Kyle and Jackie O’s former home left counting the cost
The radio station company, which is embroiled in a high-profile legal battle with two of its former stars, has lost millions of dollars in revenue as companies pulled advertising over its sexually explicit content.
Cutting advertising while The Kyle and Jackie O Show is on air will cost $26.4 million in revenue in 2025/26, ARN Media CEO Michael Stephenson said at the company’s annual general meeting.
“What has been clear recently is that both consumer and advertiser expectations have changed,” he told shareholders on Thursday.
“During the period, some advertisers had concerns about the safety or brand safety of our content and as a result, this impacted our revenues during the period.”
The Kyle and Jackie O Show was known for its explicit content, including occasional discussions of sex acts, masturbation, and pornography; this had led to calls to boycott the show from a grassroots activist group that accused it of normalizing “violent misogyny”.
ARN Media sensationally terminated the contracts of both Jacqueline “Jackie O” Henderson and Kyle Sandilands following an on-air outburst between the pair in February; Meanwhile, Sandilands told him that he was “into fairies” and “almost useless” due to his interest in astrology.
The duo was paid a total of $20 million every year within the scope of a 10-year, $200 million contract that expires in 2034.
Mr Stephenson told the meeting that ARN’s metro radio revenue had fallen by $28.3 million to $147.3 million in 2025/26, with most of that decline ($22 million) relating to customers “choosing not to advertise on ARN due to brand safety issues”.
The problem also affected regional advertising; this figure decreased by $5.3 million to $110.5 million; $4.4 million of that decline came from national advertisers who withdrew their spots due to brand safety concerns.
ARN hopes many of the advertisers who leave will eventually return as clients, but Mr Stephenson said he was realistic about the time it would take for this to happen.
“We may see some of this this fiscal year, some of it potentially beyond,” he said.
Henderson took leave and on February 26 he could no longer work with his on-air partner of more than 25 years, ARN Media chairman Hamish McLennan told shareholders in a statement to shareholders following the acrimonious incident on February 20.
“The company treated this as a repudiation of his contract as he was unable to fulfill his essential contractual requirement to present The Kyle and Jackie O Show and as a result his contract was terminated,” Mr McLennan said.
ARN said it had spoken to Henderson about the possibility of an alternative show but was unable to reach an agreement.
Without going into detail, Mr McLennan also said he took the view that Sandilands’ behavior on February 20 amounted to “serious misconduct” and terminated her contract two weeks later after Sandilands failed to rectify the situation.
Henderson and Sandilands, whose morning show is broadcast in Sydney and Melbourne, are separately suing a subsidiary of ARN for more than $160 million in damages.
Sandilands argued there was no serious misconduct, that radio network KIIS had promoted clips of the explosions live on air and that ARN had used the incident to renege on a contract it regretted.
The duo reigned as Sydney’s top-rated morning drive show for many years, attracting an audience of more than 600,000 listeners, but its Melbourne launch in 2024 did not go over well.
Mr McLennan told shareholders he could not comment further as the matter was before the courts.
The former Network 10 CEO voiced his confidence in ARN, despite struggling with its share price falling by half in the last 12 months, and said he would invest $500,000 by buying shares in the company.
ARN shares were down almost two per cent to 26 cents in afternoon trading.
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