Patrick Kicken: Qmusic, the new number 1 in the Netherlands, thanks to John de Mol
[BLOG] What had been in the air for a few months is now officially a fact: Qmusic is the best listened to radio station in the Netherlands, not only in that all-important function 20-49, but now also on 10+. Of course they there in Amsterdam that it is all their own, but is that really so? The fact is that Marieke & Mattie’s morning show is a hit, where the name Marieke knows how to appeal to a very large group of young women. But what caused the direct NPO Radio 2 and Radio 538 to cause Q to push through to the number 1 position?
Surely we can conclude that Talpa’s tactics ‘all balls on Radio 538’ totally had the effect. No matter how much marketing budget you pump into one channel, if the product is not good or not good enough, it will not ensure long-term growth and therefore profit. You could also have prevented a lot more manpower and marketing in Sky Radio from being an even more formidable competitor for Q, wanting the same target group. No, that would be at the expense of 538, according to the miscalculation. So not much marketing budget and no morning show for Sky. But the most striking mistake she made at Talpa in the past six months was with Radio Veronica, which indirectly ensured that Qmusic can now flag ‘we are the number 1′. Which also immediately justifies the dismissal of Marc Adriani, such a disastrous error of judgment:
By taking Rob Stenders away from NPO Radio 2 you clearly have their performance. Especially when you see (hear) what the solution is that men came up with to absorb this loss: the much too inaccessible and alternative Annemieke Schollaardt at the important hours 12-2pm, where at first nothing was wrong with jock Gijs Staverman, which you then place in the place of the somewhat more substantive Rob Stenders. Not smart of the broadcasters De Vries and Bosman at NPO Radio 2, but hey, they think it’s good that they are no longer the number 1 in the Netherlands. Something that should also not be done, a public radio station as number 1. It shows again and again that we actually do not have a public broadcaster in the Netherlands, only full and half commercial broadcasters. So they are now rid of that nagging in the Radio House, Jurre can meet the new Shula with relief. Telling with your head held high in The Hague how substantive and inclusive that NPO Radio 2 is and it really isn’t about the listening figures. The departure of Stenders and the long-term illness of De Wild has of course also started the permanent NPO Radio 2 and made it aspire, no matter how well Eddy Keur has done the replacement.
But what does John de Mol have to do with the fact that Q is now the new number 1? Well on behalf of fallacy number 1 (we put all the marketing balls on Radio 538), fallacy 2 (we just let Frank Dane imitate Edwin Evers and it will be fine) there is also fallacy 3: we bring Rob Stenders to Radio Veronica and all his experiences are automatically transferred to us. Have a look at some program for a market share, we can use that! No, what you did in the first place is weaken NPO Radio 2 causing Qmusic to get free rein. And then we haven’t even mentioned the fact that Uncle John just let ex 538 boss Dave Minneboo defect to competitor Q, with all the research done over the years under his arm. Minneboo, who resigned when he was really fed up with everything from De Mol. With Evers not allowed to take a vacation from John and Dave, Edwin, the king of the morning, was allowed to tell.
As I wrote here before, research done at 538 into the competition showed that at Qmusic they completely made the mistake of not making the claim on the hit they play. What do you think was the first thing Dave will do when he moved from Bergweg to the Kauwgomballenfabriek? Correct. Fishing in the Top 40 and much more laying claim to the music. Moreover, Minneboo knows from all music research which classics are good with so hup 538 audience, all on rotation.
Do you give Q too little too little received number 1 position? Of course they do a lot of things right. The marketing is consistent, the promotions they do, they do well, Het Sound continues to be a hit and the programming is perfectly fine. Just neat from 3am with not too many blocks after the morning show. Just one more listenable than 538’s piece programming, with someone else even better every two hours making a difference. A programming that is also going to be adapted in the short term (read November).
The most beautiful scenario that 538 can now bring to the stage is of course the following: Coen and Sander to Radio Veronica, in the place of Wilfred Genee, Frank Dane to the afternoon of 538 and Wietze de Jager to the morning. One less deejay in the daily programming, just two blocks of three hours between 10 am and 4 pm. And now stop trying to compete with Q by doing the same: get rid of that Verrückte state, certainly no more hit list with it, stop with the 538 Top 50. The credo in media land is and has always been: ‘Don’t try to be better, be different!’. Something that De Mol does not seem to understand, out of a kind of misplaced arrogance he thinks by sitting on the radio of the TV the received and the viewer of course chooses his channel(s). But who dares to say that?