The Media Online

Advertising’s fundamental purpose is to create desire, influence consumer behaviour and drive business results by selling products and services. The proliferation of digital advertising has contributed to message overload, consumer fatigue and declining audience attention. Brand building and performance marketing should not operate as separate disciplines. Effective advertisi...

Discovery partnered with Incubeta to use advanced Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) to measure media effectiveness and optimise marketing investment across its business units. The modelling combined two years of media spend, sales data, seasonality and external factors to assess the true contribution of each channel. MMM revealed diminishing returns in performance channels and op...

ChatGPT Ads launched in South Africa on 21 October 2026, allowing brands to advertise through OpenAI’s self-serve Ads Manager. The minimum daily spend for ChatGPT Ads is $25 (approximately R410), making a month’s testing budget around R12,400 before bank fees. Early performance results are mixed. While some advertisers report lower acquisition costs and increased new-customer...

The Media Online’s weekly round-up of media business moves, all in one place. This week’s BIG move The Sandton Times adopts new print distribution model The Sandton Times is distributing its print edition across Greater Sandton through grocery and food delivery networks, adding an alternative channel to conventional print circulation. The digital-first publication’s eight-to-...

Journalists are increasingly rejecting AI-generated PR pitches because they lack originality, editorial value and a genuine understanding of their audiences. More than 53% of journalists surveyed by Cision report actively opposing AI-generated pitches, reflecting growing resistance to automated media outreach. Strong journalist relationships remain central to successful media...