What put dmg’s Paul Jackson in a happy mood

If you haven't yet seen the results and analysis from survey 5, see it all here.

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

Here's what Paul Jackson, dmg Radio's Group Program Director, had to say about survey 5.

Paul: The big one for us is Sydney, there’s only one FM (commercial) station going up and that’s Nova 96.9. Our audience is up 8.6 year on year in Sydney, 2Day FM is down 7.8. There’s a direct swap of audience. We’re now only 1 share point behind, it hasn’t been that close for a very long time.

I think this is 2Day FM’s worst result since 2004.

We have a terrific share for Fitzy & Wippa and them going up is fantastic. Especially in the last 3 or 4 weeks they have been sounding the best to me they’ve ever sounded. Some outstanding radio. And we will keep that going. So on the trajectory we’re on with Fitzy & Wippa then we are slowly coming up the outside in terms of position. Fitzy & Wippa have been fun and engaging and the content you hear them do you then see it online because they make so many great videos and are sharing that socially.

Mark: Any truth to the reports that Fitzy & Wippa have re-signed for a rumoured $11m deal over 4 years ?

Paul: Yes they have re-signed and they will be here next year and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with them and the Sydney audience at breakfast time.

Mark: We saw a tweet from dmg CEO Cathy O’Connor on survey morning that said :-

Paul: Yeah fantastic, I don’t think we’ve been there before and we easily lead under 40. 25-39 probably the best one and win under 40 in every configuration. So a very happy mood around here today.

Mark: Hughesy & Kate on Nova 100 are now only 0.1 away from Fox FM’s Matt & Jo, a close battle. Where did their 1.4 increase come from do you think ?

Paul: Exciting time. Mike Cass (PD-left) has worked tirelessly as has Sacha (French), Hughesy & Kate’s producer, they’re giving it absolutely everything. If you listen now compared to a few months back it’s fair to say we have tightened up slightly, we’re getting a few more tunes away and they’re really focussing on the quality of the content. It’s delightful to see the audience respond to it that quickly. It’s a very much deserved result. On occasion we have felt slightly hard done by with some of the results in recent times and I think this result reflects where we are, it’s neck and neck.

Mark: Nova 106.9 are back to #2 in Brisbane but still a very tight race with 97.3FM. Nova there still hold #1FM breakfast.

Paul: Overall Brisbane’s number is a delight. Jay Walkerden and I were just chatting it through. You look at 97.3FM going up 6 share points 18-24, that doesn’t look quite right. If we even give them the benefit of a couple of points we would win overall. These are two juggernaut radio stations, neck and neck, you can crack the old gag about it being a two horse race but really it’s between Nova and 97.3FM. Barry Drinkwater runs a very good operation there (at 97.3FM), as does Jay Walkerden.

Mark: To Perth and Nova 93.7 are down 0.9 but breakfast still #1FM, #1 at night and #2 in drive, but what about that triple j result. Is there anything Nova will look to do to combat their #1 result ?

Paul: Not particularly no. We’re in a totally different field and it would be dangerous for us to move over into that territory.

We’re doing some of the best numbers we’ve ever done, we’re the market leader in cume with 492,000, the nearest is 451,000 and Mix 94.5 are on 426,000. So for being the contemporary station that we are, to have those numbers is sensational. If anything, our cume is so high that there are people floating around the edges that aren’t giving us a big share.

Versus what is our main competition in 92.9, we are, at this stage, country miles ahead. We won’t be complacent but Dan Underhill (PD) and that team work so hard. The content has been terrific in the past few weeks and it’s a deserved result.

Mark: Do you believe the election has impacted the results at Fiveaa or smoothfm at all ?

Paul: If it was going to impact anyone it would be smoothfm and it would benefit Fiveaa. We’ve seen a slight tickling up for Fiveaa at breakfast. For smooth I don’t think I would even say it has anything to do elections, I think we are there or thereabouts the same number. The cumes are slightly up. When that happens we tend to dip ever so slightly in share.

We are still building momentum with smooth, people are still discovering it and we have a very good conversion rate of new listeners coming and becoming absolute disciples and fans. We’re just on that journey and the station is somewhere between mid 5’s to high 6’s and that’s what we’ll continue to see.

We just kicked off another round of TV advertising with a new ad and we’ll look to do more and we just have to keep letting the station breathe, be very consistent in the execution and we know we’re onto a winner and it’s performing at a higher level than stations like Mix are currently.