Conversations about the intersections of media, culture and technology in New Zealand, hosted by Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff.
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Summer reissue: Inside the enormous, invisible Roblox economy
The 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:
Alec Kieft makes games for "YouTube for gaming" platform Roblox, including Break-In, a smash hit that has been played more than two billion times by 80 million people. The platform is wildly popular with pre-teens, and is widely considered the closest thing to an operating metaverse that exists in the world today. Kieft joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to explain what drives the culture and economy of this hidden world.
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48:10
Looking back on the media horror movie that was 2024
Glen Kyne returns to join Duncan Greive on The Fold for an epic year in review, going deep on all the big storylines that defined a year which broke New Zealand's media. Including, but by no means limited to: the end of Newshub, Sunday and Fair Go; the downsizing of Shortland Street and challenges to the productions sector; a dive into Australia's approach to big tech; assessments of every major mainstream media company, the advertising and media agency sector and a pair of predictions for the first half of 2025. All in 77 action-packed minutes!
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1:21:39
Inside the wild, complex, obscure and incredibly important world of media buying
In the second of two episodes looking at New Zealand from Australia, Duncan Greive speaks to Paul McIntyre – founder and publisher at Mi3 – and one of the most credentialed journalists on advertising, tech and media in this part of the world. He wrote a story in late October which detailed the perverse incentives of the move to so-called "principal media", and how Australia's media looked at New Zealand as a cautionary tale to be avoided. We go deep into those topics and the tensions between content companies and big tech to try and get a deeper understanding of what has happened to advertising in recent years.
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50:46
Big changes at Whakaata Māori reveal complex challenges for Māori news in the digital era
Last week brought confirmation that Whakaata Māori was ending Te Ao Māori News 4.30pm bulletin to focus on a pure digital future for news, while also moving its Te Reo channel to solely online distribution. The Spinoff Ātea editor Liam Rātana joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the move, and also assess the state of Māori news and current affairs more broadly.
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43:21
Australia has banned social media for under 16s. And that's just the beginning
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 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 with bi-partisan support.
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Conversations about the intersections of media, culture and technology in New Zealand, hosted by Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff.
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