A golden opportunity for Nine
As the CEO exits, the media company needs to do some serious reinvention.
With chief executive Mike Sneesby heading out the door, the last thing the board at Nine Entertainment probably wants to hear right now is what I think about the way forward for the embattled media not-so giant.
But I’m going to say it anyway.
As a larger-than-average* consumer of media and a former employee (for 15 months at Nine Radio’s 4BC), I can say that things are not right at ground level. But there is a great first step towards fixing it.
Start listening to people.
Not just the senior managers who have been involved in a series of bad calls, but the employees at the coalface and, especially, the audiences and potential audiences.
And that listening exercise has to reach beyond corporate HQ in Sydney, or the posher parts of Melbourne, deep into the provinces.
Exactly what is Nine doing for audiences in other states?
Well, when it comes to radio in Brisbane — as I’ve been saying for quite some time — southern management has been making bad decisions that have deeply affected staff morale and sent the ratings off a cliff
One point I’ve made over several editions of this newsletter — and was made by someone else just yesterday on one of the radio internet groups (I’m sorry but I don’t recall who) — is that the current Nine Radio management doesn’t have a great track record in discovering and developing talent.
Most of the big names at 2GB and 3AW were appointed before Nine Radio entered the scene.
Here in Brisbane, a series of poor decisions have been made despite the hiring of some good people.
But even with those good people in place, management ignored research that didn’t suit their narrow narrative, gave staff the wrong riding instructions and failed to listen to those, inside and outside the building, who were saying “Brisbane is different” (in a good way, of course).
Driven partly by ideology and partly by a complete lack of imagination, they tried to replicate the success of 2GB with no regard whatsoever for the differences between the markets in Sydney and Brisbane.
The few women who are on air have been given little chance to shine by being put in difficult timeslots — despite research showing that the adage that women don’t like listening to female voices is simply not true.
Of course, “accepted wisdom” like that — and the persistent idea that talk radio has to be relentlessly right wing and polarising, despite the social profile of Brisbane being much more complicated and nuanced than the slice of Sydney they’ve snared — has been favoured over genuine research.
And, from all I’m hearing, they are likely to double down on those antiquated notions very soon.
At the very least, Nine should put all major programing and hiring/firing decisions across the board on hold until the new CEO and a fresh management team can take a truly deep dive into the various markets free from the prejudices and preconceptions of the past.
The media industry is all about change. Those who can’t see the opportunities ahead and, dare I say it, think outside of the box, will be left behind.
Even with a medium that skews towards older listeners, as talk radio does, you can’t make assumptions anymore. In Brisbane, the target audience is the generation that includes those who marched in streets against a law that made street marches illegal.
They are the Boomers with the big bucks who are not afraid to spend them, and therefore they are a very attractive proposition for a commercial radio station that knows how to program for them.
Of course, Brisbane is just an example. Other markets have their own unique challenges and opportunities.
If Nine wants to continue to be “the one” — in television, radio, streaming and whatever comes next — then its new boss and the management team has to understand that things have changed.
*Yes, I am fat, but that’s not what I mean.