Executive Chairman of DMG radio Paul Thompson is concerned that the poor performance of radio in Sydney is affecting the health of the Nova network.

“Nova Sydney isn’t as successful as it was and that is having an impact on Sydney media buyers perception of Nova nationally. That in turn is affecting the national ad bookings we are getting out of Sydney. The Sydney media buyers are focusing on their own immediate world. Our challenge is to ensure they recognize Nova’s national success.”

Thompson is confident there will be a marked improvement on the Merrick and Rosso breakfast show in the third ratings survey of 2007.

He is also confident that there will be marked improvement in Sydney breakfast as a whole, and even went so far as to credit the competition whilst speaking to Neil Shoebridge in the Financial Review.

“Austereo deserves a lot of credit for what they did with 2DAY fm. The breakfast show has been extraordinary, powerful and effective”

Thompson spoke about the somwetimes poor perception of radio to marketers and media buyers, saying they think the industry was losing out to technology such as the internet and MP3 players. Thompson is adamant this perception must be changed by the industry.

“It’s widely assumed that the internet and other new media have affected radio in terms of listening, which simply isn’t the case.”
“The cumulative reach of radio has increased, not declined in recent years. More young people are listening to radio, despite the rise of the internet, iPods and so on.”

Thompson believes that selling the health of radio to marketers and media buyers is vital to the industry, but for the moment he is going to focus on getting the Nova and Vega brands to a position the company will be happy with, he also hopes to be only a survey away from being able to take Vega Sydney back to the media agencies, time will tell.