The results are live now here.
Survey 3, according to the pundits, is the first real indication of trends that will shape the rest of the year.
By Survey 3, they say, the audience has stopped shopping around and have settled into their routine.
Of course, they could be wrong.
Melbourne remains the nation’s most unpredictable battleground among the FM crowd. Another emphatic win by FOX could set the dye for the year while ARN will be hoping that their big bold experiment with Jase & PJ in Breakfast on KIIS will start showing some results.
All bets, though, will be off as the much vaunted Englishman Christian O’Connell enters the market on GOLD’s Breakfast. The station has posted an impressive 10.0 share with caretaker Breakfast hosts but will O’Connell be able to improve on that? We won’t have a clue til Survey 4.
Last time, in Sydney, 2DayFM, gained 1.1 to reach a respectable 5.2 share – the best gain it’s had in years on the back of a revamped Breakfast show with Em Rusciano joined by Ed Kavalee and Grant Denyer which also gained 1.0. But now there’s trouble brewing with Em making it clear that she doesn’t really want to be there. Another “revamp” could put the struggling station back to square one – or finally find the combination that’s eluded 2Day Breakfast since the Kyle & Jackie O departed.
FM Drive is another battleground with the Nova network’s Kate, Kim and Marty ensconced in first place. In hot pursuit is the HIT network’s double shows of Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little followed by Hughesy and Kate who’ve made a pretty good fist of retaining the audience left them by Hamish and Andy. Can the KIIS network’s newcomers, Will & Woody keep in touch with the leaders?
But for a sharp drop in Adelaide, ABC local stations all gained ground last time reversing the slump of recent surveys. Will this upward trend continue?
After a full survey for Macquarie Sports Radio, can the Eastern seaboard network do better than the Talking Lifestyle format it replaced?
Join us here on radioinfo when all this and more will be revealed in Survey 3 at 9:30 this morning along with analysis, trends, our exclusive ‘for and against’ charts and all the spin you can handle from the station PR departments.
I wish to make a comment on the new talking sport format:
Despite a near 50% reduction ((3.5-1.9)/3.5*100=47%) in the Sydney audience for 2UE's transition from a talking lifestyle to a talking sport, it remains the market leader by 270% (1.9/0.7) compared to 2KY. I am not privy to the weekend ratings for Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings in order to compare the other entrants to the sporting market, 2SM and MMM so cannot comment.
Melbourne's SEN is the market leader on 3.4 compared to talking sport's 0.4.
An advantage of DAB broadcasting is the concept of pop-up or trial radio. In Perth, talking sport rates a cumulative audience of 2 compared to ABC Grandstand's 17. Based on one survey, a more permanent fixture would not be economically effective.
In the Melbourne and Brisbane markets, the audience did not change on 0.4 and 0.5 respectively. However, when it was a talking lifestyle format, MML as reported earlier reviewed the format and changed. It appears that if the audience does not improve, the talking sport format will be reviewed.
Both talking lifestyle and talking sport formats are labour-intensive. The relationship between risk and reward is that the bolder the move the higher the payoff. If the audience does not increase, the payoff may not be there.
But then, what have MML done to promote awareness of the new sporting talk format apart from the cross promotion by its sibling stations 2GB, 3AW and 4BC?
While the result is for one survey only, it would take another one or at most two surveys to determine whether the talking sport format works. Recall under the talking lifestyle format, the return was only 7% of overall revenue (based on the financial report).
If at worst the stations revert to music, don't go for that hackneyed oldies/golden memories/classic hits formats. There is nothing inherently wrong with the music, but realise there are already stations in Sydney alone broadcasting the classic hits format: 2CH, Smooth, 2WS, MMM-classic, Fun, 80s, 90s, Zoo.
Regards
Anthony of exciting Belfield