The Fold
Episodes
First t-shirts, then podcasts, now the world: the story of YOUKNOW
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Webb was working as a coder when he printed a t-shirt at a mate’s house. Within a few years YOUKNOW had become a ubiquitous brand, thanks to the...
The Spotify paradox: why hundreds of fans can beat millions of streams
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Gouveia is a music supervisor, artist manager and booking agent, with a Substack. Earlier this year he wrote a series of posts, each more success...
This journalist says we’re thinking about AI all wrong
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Soon is a journalist and media consultant who runs Splice Beta, one of Asia’s most popular news media festivals. He recently wrote an extremely...
Listener mailbag! We answer your media questions
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Fold’s regular hosts go through the audience’s best questions, running from media buying to the government as an advertiser to the future of S...
A deep dive into Sky’s huge week, plus NZME’s editorial changes
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Last call for our first ever listener questions episode – fill out this form to pose a question of hosts Duncan Greive and Glen Kyne. Glen Kyne j...
The long strange trip of MediaWorks
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Fold's first ever listener questions episode is coming – fill out this form to pose a question of hosts Duncan Greive and Glen Kyne. A differen...
Social media’s “big tobacco moment”, and the growing big tech backlash
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Fold's first ever listener questions episode is coming – fill out this form to pose a question of hosts Duncan Greive and Glen Kyne. Anna Raw...
The Warehouse's big, brave ad bet + Mediaworks' future and more
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Fold's first ever listener question's episode is coming – fill out this form to pose a question of hosts Duncan Greive and Glen Kyne. This week...
Many musicians hate Spotify. Eddie Johnston has no time for all that
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Eddie Johnston is first and foremost a huge music fan – he grew up loving New Zealand artists like The Mint Chicks and the Phoenix Foundation, and u...
On Davos, the end of of the rules based order, and where this is all headed
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A quite different episode this week, because discussing media without reference to the wider world feels particularly pointless at the moment. Duncan ...
Seven questions which will define 2026 in NZ media
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the biggest questions facing New Zealand's media in 2026. How will the John Campbell signing impa...
Summer Reissue: Charlie Kirk and Tom Phillips show boundary collapse between the internet and real life
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 2025: Anna Rawhit...
Summer Reissue: Sky CEO Sophie Moloney on the NZ rugby and Three deals and the depth of its moat
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 2025: Sophie Molo...
Summer Reissue: How Auckland FC aced (almost) everything – including its media strategy
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 2025: Nick Becker...
2025 in review: The top five global media giants' years, ranked from worst to best
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne and Duncan Greive complete the second part of The Fold’s 2025 finale, this time picking and ranking the five best performing global media ...
2025 in review: NZ’s major media companies’ years, ranked from worst to best
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive for a two-part finale, ranking the performances of New Zealand’s scale media companies. They take on MediaWorks, NZME,...
The Australian big tech revolution rolls on
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2025 has been a year of profound change in the regulatory landscape for Australian media. There is a social media ban for under 16s, which goes live n...
The deals that defined the year in local media – plus predictions for 2026
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we kicked off a new partnership with New Zealand's leading media agency, PHD, which will partner with The Spinoff and The Fold on a series o...
Monopod: some stray takes on the 2025 NZ Screen Awards
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive goes solo to deliver a quick response to the NZ Screen Awards, which fused film with television in a way which showed a lot of promise w...
An explosive media week: scandals at the BBC and Meta – and Australia takes on big tech (again)
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The story of a long, strange decade in media + has the BSA fixed trust in news?
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2025 sees the release of the latest in The Fold’s obsession: NZ on Air’s Where Are the Audiences research. This time the focus is on children’s ...
Notes on an epic journalistic blunder – and succession planning at RNZ and TVNZ
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Spinoff editor-at-large Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive this week to discuss a very unfortunate case of journalistic mistaken identity. Former He...
What’s going on with Māori news media?
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Liam Rātana, editor of The Spinoff Ātea, joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a piece he wrote last week, about some seismic changes to the Mā...
The BSA vs The Platform: why this shapes as a generationally important battle
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to discuss the background, stakes and possible outcome of a small battle that sets up a much larger question: how do we ...
Has The Life of a Showgirl finally broken Taylor’s spell?
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The biggest phenomenon in pop culture released her latest album a week ago. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl smashed records wherever it went, ...
