While the critical pillars in radio revenue are breakfast followed by drive, SCA chief executive Grant Blackley told Mediaweek this week that the radio group is reviewing how to improve ratings performance and monetisation of all dayparts.
After the financial results were released, Blackley talked about the bright outlook for the radio business and noted that investment in good talent was always rewarded with good revenue from advertisers. As to the specific future of Hamish and Andy with SCA in 2017 and beyond, Mediaweek suggested there could be an announcement perhaps when the Hit Network drive hosts appear at the Radio Conference in October. “Well, you know more than me,” replied the CEO.
Other than confirming his earlier statement that Hamish and Andy were not expected to leave the broadcaster, Blackley added: “We don’t particularly like talking about any particular team or person.”
As to a continued turnaround, albeit slow, at 2DayFM, Blackley said: “The 10+ audience is up across all dayparts and we have seen six surveys where breakfast has improved. We have also invested more in Brisbane and that is paying dividends. The Triple M Network is also performing very strongly. We want to consolidate the gains at both our networks and even grow them a bit more next year.”
As to interference from smoothfm, Blackley noted it was hurting ARN more than SCA. “We have very clear targets for our networks. Hit Network is for women under 40 and Triple M is for men 25-54. We will remain focused just on our game.”