Radio Ratings April 17, 2020

Content chiefs talk radio ratings, job security and music strategy

Duncan Campbell is at wits’ end with Microsoft Teams, Dave Cameron opted to bunker down in the office and Paul Jackson is rather enjoying an at-home edition of ratings.

As they say, each to their own. But the content kings all do have at least one thing in common: their network is the undisputed market leader.

Radio Today editor Jake Challenor spoke with FM radio’s big three group content director’s just after Survey 2 results landed on Thursday, and all three came out swinging.

With a noticeable shift to talk-based stations in what will be the last GfK book until at least August, radio bosses remained upbeat and optimistic about their network’s role during the pandemic.

Hot topics included the value of news during the health crisis, finding the right balance of virus-related content, music strategy, job security and the biggest challenges facing radio right now.

On the weekend, Radio Today will publish its chat with Nine Radio content king Greg Byrnes. The interview covered everything from radio ratings and cost-cutting to Alan Jones and networking.

Duncan Campbell | Australian Radio Network

On Survey 2: “In terms of the official ratings, this is it now until Survey 6. We will put out data from iHeartRadio which is showing very positive signs, particularly around monthly active users and use of smart speakers and registrations. We will continue to release that to the market as we go forward.”
On COVID-19: “What corporate Australia is really wanting answers to is when is this going to be over? And how long is the economy going to take to wind back up again?”
On Marketing: “It wouldn’t make sense to spend a lot of money on marketing or big cash contesting, but you still have to maintain a level of activity and we’re continuing to do that.”
On News: “We’re not taking a hard news approach like a 2GB, but certainly we’re there keeping people up to date on the virus and what it means for them.”
On Jobs: “A good thing from an ARN perspective, while we are taking pay cuts temporarily, there are no redundancies which is good. So we’re protecting jobs as much as we can, for as long as we can.”
On Music: “We haven’t’ changed our strategy at all really. People do, in times of stress, default to things they know and things that they take comfort in.”
On Advertising: “In terms of the official ratings, this is it now until Survey 6.”

Dave Cameron | Southern Cross Austereo

On Survey 2: “We’ve seen our breakfast shows sustain listenership and, in some markets, grow their audience. So there doesn’t seem to be any truth in breakfast losing listeners.”
On COVID-19: “This is a time where everyone’s life has been completely upended. We will come out of this with completely different habits.”
On Marketing: “I’m not sure if ARN would be hugely happy with that limited increase [at 97.3FM] given the marketing expenditure they would have had around Robin being back.”
On News: “It’s a fine balance to make sure that we’ve got the right kind of feel on each show between news and entertainment.”
On Jobs: “It’s an anxious time to be in any company right now, I think. “
On Music: “In times of crisis… familiarity will always be a friend. That would mean we would probably be less likely to be ambitious about new music.”
On Advertising: “We’ll continue to provide the market with this increase in our consumption on a weekly basis, and I think [buyers] are reacting to that because the results that they’re seeing are really meaningful.”

Paul Jackson | NOVA Entertainment

On Survey 2: “I think in this survey has been really hard to actually pick up TSL in workday when people are doing a bit of music for escapism and then moving to a news channel.”
On COVID-19: “You’ve got to rise to the occasion. We genuinely care about our audience and providing the best service for them. We’ve never worked harder.”
On Marketing: “I think it would be foolhardy for anybody to be spending dollars on marketing right now. I’m not sure there are enough people out and about.”
On News: “From a Nova point of view, initially we were doing COVID-19 updates every hour on top of our news bulletins and on smooth we were getting callers on-air every hour.
On Jobs: “The Government have done all they can to ensure as many people’s job security that they can at this stage. We’ve got to be optimistic over the longer term.”
On Music: “I think right now we’re probably in a period where people want familiar songs that they know and love and it’s less about new music.”
On Advertising: “We’ve got our data on current listening which is extremely strong, and we’ll be presenting that to agencies over the coming days and weeks, as all networks will.”