Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) head of content Craig Bruce has told AdNews the network has vowed to “spend whatever it needs to” to market its new Sydney breakfast team of Dan and Maz.
SCA recently announced that Dan and Maz, who currently present a national drive show on the 2Day network, will be moving into the competitive Sydney breakfast market at the beginning of next year, with Hamish and Andy taking over the competitive national drive slot.
In the latest GfK radio ratings Dan and Maz's show took out the top FM drive spot in Melbourne, as part of the FOX station, with 10.1% audience share. However, in Sydney the same show only reached 4.3% audience share.
But Bruce believes the current format of the Sydney 2Day schedule, which has Merrick Watts, Jules Lund and Sophie Monk in the breakfast position, are giving Dan and Maz a poor lead into the afternoon. He said that going into 2015, SCA is willing to put its money where its mouth is, and invest in its breakfast show.
“It's very hard to draw a line between what is happening on Sydney and breakfast and make any comparison, with the breakfast numbers of 2Day FM as poor as they are at the moment,” Bruce said.
“With a better lead in, as Fifi and Dave have been able to give Dan and Maz in Melbourne, I think it shows what the show is capable of.”
“They're moving into breakfast, it is the most critical day part in the biggest market in Australia and we'll spend whatever we need to to make sure the audience is aware of who they are and what they're about.”
The network has stiff competition in its target demographic of 18-24 year olds, especially in Sydney with Kiis, Triple J, Nova and even WSFM ahead in the segment. Bruce wouldn’t be drawn on its specific marketing strategy going forward except to say Dan and Maz moving into breakfast was an opportunity for its Sydney network to “recalibrate.”
In terms of the latest radio ratings, Bruce called SCA's result “reasonable” but said its ratings in Sydney confirm the need for its latest reshuffle. He added that while Hamish and Andy won't be sitting in the drive seat until midway through 2015, he expects improvement in SCA's rating across the board to kick in well before the duo take up the airways.
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