‘Brisbane really is a two horse race’

If you haven't yet seen the results and analysis from survey 4, see them here.

You can also see the press releases here and the ups and downs here

During the day I caught up with Duncan Campbell, to get his overview of how ARN went in survey 4…..

Duncan: It’s another very solid result for us. What’s interesting is that the competitive landscape, to some degree, has been re-shaped over the past 6-12 months and that continues. The market’s continue to be the most competitive they’ve been for many years and today’s result overall reflects that.

In Sydney, Mix continues to grow although it’s small steps at this stage and we’re very encouraged by the cume returning to the numbers of a few years ago, the low 700,000’s. And of course Jonesy & Amanda bouncing back after they took a hit. For them to be back at 9.2% is a great achievement and for WSFM to go up 0.5 is also good. Sydney’s a very good story and we’re happy with the result.

Mark: Do you see the Ellen tactic (as reported here) an important one for Mix 106.5 and Mix 101.1 for Survey 5 ?

Duncan: With cumes being so strong, these books are now time spent listening driven. Strong tactics are more important now than ever before along with strong content in breakfast. That’s where our focus is – making sure the entertainment value across the day is high, the Ellen tactic will do that for us in Sydney and Melbourne.

Also that we continue to develop stronger content in breakfast and that’s the 2 pronged approach we have. We’re confident the music strategy on all the stations is right, that just gets tweeked when we review that twice a year, so it’s all about content at breakfast and content across the day. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Ellen tactic goes for us.

Mark: The Mix 102.3 Adelaide story is a good one, still number 1 and extending their lead.

Duncan: Chris Cotton is the Content Director there and they’ve done a significant amount of work with the breakfast show and developing strong content. With Jeff Burzacott as the Music Director down there it’s a formidable team and they’ve done amazing things considering that Jodie Oddy (left – breakfast) was away on maternity leave. That’s a great result for the station. It’s a strong station with lots of positive heritage.

Mark: Is the Melbourne result for Mix 101.1 and Gold a worry for you ?

Duncan: Melbourne is disappointing, I’m not going to spin that one. When you look at the market it’s a funny book. Fox is the only FM station that went up, Gold went down, Mix went down, Triple M went down, Nova went down, smooth went down and then you have that anomaly with Triple M’s Hot Breakfast going number 1 ahead of Fox. I haven’t drilled down into those numbers enough yet but it’s a disappointing one for us, we’ve got some work to do there.

Mark: 97.3FM in Brisbane held steady, overtaken this time around by Nova but still strong.

Duncan: I know I use this two horse race reference every book but it really is and I think today’s result clarifies that, it’s a Nova and 97.3FM market. Nova have done well this book, encouraging that 97.3FM remains steady, went up a little bit in breakfast, cumes are very strong. We know we have a strong station and given the cume held there it’s probably a tactical book for Nova but congratulations to them.

Mark: Overall, your feelings on how ARN sits halfway through the survey year ?

Duncan: These 3 networks (ARN, dmg, SCA) are probably the most competitive they’ve been, particularly because SCA really is held up by 2Day FM and Fox FM, they’d be disappointed by the SAFM and B105 numbers and losing #1 in Perth. Nova, except for Brisbane, didn’t have a great book either so it’s a mixed bag for everybody but a very solid result for ARN.