Between its breadth of radio stations and its digital platform LiSTNR, SCA is one of the most aggressive commissioners of audio content in Australia. It has already been a busy year at SCA which has included launching new local drive shows at every Triple M station, rejigging Triple M breakfast in Sydney, launching a new program with Abbie Chatfield on the Hit Network, and announcing a huge slate of new podcast and audio commissions on LiSTNR.
Mediaweek caught up with SCA’s chief content officer, Dave Cameron, about how the company is positioned content-wise, and what the future holds.
“We had radio ratings a couple of weeks ago and nationally we got nearly 600,000 extra cume coming into our stations,” said Cameron. “As long as we don’t have a year like we did last year where we’re losing the audience in cars when we’re going into lockdowns, this year is looking really exciting for us. We have got a bunch of new products, we’re creating new shows for our future, so I’m feeling good about this year. I’m feeling excited about the talent that we have, the talent we’re bringing on board and the announcements we’re soon to make.”
When asked about the performance of the broadcaster’s linear radio networks, The Hit Network and Triple M, Cameron said that the company is encouraged by the strong performance in key demographics.
“We’re number one for 25-54 males nationally at Triple M and number one in 25-54 for females across the country at the Hit Network. In terms of demographics, we’re feeling strong, because that’s what we’re selling on. We had some significant cume growth alongside our competitors, and that has shown that when an audience returns to their cars, and back to the workplace, radio really thrives.”
Cameron said that another change that has affected SCA’s content is that the Covid lockdowns have led to an increase in digital streaming.
“Marty Sheargold is a great example, last year it was one of our biggest daily podcasts, but it wasn’t meant to be that way. It ended up being one of our biggest podcasts because people were just consuming it being in lockdown in their own time. That’s a good example of a challenge for us this year, converting that podcast audience back into being fans of his breakfast radio show.”
Marty Sheargold
Cameron said that the landscape of audience behaviour has changed, with people now consuming where they want to consume and when is most convenient for them.
“An audience digitally is just as important to us as an audience on linear assets. We’re really taking a holistic view of getting that audience in all different platforms, shapes and sizes. Abbie Chatfield is a great example of creating a radio show but also having a huge social media impact with their daily content. She has a huge Instagram and Tiktok fan base as well. People are consuming what would be traditionally just a radio show 7pm to 9pm at night, they are consuming it in all different ways. And now we’re going out and creating a live event of that as well with Abbie. It is a great example of continuing to explore and moving with how audiences are consuming audio content in all different ways.”
Abbie Chatfield
When asked about balancing linear and digital content, Cameron said that both mediums are complementary to each other.
“We don’t see them as different arms of the business anymore, we just see it as consumption of audio. We’re creating twice as much content now than we were four years ago, both in the audio and digital space. We’re still continuing to explore what else we can do on the digital audio side of things. From a live point of view, we’ve had Steve Pryce doing a breakfast show exclusive to LiSTNR. We’re now doing a similar thing with R&B Fridays, which is a new channel on LiSTNR and DAB+ and it’s got its own breakfast show with Mike E and Emma now as well. We have deliberately focused on rebuilding content for our broadcast assets, but continuing to work with creators and partnerships to be able to create even more content than we were a few years ago. I’d like to say in a couple of years’ time that we will be creating even more content than how we sit today.”
Mike E and Emma
With SCA having a growing roster of talent, Mediaweek asked Cameron about how they balance recruiting talent and developing in house, to which he answered that the company has historically been future-focused in content creation.
“When you have a look at the radio industry at the moment, there a lot of 15 to 20-year-old shows that might be delivering strong results today but as a company, you’ve got to constantly think about how you’re going to replace those shows with new and fresh thinking tomorrow. We’ve just launched six Rush Hour drive shows nationally, instead of having just one national show on Triple M. Abbie Chatfield is exciting and a little more dangerous. We got a new weekend brekkie show with Jimmy and Nath. It’s important to us to make sure that we’re continuing the tradition of being future-focused on our content, rather than just settling on a 15-year-old show.”
Jimmy and Nath
Talking about talent development, Cameron said that he doesn’t see Podcasts as a development territory for radio content but that now it goes both ways.
“I don’t think we can now say that podcasts are just the waiting room for broadcast. We’re finding our biggest broadcast talent in Hamish and Andy are now just in podcasts. It is no longer the launching pad just for radio products. It’s a cycle. Abbie (Chatfield) is a great example of dipping your toe in radio, but already having a fanatical fan base on her podcast. I don’t see podcasts is leading to broadcast I just see a person that can deliver content on completely different platforms.”
Hamish and Andy
When asked about the near future of SCA, Cameron said there are a lot of exciting things around the corner for the audio broadcaster.
“There’s a bunch of announcements waiting in the wing. Original content creations with new, exciting talent for us and new partnerships coming on board. We treat LiSTNR as the centre of our universe but also, we treat it as an opportunity to make as much content as we can, rather than distributing unaffiliated content. We don’t treat it as a vending machine for everyone’s everyone’s content, we treat it as a premium platform that we want to either produce, co-produce or partner in.”