Kyle and Jackie O continue to struggle in Melbourne’s radio wars
By Calum Jaspan
KIIS FM’s imported Kyle and Jackie O Show has delivered a minor market share gain in Melbourne, however, their total number of listeners fell, and they continued to languish in seventh place in the fiercely competitive breakfast slot.
Launched in late April and hosted by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson, the program has been met with initial resistance from Melburnians since expanding out of Sydney for the first time and they are yet to replicate their undisputed success in the state they broadcast from.
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson still trail their commercial rivals.
The latest survey, the fifth of the year, is the most extensive set of results to measure the duo in Melbourne, covering May 19–June 22 and July 7–August 10. Their share grew from 5.9 per cent to 6.1 per cent, but their cumulative audience fell from 502,000 to 491,000.
Share measures the percentage of the total radio audience during a given period. The cumulative figure measures the total number of people who listened to a station for at least eight minutes during the survey.
Their $200 million, 10-year contract is a high-risk, high-reward strategy for the station’s owner ARN Media, yet chief executive Ciaran Davis still isn’t concerned they are taking their time to bed in.
“Because they’re so successful, I think the expectation was they’d go straight to number one, which was not part of our business case, wasn’t part of our planning,” Davis told this masthead following the company’s half-year results last week, but before the most recent set of ratings were released.
“We’re happy with the progress so far. There’s always a bedding in process, but we’re on track, and our internal tracking would suggest it’s on track.”
ARN’s decision to ditch the duo’s predecessors Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips continues to attract attention due to their initial success since they were picked up by commercial rivals Nova as breakfast hosts.
Their Jase & Lauren show grew its share once again, up 0.3 percentage points, and is now the second most popular breakfast show in Melbourne with a 9.9 per cent overall share of the market, leapfrogging both Gold FM’s Christian O’Connell (down 2.5 points to an 8.3 per cent share) and Fox FM’s Fifi, Fev & Nick (up 0.1 point to a 9.6 per cent share).
The traditional FM rivals trail market leader 3AW by some margin, with breakfast hosts Russel Howcroft and Ross Stevenson growing their share by 2.5 percentage points to a 21.3 per cent share, more than double their nearest rival.
After a tough start to the year, which included its worst-ever result, ABC Melbourne has grown its total audience to a year-best 6.6 per cent share. The station’s best performer was breakfast host Sammy J, who grew his share from 7.3 to 8.2 per cent overall.
Radio National’s breakfast show, hosted by Patricia Karvelas, grew its share from 2.2 to 2.3 per cent, while the station fell overall from 1.6 to 1.5 per cent. The ABC is currently reviewing of Radio National’s operations and branding.
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