The introduction of Kyle & Jackie O's breakfast radio show into the Melbourne market has yet to take off after nearly three months.
Survey 3, released shortly after their southern stint began, showed KIIS’ breakfast share dropped half a point to 5.9 from 6.4 – numbers well below 2GB (18.8), GOLD104.3 (10.4) or 101.9 FOX FM (10.0).
Survey 4 showed the share remained stagnant at 5.9.
Even in Sydney, a market that the duo have typically dominated in with regards to the morning slot, they've seen their share falling.
After starting the year with a drop to 15.4 from 16.7 to end 2023, they did bounce back in Survey 2 before falling again in Survey 3 and the most recently released Survey 4.
The show’s fortunes mirror that of KIIS’ overall performance for the year in Sydney – diminishing share when compared with the likes of Nine competitor 2GB in every survey of 2024 so far except the second.
The Media Store’s chief strategy officer, Sam Cousins, said part of the problem with the underwhelming share results to date could come down to Melburnians priding themselves on their relationships.
“Feeling connected to radio talent is part of our culture and routine, we feel like we know these people and like Melbourne itself, they have to be real, authentic, warm and be able to take the piss out of themselves. Could we say those things about Kyle and Jackie O? Possibly not,” she said.
“What Kyle and Jackie O have is the glitz and the glamour, the famous friends, the shock tactics, and unfortunately that piques the Melbourne listeners' bullshit radar, if only they could inherit some of the humble nature that Will & Woody possess - real asset to ARN - that authentic mateship that has been hard to replicate since Hamish and Andy.”
Cousins said that she has had the brand safety conversation with Melbourne-based clients numerous times over the past 10+ years, and whether this duo are the right brand fit.
“Some of their high risk segments have previously seen clients pull their spend,” she told AdNews.
“Or perhaps people in Melbourne hold a grudge? If you were a loyal KIIS breakfast fan last year, the abrupt dismissal and drawn out final shows of Jase & Lauren in December is something listeners still remember. There were tears, there was shock, there was support. The calls in from the general public and other local talent sealed their fate to be picked up by another network.
“Of course it isn’t the first time that radio talent wars have been brutal, but this time, for a good four months, KIIS replaced them with, well no-one.”
Cousins said that the drawn-out arrival of Kyle and Jackie O has not helped their reception, especially when ARN was so quick to remove Jase and Lauren.
“NOVA was stealth and fast in snapping them up and getting them back on air: they had a head start. The flat reception of Kyle and Jackie O isn’t just about their characters, it’s a culmination of dead air and smart moves by their competitors,” she said.
Atomic 212°’s founder and chairman, Barry O’Brien, said that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and anyone who thought this was going to be an overnight success against current Melbourne radio programs needs to have a serious rethink.
“New radio shows take time to settle in, be sampled and gain traction. If you have patience, as this network does, they will work on getting an audience lift and momentum,” he said.
“Buying any audience is always based on delivering numbers and consistency. But you often test something that you believe can work; in this case, media buyers would have invested in believing that Kyle and Jackie would be a success. Based on current numbers they would be negotiating some form of compensation.
“Having said that, the show has been a smash hit in Sydney forever so clients would have had a lot of upside and have faith that the network will be working on correcting the current audience share.”
O’Brien echoed Cousins’ point that Melbourne is “very different” from the likes of Sydney, with residents there “rightly very proud” of their cultural uniqueness.
"They’ve got the G, AFL, the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open, Yarra River, the Australian F1 Grand Prix, Moomba, the Boxing Day Test with 80,000 dusty people, lots of fabulous restaurants and bars, the lanes, great pubs, art galleries, amazing shopping, fashion and so on. The place is the sporting capital of the universe and they even have the Hume Highway that leads straight up to Sydney,” he told AdNews.
“Now as good as Kyle and Jackie O are, if you’re not talking about any of the above topics on any given day I reckon you could be struggling to grab a share of the parochial Melbourne audience.
“Having said all of the above, the network will be focused on turning this around because I assume that part of the hefty salary they negotiated with Kyle and Jackie O was based on being somewhat successful in the southern capital.”
ARN's chief content officer, Duncan Campbell, told AdNews back in June that in both cases it's important to consider the context around the results.
"In Sydney, they had a very, very strong year last year off the back of Kyle's wedding and lots of activity, which gave them a huge boost. They might be softening a little bit, but they're still very, very strong,” he said.
"The surveys do ebb and flow so unless you see a real downward trend, it's more about that overall strong position they hold.”
ARN's CEO Ciaran Davis, speaking to AdNews back when Kyle & Jackie O's deal was announced, said that launching the show in Melbourne was "going to be a challenge and it's going to take a lot of hard work by everybody involved".
Campbell said that the Melbourne market had been disturbed with a change in NOVA’s breakfast show this year and a change in the KIIS breakfast show.
“We know from experience that when you change even a member of a breakfast show that the market gets disrupted," he said.
"We've had a very solid strategy in place and we're executing on that. We still remain very positive about Melbourne.”
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