SBS Alone Australia contestants.   SBS On Demand has achieved its highest month on record (excluding the FIFA World Cup in 2022) in terms of total users on the back of the launches of Season 3 of Alone Australia and the final series of The Handmaid’s Tale. Consumption on SBS On Demand is also up 18.0% in FY25, with more than 2.24m active accounts logging into the platform in April. This uplift also follows the second season of Rogue Heroes which dropped over February and March. To date, Alone Australia has had a Total TV National Reach of 2.68m, The Handmaid’s Tale has had a National Reach of 2.31m, and Rogue Heroes has had a National Reach of 2.24m. “These are exceptionally strong audience numbers and underline the strategic importance of SBS On Demand in our broader video strategy,” said Kathryn Fink, SBS Director of Television. “Alone Australia continues to be a hit – engaging audiences in the ultimate test of endurance. Importantly around 40% of the Alone audie

Nine has today announced the appointment of journalist Joel Dry as the new co-presenter of 9News Queensland's 6.00pm bulletin, alongside Melissa Downes. Dry will start his new role in August. This appointment marks a significant return to Nine for Dry, who began his television reporting career with the network in Adelaide in September 2009 before moving to Channel 9 Queensland in December 2011 and later serving as a federal politics reporter for Channel 9 in Canberra. Dry is stepping into the role previously held by the legendary Andrew "Lofty" Lofthouse, who retired earlier this year. Melissa Downes said, "This is an exciting time for 9News Queensland, a regeneration, and I know the team will be just as delighted as I am to have Joel joining me on the 6pm news desk. I know he will bring a new energy to the newsroom and his insightful reporting will add depth to our bulletin, offering our viewers an even richer understanding of the stories that matter most. "We are th

  Peter Dutton campaigning at a produce market in Pooraka in the Adelaide seat of Makin this morning. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP   Well it’s almost here - poll booths open nationwide tomorrow morning and by Saturday evening we will know if the Albanese government resumes or if Peter Dutton’s Coalition takes power. Or, of course, it could be a minority government of either stripe. We shall see.  This morning Peter Dutton has said he believes tomorrow’s result could be a miracle for the Liberal party, like the 2019 election which Labor widely expected to win. Speaking to ABC AM's Sabra Lane this morning, Albanese is asked whether he’s worried this election could deliver a surprise result for the opposition. Albanese says he “certainly take[s] nothing for granted”. The Australian’s Geoff Chambers and Dennis Shanahan have called Exclusive on a story headlined ‘Peter Dutton banking on ‘surprises’ in key seats’.  The thrust of that piece is Coalition campa

Newly appointed Senior Reporter for BBC News Verify, Kevin Nguyen’s career in investigative journalism might never have happened had he stayed with his initial university degree.  Nguyen said, back in his uni days he was “aiming to get my doctorate in psychology, but quite frankly, I wasn’t having fun and didn’t feel as if I was making a huge impact,” Nguyen told Influencing. “I grew up in Cabramatta during some tumultuous times, in which the media played a huge part, for better or worse, so I saw the work the media was doing and that provided me an interest, and I decided, ‘Yep, I’ll do that’.” From there, he embarked on a journalism career which has seen him produce work for Storyful and Fairfax Community News before achieving his goal of working for the ABC, and now moving to London to work for the BBC, as we exclusively revealed on Influencing.  “I cut my teeth at Storyful, reporting on global news stories and high-level news, which was really excitin

  Kyle Sandilands in full flow. Opposition leader Peter Dutton - just three days out from the federal election - has appeared on the The Kyle and Jackie O Show where both he and shock jock host Kyle Sandilands have given some of the tech giants a tongue-lashing.  Dutton, who has long advocated for better protections for children online, didn’t hold back in his criticism of social media companies. “I’ve spent a lot of time over the years working on trying to protect, in particular, girls online,” he said. “Sharing your body images and those images that ultimately stay on the internet forever, or, you know, sexual abuse of kids and those images. Somebody who’s been abused feels that they’ve been re-abused every time that image is being shared. “Trying to get these companies to remove those images and take them down has been a bloody nightmare,” Dutton said. Sandilands, who has also been outspoken on the dangers of social media, chipped in too.   “If I w

The Australian Radio Network (ARN) is making more redundancies as part of a ‘transformation strategy’ that also includes the offshoring of entire departments, including finance, media services, and technology. In a statement, Chief Executive Ciaran Davis said the redundancies decision "has not been taken lightly". Specific job loss numbers have not been revealed yet. “ARN’s transformation program continues as we reshape our business to invest more deeply in the areas driving our future growth – content creation, cross-platform distribution, and advanced commercial solutions,” Davis said. “As part of this, we are changing the composition of our team to become leaner and more efficient, which will involve the relocation of some roles and unfortunately, a reduction in headcount. “This is a difficult decision and has not been taken lightly. We are deeply grateful for the contributions of those impacted and are committed to supporting them through this transition wi

  Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Claire Stuchbery, Executive Director of the Local & Independent News Association (LINA) are among the first guests on new podcast - Pillar to Post - hosted by Community Broadcasting Association of Australia’s Political Reporter Noah Secomb.  The first episode revolves around Australia's News Media Bargaining Code, so what better guests than the Comms Minister, Ms Stutchbery and two regional newspaper executives, Lee O’Connor, owner and editor of the Coonamble Times and Mark Phillips, publisher and editor of the Brunswick Voice.  “We are proud to launch From Pillar to Post,” said Secomb, “a new podcast designed to take real issues to and from the people shaping them: listeners, politicians and community media practitioners.” Hosted by CBAA , each 15-minute episode offers a fresh, accessible space for socially and politically curious Australians aged 18–30 to explore the stories that impact our communities,” Sec