Agencies and out-of-home: how they learned to love each other
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From a traditional "direct" medium to a data-driven powerhouse, out-of-home media has undergone a true evolution. Over a 17-year period, the out-of-ho...
How is student media surviving – even thriving – in print?
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Critic Te Arohi is the student magazine of the University of Otago, and turns 100 this year, making it the oldest student media in the country, as wel...
How JCDecaux is unlocking creative advertising by studying the human brain
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive is joined by Victoria Parsons, insights and strategy director at JCDecaux NZ, and Peter Pynter, prinicpal consultant at Neuro-Insight to...
Cracking the code: making news work for Gen Z with Now You Know
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode of The Fold, Duncan Greive sits down with The Spinoff's head of audience Anna Rawhiti-Connell and Now You Know host Robbie Nico...
Lightning round: Six quick takes on Grenon-NZME, Stuff vs the cops, RNZ’s troubles + more
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne rejoins The Fold to smash through six of the biggest stories in media, all in six minutes or less (at least in theory). Kyne and Duncan Grei...
Charlie Kirk and Tom Phillips show boundary collapse between the internet and real life
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss two violent deaths, one driven by the internet, the other digested by it. They discuss...
Results season! Breaking down and picking a winner from TVNZ, Sky and NZME
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to analyse the annual or half-yearly results from TVNZ, Sky and NZME. TVNZ surprised with an unexpectedly healthy profit...
System1's Andrew Tindall on myths and truths in modern advertising
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Tindall and System1 have assembled some of the most massive and comprehensive databases of advertising effectiveness, running the gamut from cr...
Sky CEO Sophie Moloney on the NZ rugby and Three deals and the depth of its moat
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sophie Moloney has been CEO of Sky NZ for five years. For much of that time she’s been dealing with downsides – a failed acquisition of Mediaworks...
RNZ’s Paul Thompson on that bombshell radio report
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The longest-tenured leader in New Zealand media joins Duncan Greive on The Fold for a frank discussion about the state of RNZ. They discuss the sharp ...
Monopod: on the Sky-NZ Rugby deal, RNZ’s radio challenges and the Substack exodus
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive goes solo to dig into some fascinating recent media stories. The details of the Sky-NZ Rugby deal give all parties a chance to plausibly...
The one local media form defying gravity
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive is joined by Phil Eastwood, GM of JCDecaux NZ, and Paul Maher, chair of OOHMAA, to discuss the rise and rise of out-of-home media. Once ...
Neil Finn on the broken promise of the internet – and why he won’t give up on it
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A very special episode of The Fold, featuring songwriting immortal Neil Finn talking about his long, singular journey making music on the internet. He...
NZ on Air funds reality TV now?
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the shock revelation that NZ on Air will support Celebrity Treasure Island and The Traitors NZ’...
How a new history of NZ pop music reveals media's revolutions
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gareth Shute is a historian of New Zealand music, who realised that there had never been a high level overview of the artists which shaped our pop cha...
What happened when advertising decided it could save the world?
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eugene Healey is an academic and brand strategist based in Melbourne, and a sharp critic of clumsy attempts from brands to play social justice activis...
Why is Epstein suddenly everywhere, and what does that mean for New Zealand's media and politics?
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the way social media conspiracy theories have started to dominate the institutional me...
Emergency pod! On Sky buying Three – and what it means for TVNZ
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on an emergency edition of The Fold to discuss Sky's move to buy the New Zealand assets of Discovery NZ, including Three...
Can Netflix's run last forever? Plus Substack's raise and Beacons reflections
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to dig into another incredible quarter for Netflix – and ask whether its run is over or it has more headroom. They al...
How Auckland FC aced (almost) everything – including its media strategy
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Becker is an Aucklander who spent 15 years in the UK, much of it in key roles with huge EPL teams Arsenal and Manchester City, before a spell in ...
The biggest media stories no one is talking about
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a clutch of curiously under-covered stories which suggest major changes coming to streaming enter...
The double radio life of BrianFM's mysterious owner
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Jeffries might be the most influential New Zealander in the global music industry you've never heard of. For many years he was a senior executi...
TVNZ turns to sport – will it turn away from Shortland St? Plus a big result for Stuff
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to recap the big takeaways from a new interview with TVNZ CEO Jodie O’Donnell. TVNZ is back in profit and looking at r...
