'A positive result': ARN's Duncan Campbell on the halfway point in the ratings year

With survey four marking the halfway point of the ratings year, ARN chief content officer Duncan Campbell’s description of the year for the network so far is “solid.”

“We’re the number two network – we would like to be number one, but that’s proving a little bit more challenging this year. We’re a good number two, so we're happy with that.”

One of the network’s strongholds is Sydney, where survey four saw ARN take the top two FM breakfast spots – Kyle & Jackie O and Jonesy & Amanda – as well as the top drive with Will & Woody.

“We had a very good year last year in Sydney, our average 10+ was 11.4%. In 2022 it was 10.1%, and this year we're averaging 10.4%. It's a very strong radio station,” Campbell said of KIIS 106.5.

“Kyle & Jackie O in Sydney are still very strong at 14.1%, and the most listened to breakfast show by cume in both Sydney and the country. The number one and number two FM breakfast shows are a good duopoly to have.”

Further south, Kyle & Jackie O’s second survey since launching in Melbourne saw the duo stay flat with a 5.9% breakfast share. Cume for the show lifted 48,000 to 502,000.

“It's a positive result. I’m not saying it's a great result, but it's a positive result due to the fact that there's so much churn going on in the market. For them to be flat suggests that after the last result, we’ve stabilised a bit and we should be able to move forward now,” said Campbell.

“Melbourne is very strong and it’s good to have that base of 502,000 cume. The focus will be on now building on this result, and hopefully in their first full results, survey five, we should see some share increases.”

Around the rest of the network, Campbell admit there are “a couple of disappointing results” – namely Brisbane and Adelaide – but adds that “we’re always optimistic and always persevering.”

“I'm not too sure what's happening in Adelaide, but Brisbane has some challenges with moving the station down a little bit in terms of music target. It's more of a CHR format now in line with the KIIS network, so that's a work in progress. If we can crack those before the end of the year we should end much stronger.”

With half the surveys to go, Campbell said that ARN’s biggest focus will be on its key demo.

“Our focus is very much 25-54s, that's where we're at. We're actually getting more laser-focused on that as we move forward.”

–

Top image: Duncan Campbell