Saturday was World Day Against Cyber Censorship and in a unique partnership Amnesty International and AdBlock combined to deliver 156,789,119 impressions of messages by prominent privacy and free speech advocates Edward Snowden, Ai Wei Wei, and Pussy Riot in a campaign conceptualised and brokered by Colenso BBDO.

Last year’s television advertising figures confirm advertisers’ ongoing confidence in the powerhouse” television medium, says industry body ThinkTV. In past years, this report would have been included in the ASA annual roundup – now the ASA has dropped the service (see ASA story on this page).

The 2016 Radio Awards finalists will be now be announced on Thursday March 31 – one week later than planned – due, says the awards organisation, to “an unforeseen minor technical fault”.

The Advertising Standards Authority has confirmed it will no longer be releasing an annual breakdown of actual revenue by media sector and a total advertising turnover number. The move brings to an end a service provided by the ASA for the past 15 years.

“What a ridiculous post,” writes Suckysucky in response to M+AD’s roundup of the saga that’s developing around Axis and ads designed purely to win awards.

NZ’s only independent daily, the Otago Daily Times, has introduced a metered paywall for its online news content, which will launch next month alongside a website redesign, according to a report in NBR.

The awarding of top Axis gongs to unreal campaigns is again drawing fire from ad industry critics. The ads most under scrutiny are Colenso/Proximity’s DB Brewtroleum, Colenso’s VW Reduce Speed Dial, and the Grand Axis winner Saatchi’s ASB Clever Kash.

In response to the decision of the ASA not to release the NZ Advertising Industry Turnover report for 2015, the Magazine Publishers Association, the independent industry body representing magazine publishers in NZ, has made the decision to release its data independently.