Every month the Together team highlights five media stories from New Zealand and globally that defined the month. Plus one great media idea they love. October was a month of acceleration. Machine-to-machine media buying moved from theory to practice, sustainability got real and Sky and MediaWorks each took major steps to reshape their future footprints.
Ad Context Protocol launches – the infrastructure for agentic advertising
If September’s headlines were about agentic payments, October’s are about agentic media buying. The launch of the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) represents a potentially foundational moment for the next era of programmatic advertising.
Developed by an open working group including PubMatic, Yahoo and Scope3, the AdCP sets common standards that allow AI agents to communicate, negotiate and transact across supply paths – something previously impossible due to siloed APIs and inconsistent data taxonomies. Its goal is simple but profound: to create a shared “language” for AI-driven media trading that is safe, transparent and interoperable.
For marketers, this is more than a technical update. It signals the beginning of an automation curve where intelligent agents can brief, book and optimise campaigns based on goals rather than insertion orders. This could redefine the role of planners and buyers, shifting effort from manual optimisation to setting the frameworks those agents operate within and pushing the creative boundaries of the total ecosystem (just as the best agencies already do with platform embedded AI).
What should NZ brands do now?
- Start by making data machine-readable – product feeds, creative metadata, brand safety settings and measurement endpoints should all be structured to integrate with APIs.
- Ask platforms where AdCP sits within their 2026 product roadmap.
- Recognise that “agentic demand” will prioritise clarity and performance: those who prepare their data first will be first in the queue when agents start making decisions autonomously.
The next 18 months will likely see pilot programs from major DSPs. For local marketers, readiness today is competitive advantage tomorrow.
MediaWorks consolidates audio – Magic becomes Breeze Classic
MediaWorks’ decision to retire the Magic brand on FM and replace it with Breeze Classic marks one of the more interesting shifts in local audio strategy this year. Magic will continue as a digital-only station via Rova, while Breeze Classic will sit alongside The Breeze as a complementary, nostalgia-driven format.
The latest GfK Radio Audience Survey (S2 2025) helps explain the move. The Breeze holds an 8% share of the 10+ audience in major markets – steady growth survey-on-survey – while Magic has trended flat to slightly down, particularly in the younger end of its 45+ target. By folding FM reach under a stronger umbrella brand, MediaWorks consolidates audience strength where it matters most: among 35 to 64-year-olds, arguably the most valuable demo for commercial audio.
Strategically, this does three things:
- Simplifies the buy: The Breeze and Breeze Classic now deliver a single, cohesive proposition for agencies and clients.
- Strengthens brand salience: “The Breeze” already has strong equity in relaxed, familiar favourites.
- Future-proofs distribution: Magic remains in the digital mix, but FM reach continues to matter for advertisers seeking mass coverage in the 40+ demographic.
For marketers, it’s a reminder that brand clarity trumps portfolio sprawl. Expect a tighter, more integrated Breeze offering with simpler buying and packaging options for national and local campaigns.
IAB NZ Sustainability Whitepaper – decarbonisation meets performance
Sustainability in advertising is often spoken about as a moral imperative; the IAB NZ’s Sustainability Whitepaper reframes it as an efficiency play. The paper details how emissions can be reduced at every stage of the digital supply chain, and in many cases doing so actually boosts campaign performance.
Key recommendations include:
- Conducting Supply Path Optimisation (SPO) audits to remove redundant intermediaries.
- Adopting GPID-based transparency to identify and reward high-quality placements.
- Using Scope3 Green Media Products (GMP+) or equivalent to buy low-emission inventory.
- Compressing and optimising creative assets to reduce file weight and carbon load.
- Tracking using the new GCO₂PM metric (grams of carbon per thousand impressions).
A featured case study in the report achieved a 51% reduction in emissions per impression while simultaneously lowering cost-per-landing-page by 70% and improving viewability. Read the report here.
IPA influencer study – long-term brand effects outshine short-term gains
The IPA’s first influencer-marketing databank, covering more than 220 campaigns across categories and markets, provides the strongest evidence yet that influencer investment should be treated as a brand channel, not just a performance lever.
While short-term ROI sits in line with average marketing returns, the long-term ROI index for influencer campaigns sits at around 151, the highest of any individual channel in the IPA database. The research also found that creative quality, authenticity and brand-creator fit were the largest drivers of effectiveness – far more so than spend levels or frequency.
For NZ marketers, this suggests three things:
- Shift measurement: include influencer within econometric modelling to capture long-term contribution.
- Invest in consistency: campaigns that ran over multiple waves or sustained creator partnerships generated stronger brand effects.
- Focus on fit: the alignment between creator and brand purpose remains the single most predictive variable of success.
In other words, treat influencer and creators more like TV sponsorship: reputation-building, reach-driving and long-term in impact.
Download the report here.
Sky Go opens to advertising – Sky doubles down on total-audience strategy
Sky’s decision to open its Sky Go platform to advertising is another important marker in its progression from broadcaster to multi-platform ecosystem. Sky Go joins Neon and Sky Sport Now as monetised environments under its 2026 “New Sky” roadmap. This is designed to unify ad delivery across linear, streaming and digital touchpoints.
This move is about rebalancing value between revenue and reach. The company’s streaming products now reach large weekly audiences, yet historically generated a smaller share of ad revenue than their linear equivalents. Introducing advertising across Sky Go increases inventory and promises to allow frequency management across all Sky surfaces. This will improve ROI for advertisers and helping Sky close the gap with TVNZ.
For marketers, the message is clear: the AV planning universe in New Zealand continues to converge. Consider Sky Go as an incremental reach layer to linear buys, especially across sport, entertainment and premium news contexts. 2026 planning cycles should view Sky Open, Sky Go and Neon collectively as a cross-platform ecosystem, not as separate silos.
Media idea of the month: The Media Lab breaks the gambling stigma
Gambling harm is often invisible. And that’s exactly what Wellington indie The Media Lab and Ministry of Health set out to change. They built a media campaign that gave anonymity a voice. Through blurred portraits, muted tones and emotionally charged placements, the work and media thinking surfaces the hidden human stories behind gambling addiction.
Why we love it:
- Context is everything. The campaign used media environments that mirrored the theme of invisibility – blurred digital OOH panels, muted social creative and understated TV moments – ensuring the medium itself carried the message. It’s proof that placement and tone can be as powerful as copy.
- Whispered reach. Rather than shouting about the issue, the media plan deliberately whispers – using restraint and subtlety to pull people in. It’s earning attention through empathy, not interruption.
- Purpose with precision. Every channel decision, from social video to outdoor, was built around the psychology of stigma – how shame keeps people silent and how media can help break that silence safely.
A powerful reminder that media craft can do more than drive awareness; it can drive social change. Smart, sensitive and creative media planning – bravo, The Media Lab.
