‘Just wild’: How Nova had its best year ever in 2024 and even dethroned Kyle & Jackie O
Nova Entertainment’s chief growth officer, Adam Johnson, spoke to Mumbrella at the tail end of a banner ratings year for both Nova and smooth, who proved the value of strong national networks.
Sound the saxophones, because smooth is the most popular FM station in both Sydney and Melbourne. And speaking of those two cities, you can ignore the battle between SCA and ARN, because Nova Entertainment actually boasts a larger listenership in both. In fact, as Johnson confirms, this has been the most successful year in the radio network’s history
And they’ve managed to end 2024 with this smugly satisfying statistic: Jase and Lauren have a bigger audience in Melbourne breakfast than Kyle and Jackie O do in Sydney.
“Which is just wild,” Johnson says.
“We are almost 12 months on from when that show became available in the market,” he says, referring to the moment last year when Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips were dropped from KIIS 101.1’s breakfast slot to make way for Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson’s expansion in the Melbourne market, one of the key points in a then-freshly-inked $200 million contract.
