Latest / What the Flux / Nine's fire sale of radio stations | Spotify is crushing the Aussie music artist's dream | Paramount to take on TikTok

Transcript

Nine's fire sale of radio stations | Spotify is crushing the Aussie music artist's dream | Paramount to take on TikTok · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the flucks, I'm brat and I'm justin.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, the second of February, flex Fam.
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  Speaker 2: If you're planning to travel overseas in the next week,
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  Speaker 2: you are in luck. The Australian dollar is currently at
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  Speaker 2: its highest level in over three years. In fact, the
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  Speaker 2: Australian dollar crack through seventy cents, up from sixty four
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  Speaker 2: cents in November last year. And well, that's good for travelers,
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  Speaker 2: it's not great news for Aussie companies exporting to the US, FOXAM.
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  Speaker 1: As we kick off the new month of February, it
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  Speaker 1: is the time to start saving for big money goals
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six. But if you don't know where
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to start, the best place to go is the Flux
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  Speaker 1: Budgeting Tool. It connects to all your accounts in under
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: thirty seconds, attractive spending your savings so you can get
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: on top of your money. So if you want to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: learn more, make sure to download the Flex app and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: check out the budgeting tool.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Three fantastic stories today Juzzy Boy, Let's do it for
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  Speaker 2: our first nine Entertainment has ditched its radio and regional
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  Speaker 2: TV assets to bulk up on billboards with a eight
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  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty million dollar acquisition.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, out with the old and in with the new.
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  Speaker 1: Moving the chess pieces around, b man, So you tell
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  Speaker 1: me more so. Nine Entertainment is one of Australia's biggest
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  Speaker 1: media groups. We'd be talking free to AIRTV with Channel
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  Speaker 1: nine aka the hosts of the Australian Open. But nine's
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  Speaker 1: also the owner of major newspapers like the AFI, the
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  Speaker 1: Age of Cydney Morning Herald, not.
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  Speaker 2: To forget stan Old Stanley and some of the major
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  Speaker 2: AM radio stations too.
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  Speaker 1: These all came under nine during its merger with Fairfax
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  Speaker 1: back in twenty eighteen.
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  Speaker 2: But now nine has announced it is selling its radio
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  Speaker 2: arm including TWOGB, three AW and four BC, for roughly
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  Speaker 2: fifty six million dollars.
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  Speaker 1: But that's not all, b Man. It's also offloading its
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  Speaker 1: regional TV network to WIN Corps.
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  Speaker 2: At the same time, Nine is buying outdoor advertising company
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  Speaker 2: QMS Media from Quadrant Private Equity.
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  Speaker 1: All up, that's going to cost them eight hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty million dollars in reshaping their business for the future
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  Speaker 1: of media.
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  Speaker 2: Crazy stuff, juzy boy, So what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 1: Not all media ads are delivered equally.
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  Speaker 2: An ad on TV doesn't have the same impact as
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  Speaker 2: an ad on a billboard, and an add on a
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  Speaker 2: billboard doesn't have the same impact as a digital add
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  Speaker 2: on Instagram. So when advertised allocate their spend, they need
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  Speaker 2: to be strategic about what the return on these investments
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  Speaker 2: actually are.
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  Speaker 1: Out the advertising, especially digital out of home, has been
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  Speaker 1: one of the better performing segments of media in recent years.
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  Speaker 2: YEP, and out of home ads have grown by over
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  Speaker 2: eight percent your own years.
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  Speaker 1: On the other hand, the radio ad market is shrinking,
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  Speaker 1: with radio revenue falling four percent in the September quarter alone.
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  Speaker 2: So nine is purposefully pruning its media portfolio right now.
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  Speaker 1: YEP, because the declining regional and radio market no longer
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  Speaker 1: fits in its long term strategy.
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  Speaker 2: For our second story, Australian music artists are struggling to
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  Speaker 2: get discovered on streaming platforms like Spotify, which is putting
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  Speaker 2: a heap of pressure on the entire industry.
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  Speaker 1: Go on the days of finding new music, the rage
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  Speaker 1: triple j or even video hits. What is going on here?
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  Speaker 2: So Josey Boy, Australian artists have created some of the
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  Speaker 2: biggest cultural hits of our time.
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  Speaker 1: Seeing Horses by Dalel Braithwaite, You're the Voice by John Farner.
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  Speaker 2: Can't forget powder Finger classics as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yep. But new data from the Australian Performing Rights Association
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  Speaker 1: or OPRA as they call themselves has come out.
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  Speaker 2: And Banky opera this time a different opera.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but b man this opera. Have found that local
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  Speaker 1: Australian music now makes up just nine and a half
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  Speaker 1: percent of all streams in Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Which is down from thirty one percent over five years.
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  Speaker 1: And what's the reason for this decline?
