FiveAA stretches lead

We spoke yesterday with some of the Programming Chiefs around the country about their views on Survey 4 yesterday (see here), and we thought it worth having a look at one of the quiet achievers.

FiveAA in Adelaide has had a fantastic result, and now leads the Adelaide market overall by nearly 3%. Furthermore, the station shows every indication of increasing that further in Survey 5. 

2011 was a challenging year for the station and Program Director Brad Hulme (pictured far right): bedding in a new Breakfast Show after the departure of Tony Pilkington, however the station has increased share every survey since the first book of 2012.

That's not to say that 2012 has been smooth sailing, with Hulme having to manage through a firestorm of publicity over the recent comments of Bob Francis regarding asylum seekers (see here). Notwithstanding Francis' comments, his evening show had an exceptional ratings peformance with 8p-midnight rating 23.8% overall: well over double any competitor.

Hulme commented on yesterdays result;

"It is an outstanding result and I am rapt for the team. This is a fantastic group of people to work with, they are incredibly talented, passionate about the job they do and work hard to produce a great show every day for the listener. Well done to them."

Perhaps more than any other talk station in Australia, FiveAA's success can generally (somewhat bizarrely) be directly correlated with how the Adelaide Crows are performing. That isn't to be disrespectful to Port Adelaide Power – now overseen by former DMG Sales Boss Keith Thomas (here), however the Crows are the original Adelaide team and the most strongly supported in the market.

Speaking about the football influence, Hulme said;

"Football is important. Adelaide is passionate about football, it is a big part of the South Australian culture and when things are good like they are this season then people are more interested, more involved and have more of a desire to talk football. I guess I should send a thank you to Brenton Sanderson and his Crows."

With the Crows currently ranked second on the AFL ladder, perhaps that is a good sign for FiveAA.

See the Adelaide ratings here.