Why festivals are failing as live music is booming – and the battle for Western Springs
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Campbell Smith trained as a lawyer, but was quickly drawn into the music business. He started out offering advice on bFM, then began representing arti...
Bauer, five years after part II: The Listener and Are Media rise from the ashes
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are Media was a new company born out of the end of Bauer, taking some of its biggest magazines and running them on a much leaner model. Are's NZ GM St...
Bauer, five years after part I: Ensemble, Here and the rise of the independents
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New Zealand's magazine industry suffered a catastrophic event five years ago, when many of the biggest and most famous titles in our history shut down...
Emergency Pod, part II: Inside the final showdown at the NZME's annual meeting
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A massive day of media news concludes with Duncan Greive joining Anna Rawhiti-Connell on The Fold to break down the NZME ASM, which marked the conclus...
Emergency pod: Trade Me buys 50% of Stuff Digital – what?! And why?!
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss today's announcement that Trade Me has purchased a 50% stake in Stuff Digital, with an explicit ...
On the budget, radio ratings – and NZME loses a star while gaining a channel
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive to pick through a week of small but instructive media news. There was a miniscule new announcement in the budget, on the...
Voyagers debrief, the NZME saga seems over and a big boost for movies
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to recap a significantly smaller but somehow considerably better Voyager Media Awards. (Apologies to Gulf Ne...
Why are there suddenly two country music stations in New Zealand?
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For a long time New Zealand's country music audience was presumed to be the town of Gore and its immediate surrounds. Few albums got released, and maj...
Emergency podcast: Trump’s tariffs go to the movies – plus the latest NZME drama
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday US president Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on all foreign-made movies. It was an extraordinary and potentially hugely destructive piec...
What really matters in the battle to save NZ TV?
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dylan Reeve has spent his whole career working on iconic New Zealand television shows, from Shortland Street, to Treasure Island to Outrageous Fortune...
If not advertising, then what?
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The media has always been largely funded by advertising – but that's unlikely to be the case in future. Two stories over the past week addressed dif...
The big job ahead for TVNZ’s news and content chief and Google is dealt a blow
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The job of chief news and content officer at TVNZ has been one of the most talked-about leadership roles in New Zealand media. Last week, it was annou...
Are print magazines really making a comeback, or is it wishful thinking?
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been five years since Bauer exited New Zealand, devastating the magazine industry and heralding an era of enormous disruption for media in this...
What Trump’s tariffs could mean for media and the latest on NZME
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, NZME’s board laid out its case against Jim Grenon’s attempt to take control of the board, introducing previously unspoken concerns abou...
Careless People, Adolescence and where Meta is at
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's been a rough PR month for Meta, with two of the most-discussed cultural artefacts of the year both directly concerning their two biggest products...
Analysing the Grenon Letters – and is Trade Me buying Stuff?
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on the Fold to discuss a torrid few weeks in media ownership, with billionaire Jim Grenon's attempt to install a new boa...
A Gen X, a Millennial and a Gen Z talk about culture, media and reputations across generations
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Love Song is a piece of research that Live Nation has been running for six years. It targets Gen Z and its relationship with music and culture, and –...
Kevin Chesters says there never was a golden age of advertising
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Chesters has 30 years of experience leading strategy on both agency and client sides, serving as CSO at W+K London, Dentsu, and Ogilvy, as well ...
A new world order: big tech and regulation in the second coming of Trump
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The second Trump administration has blown apart a multi-decade long rules based order for trade. The White House has put the whole world on notice tha...
Emergency pod: A revolution at NZME?
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive for an emergency episode of The Fold after an NZX announcement this afternoon revealed that new NZME shareholder James...
The Big Three #3: Sky has turned itself around – and the rugby deal seems when, not if
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the third of a three part series analysing the results of the Big Three media companies (or those that release their results, anyway), Glen Kyne jo...
The Big Three #2: TVNZ has survived a year from hell – but challenges loom
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of a three part series analysing the results of the Big Three media companies (or those that release their results, anyway), Glen Kyne j...
The Big Three #1: NZME's plans (and owners) could reshape our media
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a three part series analysing the results of the Big Three media companies (or those that release their results, anyway), Glen Kyne jo...
The Fold Live in Wellington: will Substack save journalism? Or destroy it?
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive is joined by two of New Zealand's most successful Substackers in Bernard Hickey (The Kākā) and Lucy Blakiston (Shit You Should Care Ab...
