for the ABC at The Drum. His PhD is in political philosophy. He convenes a course in new media at the University of Melbourne in the Centre for Advancing Journalism.
He is the author of the book, The New Front Page: New Media and the Rise of the Audience, a seminal account of the changing face of news media. His latest book, Why The Future Is Workless, addresses the question of whether robots will take our jobs.
Hal Crawford
Hal Crawford is MediaWorks’ Chief News Officer, having joined the organisation in July 2016. In his role he manages Newshub, one of New Zealand’s largest news services. Prior to joining MediaWorks, Hal was Editor in Chief and Publisher of ninemsn in Australia where he led substantial audience and revenue growth over a nine year period, managing a network of 60+ sites used daily by millions of Australians.
Hal began his career in newspapers and has worked in Australia and globally in print and broadcast media. He has lectured in journalism at Melbourne’s La Trobe University and founded a social media research company, Share Wars. Prior to moving to New Zealand, Hal also sat on the Australian Press Council.
Jacqui Keleher
Jacqui Keleher is a digital media professional who has worked in the advertising industry in the UK and Australia for more than 14 years.
Throughout her career, she has developed digital media strategies across every major industry sector, including News International (now News UK) when the Times and Sunday Times were the first UK news sites to launch a paywall in 2010. Jacqui's focus is ensuring brand messages continue to connect with consumers as the media environment evolves.