Kyle Sandilands’ personal firm quietly advised Labor on its ad spend
Kyle Sandilands and his personal company, King Kyle Group, were paid to advise the NSW Labor Party where to target its radio advertising dollars before the March election.
The top-rating Sydney FM radio host, who is on the verge of signing a new, 10-year contract with KIIS FM alongside co-host Jackie Henderson for $200 million, never disclosed the commercial relationship despite a series of on-air interviews with then-NSW Labor candidate Chris Minns and former Coalition premier Dominic Perrottet.
Kyle Sandilands photographed in Sydney for The Australian Financial Review Magazine. Nic Walker
The commercial arrangement is detailed in The Australian Financial Review Magazine’s feature on Sandilands, who has become an increasingly powerful player in media and politics over the past two decades.
“It was a sense check,” a NSW Labor campaign worker, not permitted to speak publicly, said. The Labor campaign team wanted to reach women aged 20 to 30 with kids and focus its spend wherever would hit those audiences.
“The creative, media and researchers are the three biggest expenses in a campaign. Kyle and his manager were involved in putting an eye over our media buy,” the source said.
King Kyle managing director and Sandilands’ manager, Bruno Bouchet, confirmed the group was paid for its consultancy work and insights, and defended the arrangement.
In April, after the election result, The Daily Telegraph reported Mr Bouchet had been hired to help his “mate”, Mr Minns, on FM radio strategy. It was not disclosed that the work was contracted to King Kyle Group, a company owned by Sandilands.
“Kyle’s not a member or spokesperson for the ALP, nor was he dealing directly with the party,” Mr Bouchet said. “Given that… [I] was handling the
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