Radio duo Dan and Maz here to stay despite terrible ratings

THEY’VE got less than a quarter of the audience share that Kyle and Jackie O have, but here’s why Dan and Maz won’t be getting sacked anytime soon.

New 2Day FM breakfast duo Dan and Maz - Dan deBuf and Maz Compton pictured in News Corp studio, Surry Hills. Picture Cameron Richardson

THEIR ratings may have been appalling, but don’t expect Hit 104.1 2Day FM to sack breakfast hosts Dan and Maz anytime soon.

In this year’s third round of FM radio ratings, the Sydney-based radio duo dropped to a lowly 2.4% audience share, down from 2.8% in the previous survey.

For comparison, Kiis FM’s Kyle and Jackie O are dominating Sydney’s lucrative FM market with 10.2%, WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda have 8.9% and Triple M’s Grill Team have 7.8%.

But despite the poor result, the network behind Dan and Maz, Southern Cross Austereo, says the show is here to stay.

“No other network has played the long game in radio like SCA,” said Southern Cross Austereo’s Head of Content, Craig Bruce.

“We have had a very good track record over many years of finding and developing talent for the long term. Dan and Maz absolutely fit this bill.”

Kyle and Jackie O have the number one FM breakfast show in Sydney.

Media analyst Steve Allen from Fusion Strategy agrees that Dan and Maz, who only started hosting the Hit 104.1 2Day FM breakfast show in January this year, shouldn’t be kicked to the kerb in the next few months.

“What everyone forgets is that Kyle and Jackie O (who hosted the 2Day FM breakfast show from 2005 — 2013 before switching to Kiis FM) were not a hit in their early surveys,” said Allen.

“They weren’t looking at Dan and Maz’s levels of audience share but nevertheless they weren’t an overnight success, they were built into one.”

Allen added that SCA will be paying a price for their loyalty to the breakfast duo though, as advertisers won’t be keen to spend big bucks on a show that’s not pulling in an audience.

“There’s a pretty direct correlation between what’s in your ratings book and what happens to your revenue,” he said.

The question is though, how long can they afford to miss out on advertiser’s money in the hope that the show eventually finds an audience?