Almost a decade after making the move from SCA’s 2Day FM to ARN’s Mix 106.5 (now KIIS), radio giants Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O could be considering returning to their original home.
The Australian Financial Review spoke to multiple sources familiar with the matter, with an unnamed network insider telling the publication that SCA was “pretty aggressive” in pursuing a deal with the pair. If it were to go ahead, “It’s very likely it’ll end up being the biggest talent media deal ever,” one source said.
“It’s about more money and making it a bigger show, meaning reaching more markets,” they continued, although which markets the show could be extended into was not explicitly mentioned.
Describing the negotiations, one media executive said “This is like sports rights for radio.”
The pair are currently in the last 18 months of their current contract with ARN, originally signed in 2019, and reported to be worth up to $8 million a year each.
In the most recent radio ratings survey, The Kyle and Jackie O Show came in as overall breakfast champs with 17.9%, their best result ever after surging up an additional 2.9 points. They also recorded a record cume of 921,000.
After the results, Mediaweek spoke to ARN’s chief content officer Duncan Campbell, who said that the reason they continue to grow is that the pair have always remained relevant.
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“They’ve always remained in touch with the audience, and they always make that show exciting,” says Campbell. “There’s always something going on – the old positioning line was Expect The Unexpected, and that’s still the case many, many years later.
“With a lot of shows, they would get into a bit of a rhythm and they wouldn’t put as much effort in as they did in the past. These guys are still as hungry as ever. They’ve got a fantastic production team behind them, and they won’t accept content that’s not first class.”