ARN eyes Melbourne while Nova backs consistency

Rachael Micallef
By Rachael Micallef | 16 December 2014
 
Nova group program director, Paul Jackson.

Next year is set to be a big year in radio, with branding changes and talent moves galore but different are placing their chips on different parts of the table. Australian Radio Network (ARN), fresh from a big year in Sydney, is looking to boost its Melbourne output, while Nova is continuing to back its consistency as a winning strategy.

ARN announced last month that it would be revamping its Mix101.1 station under the Kiis brand as it looks to replicate the success the brand had in Sydney this year.

Speaking to AdNews ARN national content director Duncan Campbell said that while the new Melbourne station may share the same name as its sibling in Sydney, the two will be completely different.

“The only similarity is that its called Kiis,” Campbell said. “The rest of it is designed for Melbourne and the market is different. Sydney is a more brash market and the tone and the imagery reflects that in Sydney. It's not the case in Melbourne so the way we package will reflect that market.”

Campbell wouldn’t be drawn on the marketing push for Melbourne except to say it will be 'big” and that the station is “well advance in its planning with all of that.” He also said the music would be tweaked to better reflect the “more current” slant in Melbourne.

While Campbell said ARN wasn't expecting the dramatic ratings shift seen in Sydney following the Kiis rebrand immediately, he was expecting to see early signs of success.

“I think we'll get an indication early on, but I don't think its going to be like Sydney where it was straight to number one,” Campbell said.

“We'll be looking at early signs to give an idea of how we're doing.”

Meanwhile Nova has boosted its offering in Melbourne with COO Lou Higgins moving to the state in January and taking on additional management duties of Nova100 and smoothfm 91.5.

But Nova group program director Paul Jackson said for the network it's “business as usual.”

“We will be marketing as we do in each of our marketplaces and we've got a game plan and we'll go quite early next year,” Jackson said. “So I imagine everyone will be hearing from all of the stations. We don’t feel the need to do anything additional to what we would normally do.”

Nova's offering in drive does consistently well in both the big ticket states of Melbourne and Sydney, picking up the top spot in the latter in the latest GfK ratings at 10.1% audience share.

While across the board FM stations are investing heavily in the timeslot with national shows, Jackson said he expects Nova's audience to grow, given that it's had a year to settle in the slot.

“We've got a great show, we expect to do even better into next year,” Jackson said. “We back that show in and we'll take on newcomers really. There is a that trickle effect of someone hearing the show, waxing lyrical bout it, that's kind of how it goes in this business. Whatever you end up doing, you grow incrementally really.”

The latest radio survey is known anecdotally as the biggest of the year, given it spans the end of year into March, and will be the survey media buyers look at in the new year.

Carat CIO Paul Brooks said that with all the changes this year might be the exception.

“The latest survey period holds a certain importance, but perhaps not as much as in previous years,” Brooks said.

“I think next year you're going to see a very different marketplace because there's been so much talent movement over this year that trying to get an accurate guide based on whoever won the year in 2014 is going to be difficult.”

MEC CIO Seb Rennie agreed but noted that it's the "last opportunity for a while to get a real look-through at the value in the radio stations.”

Both Jackson and Campbell said that their stations put no additional emphasis on the ratings despite its importance, with Campbell noting in terms of Mix101.1 that ratings are almost redundant.

“It's less important for us in terms of Mix, as it will cease to exist next year so [the numbers] become fairly irrelevant,” Campbell said.

“The focus for buyers will be on that survey one result for Kiis101.1 and what that station manages to generate.”

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