The KIIS Sydney audience has slipped further in the radio ratings in the latest blow to ARN after the departure of renowned breakfast duo Kyle and Jackie O.
The GfK Radio 360 survey showed KIIS’s share of the Sydney breakfast audience fell 1.1 per cent to 7.1 per cent between April and June — putting the network level with 702 ABC Sydney in equal fourth place.
It marks a sharp decline for the once-popular KIIS breakfast program, currently hosted by fill-in presenters Mike Etheridge, Amy Gerard and Brooklyn Ross, after it started the year on top with an audience share of 12.7 per cent.
In the same survey this time last year, it had 13.9 per cent audience share.
The prime breakfast slot was topped in the latest Sydney survey by 2GB’s Ben Fordham with a 14.8 per cent share, followed by smoothfm’s Bogart Torrelli on 12 per cent.
Smoothfm topped the survey overall with 13.2 per cent of the Sydney audience, up 0.4 per cent, followed by 2GB, Gold101.7, Nova then KIIS and Triple M on equal fifth.
Last year, KIIS was second overall with 10.8 per cent audience share, compared to 6.7 per cent in 2026.
No quick solution for KIIS, analyst says
Duncan Campbell says radio audiences take time to build a relationship with on air talent. (Supplied)
CD Media founder Duncan Campbell, a former ARN chief content officer, said the decline in the KIIS breakfast audience was to be expected after Kyle Sandilands and co-host Jackie “O” Henderson were taken off the airwaves following an on-air argument in February.
“The challenge is to stop that decline as quickly as you can and the best way to do that is to get a breakfast show that they’re happy with on the air and promoted and start to form that relationship with the audience,” Mr Campbell said.
“Radio is unique in the sense that they form this parasocial relationship with presenters, in that listeners really feel that these presenters are their friends because they know them so well and they got to know them over the years and there’s a real trust there.
“That just doesn’t happen overnight, so you need that to happen and it takes a bit of time for that relationship to be established.“
He said the Kyle and Jackie O show had held “a lot” of listeners aged 40 to 55, some of whom appeared to have scattered across smoothfm, Nova and Triple M.
The Kyle and Jackie O Show abruptly ended after an on-air row. (Instagram: @jackieo_official)
Both Sandilands and Henderson launched legal proceedings against ARN Media in the Federal Court after their $100 million contracts were terminated.
While Henderson’s proceedings are ongoing, ARN Media announced last month it would settle with Sandilands for $12.09 million, well short of the $85 million he had sought.
In addition to the cash, the network has pledged to advertise Sandilands’s new, independent media project on its platforms, while Sandilands will share 19.2 per cent of revenue from his venture and will not engage with ARN’s direct competitors for up to nine months.
Kyle potentially a fresh rival for ARN
Sandilands told the Game Changers Radio podcast the new subscription-based project would be a “visual, video clip, song, ‘back to us in the studio’ like the Today Show type of thing”.
Mr Campbell said the program could cut further into the FM radio market.
“The industry or the Sydney market needs to treat [Sandilands] like a competitor. He had 600,000 average audience listening to him every week so some of those will subscribe,”
Mr Campbell said.
“The difference between a subscription model and free to air of course is that there’s a price point, so once you spend money on something you will listen to that and make sure you’re not wasting your money, so that audience will be hard to get back once they go.”
ARN Media has been contacted for comment.