Australia's media lost more than half its value in five years. How and why?
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Burrowes is the author of a book and a Substack called Unmade, which are truly essential guides to media in Australia – and a useful way of und...
Emergency monopod: on the seismic media reforms Paul Goldsmith just floated
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive goes solo to break down a discussion document with profound implications for local media. He explains why he thinks this is the best and...
Bonus episode: How the media covers Waitangi
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded on the sandy shores of the mighty North, guest hosts Liam Ratana and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (along with regular producer Te Aihe Butler) take ov...
The extremely online weirdness of the Ted Cruz tweet affair
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a minor diplomatic incident involving Texas senator Ted Cruz, and what it says about the chaot...
NZME pivots to video in 2025, the problem with TVNZ's cricket hit and DeepSeek explodes the AI world
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to discuss the first big media news story of the year – NZME's decision to trade some senior text journalists for a sh...
We’re back! On Meta going MAGA, TikTok’s perilous future and NZ media in 2025
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Spinoff’s resident social media philosopher queen, Anna Rawhiti-Connell, joins Duncan Greive to recap an epochal month in the geopolitics of soc...
Summer reissue: Australia has banned social media for under 16s. And that's just the beginning
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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: In an effort...
Summer reissue: Spotify's data alchemist explains the mysteries of music streaming
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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: Glenn McDona...
Summer reissue: NZ on Air's Where are the Audiences 2024 special: legacy media strikes back
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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: The 2024 edi...
Summer reissue: One final Newshub bulletin for Sam Hayes and Mike McRoberts
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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: Friday July ...
Summer reissue: Inside the enormous, invisible Roblox economy
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
Looking back on the media horror movie that was 2024
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 N...
Inside the wild, complex, obscure and incredibly important world of media buying
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of two episodes looking at New Zealand from Australia, Duncan Greive speaks to Paul McIntyre – founder and publisher at Mi3 – and on...
Big changes at Whakaata Māori reveal complex challenges for Māori news in the digital era
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 als...
Australia has banned social media for under 16s. And that's just the beginning
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 se...
A special edition of The Fold: The future of The Spinoff
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Normally on The Fold, we discuss events in the wider media, but today, the subject is us and the future of The Spinoff. Published on site today is an ...
A mini-episode about that NZ Herald story – and the new NZ on Air round
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's fair to assume a near total correlation between Media Insider readers and The Fold's listeners – so if you've read Shayne Currie's report into ...
One man stares into the abyss
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a throwback monopod today – Duncan Greive goes solo in a pretty raw episode, reflecting on a wonderful event with a very sobering reflection ...
Inside one of the most unexpected hits in NZ media
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kristy McGregor was an Australian with no experience in media before founding Shepherdess, a magazine dedicated to the life and experience of rural wo...
Mass cuts at TVNZ – but are they enough? And NZME's podcast drama, explained
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to dissect the 50 proposed redundancies at TVNZ, and the confirmation that news will now be part of content, rather than...
The non-endorsements, the fate of 1News.co.nz and tremors from small publishers
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the fallout from Jeff Bezos' decision to halt the practise of endorsements at the Wash...
How The Spinoff's Top 100 NZ TV shows list was made
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan Greive is joined by his longtime Real Pod co-host Alex Casey to talk through the Top 100 NZ TV shows project, which ran on site last week and c...
What does Sky's big win with Max mean?
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week Sky announced it had secured the rights to run Max as a channel within Neon, bringing one of the strongest and deepest TV catalogues to its ...
An aggressive Substack moves to the heart of the creator economy
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie grew up in small town South Island, but is now one of the most influential figures in US media (according to New Y...
A new character enters the scene at NZ on Air, and what Matt Heath says about ZB's future
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Spinoff’s editor-at-large Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive to discuss SXSW and the launch of Auckland FC, and what each says about the vitality ...
Where to now for TVNZ?
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's a week since TVNZ shocked the media with a proposal to shut down 1news.co.nz and merge news with content. Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive on The Fo...
Motion Sickness on their wild journey from Dunedin to Cannes
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Stuchbury founded Motion Sickness as a brand and advertising agency in a flat in Ōtepoti. 10 years on, it has become known for powerful campaigns...
Google threatens to abandon news in NZ. What comes next?
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Friday afternoon, Google published a post to its little-read New Zealand blog, one which immediately sent shockwaves through the local news media. ...