What’s keeping the radio bosses up at night?
The most recent radio ratings survey is the last release of comprehensive data until at least September as COVID-19 takes its toll on the medium’s ability to measure its audiences. So with this data now the last set the networks can rely on for a while, advertising revenue tumbling, and pay cuts across the board – what is it that’s keeping content bosses up at night? And what does success look like now everything’s been turned upside down? Vivienne Kelly chats to them to find out.
There’s plenty to keep those in the media industry awake at the moment, tossing and turning as they grapple with when we will return to normal, and indeed if we even should return to normal. Was ‘normal’ even that good anyway?
Despite radio executives constantly espousing that “radio is in rude health”, this status has not given it immunity to the latest health crisis.
Audiences and engagement may be up, but the commercial dollars are simply not there to support this uptick.
Dave Cameron, Southern Cross Austereo’s (SCA) chief content officer, responsible for content across brands including 2Day FM, the Hit Network and Triple M, says the current state of play with content quality and consumption versus commercial support is increasingly frustrating.
I would say the biggest issue would be the lack of “localism” of regional radio stations. This is a massive issue for SCA who is looking at any opportunity to save money but fails to realize that the regional business is propping up their metro business…. All metro stations are bloated and spend too money on their shows vs audience share and roi.
I think the elephant in the room is how badly Triple M are doing in most capitals. They’re only doing ok in Brisbane because of a lack of real competition. They need to go back to a music focus. Copy Absolute Radio or Virgin Radio in the UK. Also 97.3 in Brisbane should be doing much better – the music is the problem, it’s diabolically boring, safe and repetitive! 97.3 should copy what Smooth are doing and they would be dominating Brisbane.