Craig Bruce: “these things go in cycles”

If you haven't yet seen the results and analysis from survey 6, see it all here.

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

Here's what Craig Bruce, Head of Content at Southern Cross Austereo, had to say about survey 6 for the Today and Triple M networks.

SYDNEY

Kyle & Jackie O have had 50 surveys in a row at number 1 and they’re up and the station is up so that’s a pretty good result.

At 2MMM, the workday result was disappointing. Breakfast has held up in this result, it’s somewhere in the 6’s which is about right for The Grill Team. I think we can turnaround the workday result on 2MMM just with some better TSL. When you look at the Melbourne and Brisbane Triple M workday result where the numbers have held up strongly across the day, there’s no reason why we can’t see that come back for Sydney.

Sydney was excellent and we’re happy with both stations.

MELBOURNE

3MMM a really strong breakfast result, down a little but a number anywhere in the 8’s is good for them. Really strong drive numbers, the football numbers are outstanding and up overall 10+ so that’s a tick for us.

Fox has held, it’s still number 1 but the gap is closing as it has had over a period of time with Fox and our opposition. Breakfast (Matt & Jo – left) has been a focus for us for a while now and the guys are completely focussed on turning around the result. Whilst it was disappointing to go down we’ll do everything we can to change that.

I guess the thing with the Melbourne breakfast results is the fact that the landscape changes at the end of the year with Hughesy & Kate (Nova 100) finishing. So they’re probably getting a farewell spike as so often breakfast shows do. They’ve been a brilliant breakfast show for a long period of time, I take nothing away from them, but, the show finishes in 2 months so let’s see what that looks like in 6 months from now.

BRISBANE

Brisbane was excellent. Both breakfast shows up, both brands are up, the 4MMM result was outstanding across the board essentially. Not as strong as I would have liked in drive but the breakfast and workday numbers were very good.

B105 is also showing positive signs with less than a point separating 1st and 4th in breakfast. We’re well and truly in the game, there’s no dominant FM station in Brisbane anymore.

ADELAIDE

An excellent result for 5MMM, the number 1 male station which is our target. Breakfast, drive and football have all done really well.

SAFM had a slight increase in breakfast but I think there’s still more to come. We’ve got a cume issue there that we’ll work through with some better marketing and tactical support.

PERTH

Mix 94.5 a steady result, some strong increases 40-54 and some good 25-39 numbers as well. Most of the losses were 55+. Obviously we have the drive show (right) moving into breakfast show starting in survey 8.

For 92.9 a disappointing result with some issues in and around breakfast.

So, overall, a reasonable day.

Mark: Your thoughts on Nova now being the number 1 network in Australia ?

Craig: We can’t focus on Nova, and we don’t, they can have that headline. If I was there I’d be claiming it as well. I would think that out of all of the wins they’ve had over the last 12 months, the one that they want is in Sydney and we’re still the number 1 FM station there with a breakfast show that’s been number 1 for 50 surveys in a row.

Smooth has had a brilliant day today, but the smooth model versus the Triple M model are completely different in terms of the types of programming and content focus.

I think both networks for SCA have their own pockets of success and some area’s that we need to focus on. We’re not shying away from the fact that Fox FM breakfast should be doing better. We’re not shying away from the fact that SAFM could be stronger and has been weak for a period of time, but, we’re also really hopeful that we can turn that around. These things go in cycles. You can try and close the gap from the down to the up as quickly as you can, that’s about all we can do.

Mark: Welcome to the world of radio programming right ?

Craig: Exactly.