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  Speaker 2: Be man, we see jazy boy. Streaming platforms have become
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  Speaker 2: the main way for Australians to discover new music. That's
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  Speaker 2: according to Creative Australia, and the algorithmic bias in the
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  Speaker 2: streaming platforms has really started to hurt Aussi artists in
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  Speaker 2: favor of the big global artists and this is leading
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  Speaker 2: to many artists concern for the future of the Australian
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  Speaker 2: music industry.
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  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 2: Algorithmic bias happens when automated systems consistently favor certain outcomes.
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  Speaker 1: We like to think that streaming killed the gatekeepers, you know,
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  Speaker 1: no radio bosses deciding what gets played.
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  Speaker 2: And no record label executives deciding who gets a shot.
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  Speaker 1: But in reality, be Man, the gatekeeper didn't disappear, it
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  Speaker 1: just became clute.
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  Speaker 2: Algorithms now decide what gets surfaced and repeated and rewarded.
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  Speaker 1: And be Man. These decisions by the algorithm seriously matter.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, digital sales through platforms like Spotify and Apple
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  Speaker 2: Music now represent over ninety one percent of total music sales.
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  Speaker 2: According to ARIA, that's more than six hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: million dollars in revenue per year. Right now, the Spotify
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  Speaker 2: algorithm leans towards US and UK artists who already have momentum,
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  Speaker 2: so for.
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  Speaker 1: Australian artists, this disadvantage compounds over time.
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  Speaker 2: Less exposure leads to fewer streams.
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  Speaker 1: And fewer streams leads to even less exposure.
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  Speaker 2: So jiboit. When music discovery is driven by playlists like
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  Speaker 2: Chill Sunday on Spotify, it means that Australian music is quietly,
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  Speaker 2: potentially squeezed out of its own market.
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  Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Paramount Plus is flirting
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  Speaker 1: with its TikTok era, as a leaked document shows they're
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  Speaker 1: looking to open up the streaming platform to win back
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  Speaker 1: at young eyeballs.
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  Speaker 2: So are we going to be seeing dance trends on
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  Speaker 2: Paramount juzzy boy? Is that what's going on here?
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  Speaker 1: Okay? So Paramount Plus is the streaming service of Paramount,
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  Speaker 1: the media and entertainment giants.
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  Speaker 2: We are talking the owner of TV networks like CBS
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  Speaker 2: in the US, as well as PATV networks or cable
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  Speaker 2: networks like MTV and Comedy Central.
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  Speaker 1: It as a huge film studio where pumped out movies
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  Speaker 1: like Top Gun and Possible and jus boy.
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  Speaker 2: Remember that Paramount recently merged with sky Dance in a
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  Speaker 2: deal that valued Paramount Global at around eight billion US dollars.
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  Speaker 1: And now be man. A juicy internal Paramount document has
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  Speaker 1: been leaked.
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  Speaker 2: We don't mind a little leak at, say jaz VOI.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Paramount execs. We're talking about turning the Paramount plus
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  Speaker 1: app into a bit of a TikTok s scap. We're
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  Speaker 1: talking a short form feed within the mobile app that
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  Speaker 1: we show up to one million short form video clips
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  Speaker 1: in the air, and these clips would all be taken
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  Speaker 1: from Paramount's existing shows and movies to start with.
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  Speaker 2: Then, longer term, Paramount is also exploring usage generated content.
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  Speaker 1: And Paradot isn't alone here. Netflix, Disney Plus and others
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  Speaker 1: are all testing short form video in their apps.
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  Speaker 2: Too, because traditional TV viewing is defining and TikTok style
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  Speaker 2: consumption keeps rising.
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  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, each platform are converging to
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  Speaker 1: look and feel a little bit more like each other.
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  Speaker 2: So what's the key learning here?
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  Speaker 1: Platform convergence is when different types of platforms start borrowing
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  Speaker 1: each other's core features until they start to blur together.
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  Speaker 2: Social apps are attracting longer form content.
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  Speaker 1: And streaming apps are getting some shorter.
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  Speaker 2: Form content, but ultimately, the thing they all have in
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  Speaker 2: common is that they're chasing more and more attention from
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  Speaker 2: their users.
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  Speaker 1: We know that the average time spent on streaming services
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  Speaker 1: in the US is about an hour and ten minutes per.
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  Speaker 2: Day, and the average TikTok user spends more than one
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  Speaker 2: hour and thirty minutes on the app every day.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, so paramount once a slice of that TikTok attention.
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  Speaker 2: The thinking is a short form part of the app
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  Speaker 2: would create a front door for users to open the
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  Speaker 2: app daily rather than let's say, just once a week.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Everyone wants to get it on top of their money
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six, the cash rates potentially rising and
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the cost of living rising too. The best way to
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: get on top of your money is the Flex Budgeting Tool.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Tracks are spending, tracks are saving, and it helps you
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: get on top of your money. Download the app and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: check it out today.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.