Peter Saxon tries to catch out Adam Lang with a bit of spin
Just on a year ago, industry eyebrows were raised as 2UE unfurled its new marketing strategy: ‘It’s like being able to advertise on the ABC.’
Nowhere will that positioning statement be brought into more stark relief than during Fairfax Radio’s cricket coverage this summer as it is pitted directly against the Aunty who will cover many of the same matches.
In this, the second year of a five year broadcast rights agreement with Cricket Australia, the network has beefed up its commentary team adding some ‘ooh ahh’ with Glenn McGrath. He’ll be joining cricket heavyweights Carl Rackeman, Tom Moody, Ian Chappell, Dean Jones, Greg Matthews, Damien Fleming, John Emburey and Mickey Arthur.
The ball-by-ball coverage across all forms of the game will be anchored by Tim Lane and Bruce Eva, Head of Fairfax Radio Cricket, along with the doyen of English commentators Henry Blofeld.
As impressive as the Fairfax commentary team is, they’re not exactly slouches over at the ABC either – a fact not lost on Fairfax Radio CEO, Adam Lang, “Of course we have a lot of respect for the ABC and we are happy to compete with them. I think our commentary team is well up there as a terrific alternative.”
All well and good but the ABC doesn’t have to interrupt its commentary with commercials.
“Yep, we have commercials,” concedes Mr Lang. “But these commercials are very swift. By nature of the the live cricket coverage as it is with football, you only get a certain amount of time between goals, between football quarters and between breaks in cricket. So, our commentary certainly stands up alongside the ABC because the commercial airtime is confined to the breaks in play.”
Melbourne’s 3AW and Perth’s 6PR have long been aligned with AFL in winter while 4BC has been able to do a deal with rights holder 2GB to broadcast NRL in Brisbane. But ever since 2UE missed out on those NRL rights a couple of years ago, they’ve been desperate to align themselves with a sport. But why?
In Melbourne, weekends on 3AW are way and away number one. In Sydney, George and Paul, followed by Tim Webster are the highest rating shows on 2UE. According Mr Lang, a direct ratings result is not necessarily the main game.
“The cricket typically sits outside of survey periods and it’s also typically in areas that are off-peak. But I think overall one of the things that we’re recognising in media in general there is very few low periods in terms of TV and radio. You can think in terms of survey and non-survey but our audience doesn’t really think whether they are in survey or not. Our clients don’t really think whether we are in survey or not,” says Mr Lang.
What of those who aren’t cricket fans? “Our AFL coverage on 3AW in Melbourne was again dominant. However, there are people who don’t like sport or don’t want to listen to it. So in Melbourne, we’re going to do something new, which is to also broadcast a lot of our alternate programming and talk programming at the same time.
“For example Bruce and Phil’s Nightline on 3AW will also be heard on 3AW’s DAB+ band. Meanwhile on AM, 3AW we will have the cricket,” says Mr Lang.
Surely the cost-benefit equation is hard to justify. After all, a high profile team of Cricket legends and the broadcast rights that go with it, compared to, say, the veteran Tim Webster on his ownsome for six hours in the studio is like dinner for eight at Tetsuya’s compared to an egg McMuffin from the Macca’s drive-through.
But Mr Lang reckons it makes sense because it pulls in a lot of advertisers that want exposure in the cricket environment, “The investment in the cricket broadcast rights and the commentary team is great for our audience. They love it. We know that commercial advertisers really see the opportunity of connecting with our audience within that context of cricket and around the commentary team. So, you bet, in terms of time money and oxygen, it is a great investment for us.”
Peter Saxon