Jase and Lauren and Clint didn’t have heaps of time to celebrate their radio ratings achievement yesterday. There were more media interviews for Melbourne’s new #1 FM show including Jase interrupting his wife’s birthday celebration for a TV cross. A production team from The Project set up in his lounge room for the program last night.
Today the show is making a road trip for shows in what’s left of the snow in Victoria.
Jase and Lauren on The Project – interviewed by another former Nova breakfast star, Kate Langbroek
Good day for team Nova
When you are a radio executive working the phones on survey day some days are harder than others. For Nova Entertainment group programming director Brendan Taylor, Tuesday was a good survey day.
It was also a pretty good day for the company thanks to the magic Jase, Lauren and Clint have managed to create around Nova 100 breakfast. The station’s breakfast share in Survey 8, 2023 was 5.0%. Today it sits on 9.9%.
It took a while for people opening their GfK ratings to recognise a new Melbourne FM breakfast leader. For the last few surveys you first check Gold and Fox to see what’s happening. This time it’s happening at Nova.
Mediaweek asked Taylor if the size of the share and the ranking of the show might have triggered a bonus payment for his Melbourne breakfast team. He laughed, and replied, “It’s been a while!”
Mediaweek wondered on Monday this week if the market had really appreciated what Jase and Lauren had already achieved. Taylor reckons they are starting to now.
“Melbourne’s such a strong competitive market. You’ve got stations consistently staying up the top of the ladder there.
“When you scan down and you see that 9.9% [alongside Nova 100 breakfast] it’s just one of those moments and you feel quite proud.
“I look back and think of Jason. He was staring down the barrel of not having a show. Now 10 months later he’s the most listened to breakfast show in the Melbourne market along with Lauren and Clint.”
Is the Jase and Lauren show a real competitor now?
“It really is,” said Taylor. “There’s no doubt they have got to ride the highs and lows now as all big shows do. But just look at their share and cume. Shows move around and theirs might too in the future. You can’t take anything for granted in a tough market like Melbourne.”
Nova’s Brendan Taylor
Will media buyers need to recalibrate Melbourne?
Taylor: “Our commercial partners should most definitely look at this show if they are not on board already. Jase and Lauren are definitely reaching Melbourne in the right way.”
Don’t overlook the contribution from Clint Stanaway
While the branding of the new Melbourne FM radio king and queen features Jase and Lauren, Taylor wanted to celebrate the work of Clint Stanaway. “Clint is such a vital part of that team. He brings his background in TV, his journalistic skills and his love of Melbourne.
“When you combine that with Jase and Lauren it makes them a great team. It’s chemistry you don’t often see and they are friends outside of work too. His name’s not in the title, but it doesn’t mean he has any lesser share of voice in the show.”
Should Jase and Lauren go national? (Spoiler: they already are!)
When asked if there was room in the Nova schedule for a national Best Of show, Taylor replied: “Funny, we actually do one. We just don’t tell people about it. It’s on the weekends.” Best of Jase and Lauren can be heard nationally between 6-8am on Saturday and Sunday.
See also: Mediaweek’s coverage of Survey 5 Radio Ratings – every station in every market
Rest of the Nova network on ratings day
Taylor: “Nova traditionally does well leading into the summer months around the country from a cume perspective.
“Sydney rebounded up a share point into the sevens, with a strong work day and drive in Sydney and Melbourne.
“In Brisbane, we spent a lot of time with Ash, Luttsy and Susie. That market too is so competitive. B105 has been a strong contender this year, but Ash, Luttsy and Susie are up to #2 station from a share perspective. They are #1 in cume, with the most listened to breakfast show and Nova 106.5 is most listened to station.
“Adelaide saw some improvements with Jodie and Hayesy. It’s still just 18 months into their new breakfast show. It was up a share point, and is the most listened-to breakfast show.
“Nathan, Nat and Shaun continue to dominate the Perth market after, 21-plus years. They keep us #1 breakfast show and #1 station.”
Taylor also made mention of improvements to the Chrissie Swan show, leading into drive with Rickie-Lee, Tim and Joel, then leading into Ben, Liam and Belle. Smallzy then continues to perform after 8pm where he remains #1 under 40.
Nova’s national highlights
• The Nova Network has the most popular Breakfast shows across the country of any metro network (2,282,000 CUME)
• Nova’s The Chrissie Swan is the most popular Afternoons show (2-4pm) in Australia with CUME of 1.349m listeners
• Nova’s Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel is the most listened to Drive show (4-6pm) in Australia with a CUME of 1.48m listeners
• Nova’s Ben, Liam & Belle is the most listened to Late Drive show (6-8pm) in Australia with a CUME of 724,000 listeners
• Nova’s Smallzy’s Surgery is the #1 Evenings show (8-10pm) in Australia with share of 8.1%
• The Nova Network is the #1 metro network on Weekends across the country with a share of 9.3%
• The Nova Network is the most listened to metro network across the country in Mornings (1,552,000), Afternoons (1,754,000), Drive, (1,480,000), Late Drive (724,000), Evenings (368,000) and Weekends (2,511,000)