Unless you live under a rock you would have heard the confirmation coming out of Australian Radio Network (ARN) this week that it would be rebadging its Melbourne Mix 101.1 station to the same Kiis brand introduced in Sydney this year. And unless you live under that same rock you wouldn't have been surprised at all to hear it was, finally, happening.
The rumour mill had been rife with speculation about a Melbourne rebrand, among other things these last few months. And as much as Kiis was branded as “so Sydney” in its initial incarnation all the way back in December last year, the proceeding 12 months has given ARN a good case study to see that the Kiis format works... In Sydney at least.
Will it work in Melbourne? No one knows for sure. But with GfK ratings placing Mix 101.1 at just 6.0% audience share, it's little wonder it's willing to try something to give it a boost. However, in its quest for national dominance, the question is whether ARN will roll it out to its other stations: Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and 97.3 in Brisbane.
ARN head of content Duncan Campbell reckons it won't, but it would make some sense to have a national brand.
ARN is already putting its best foot forward, with former Nova presenters Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, better known as Hughesy and Kate, on board to host a syndicated national drive show across the Kiis and Mix Networks.
Brisbane and Adelaide's drive shows, hosted by Campo and Sean Craig Murphy respectively, will be dumped from the slot. In the latest GbK ratings, both stations came second in the drive slot, with Adelaide's Mix 102.3 recording 12.8% audience share and Brisbane with 14.0% audience share.
Campbell said while both presenters have performed exceptionally well “the commercial pressures have been such that we needed to offer a network offering.”
He is right in saying commercial pressure on radio networks -particularly in the last year- has been a heavy load to bare. But Campbell also said that the Mix formula, admittedly speaking of the Melbourne market, was “tired and old and doesn't have a great perception among advertisers.” It's now a matter of how long before any past ratings successes from the Mix brand give way to the commercial pressure of having a hit new brand to take to market.
It won't be the only station looking at rebranding either. Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) recently renamed its Adelaide SAFM station to hit107 and while nothing has been confirmed for its Sydney station, SCA executive director of metropolitan operations Guy Dobson fueled speculation a brand expansion may be down the line. Given changes in the wider market, it may be a riskier move for ARN to stick with its old format than to jump in the pool with a new offering.
This is aside from the logic of having one brand for a radio network, particularly one that shares a drive show. While ARN have said its syndicated show won't play the same music market to market, given the slight audience skew between Mix and Kiis shows, it seems silly to suggest presenters don't impact this demographic slant as well. Without clear direction, and one brand to take to market, Hughesy and Kate may have their work cut out for them, in targeting their audience, or working out who that audience is.
Radio networks have been talking for years about how presenters are just one component of their offering, but the last few weeks its seems the industry is spending more time beefing up its presenting roles than investing in their brands. ARN, the station that made industry folk law by poaching Kyle and Jackie O and taking their audience with them in one swoop, have their rivals as a lesson in why brands are important stock in the radio trade. It seems unlikely they'll hedge their bets on talent alone.
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