Alan Jones and other conservative broadcasters have been targeted by advertiser boycott campaigns before and remained on-air, but industry observers say this one "feels different"; the list of major companies who are no longer spending with 2GB is longer than ever before, and the activists pressuring them are more numerous, organised and committed.

Could this finally be the end of Jones - one of the most powerful men in Australian public life?

Since mid-August, when Jones told his listeners that Scott Morrison should shove a sock down the throat of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, more than 100 companies have publicly distanced themselves.

The contest is not only about the career of an ageing radio kingpin, but about community activism versus entrenched power.

On one side is a rag-tag organisation of mostly anonymous members of the public who collaborate through Facebook and Twitter, and on the other is a man on a $4 million a year contract who is brazenly courted by politicians, aware of his influence over a syndicated audience of millions.

Jone has seen this all before - in 2012 more than 70 companies pulled advertising, and the station suspended all ads on Jones's show, costing as much as $80,000 a day.

And he survived, and the companies quietly trickled back.

The latest boycott, however, is even bigger.

Hack has spoken with industry insiders and gathered the latest ad spot data to calculate how much money 2GB is losing from the boycott, and how many companies need to pull out before Jones will be truly vulnerable.

What the ad spot figures show

"I've got no comment about the advertisers, they can make their own judgment if they go," Jones said in the first week of the boycott.

"There will be others that take their place."

But the latest ad data suggests that may not be true.

According to the media tracking service Aircheck, the total number of commercials across the station in the three weeks after the boycott was down about 8 per cent (1170 ads) compared to the three weeks preceding the boycott.

The figures show the advertisers who leave are not being replaced by others.

Also, the network could be offering advertisers discounts to stay with the network - the fall in station revenue may be greater than 8 per cent.

Surprisingly, on Jones's own breakfast program, from 5.30am to 9am, the ad tally has actually gone up after a small dip - from 575 ads per week before the boycott, to 596 in early September.

The key figure, however, is lost revenue for 2GB.

This week, the Sydney Morning Herald quoted an anonymous 2GB source that said the boycott had cost $1 million so far, and it was worse than the one in 2012, which is estimated to have cost the network $1.5 million.

It's unlikely many more companies will join the boycott - the ones that are left appear to be staunch defenders of Jones. That means the success of the campaign now rests on how long it can last - if it continues for a whole year, 2GB's damage bill may be too high to pay.

How long can the boycott last?

The 2012 boycott began in September and had died down by Christmas, but since that time online activists have become better organised, and they've promised to keep the pressure on Jones indefinitely.

The campaign is being led by the social media activist organisation Mad F**ing Witches - similar to the Sleeping Giants, which Hack reported on last year.

Founded by Melbourne mother-of-three Jennie Hill in 2016 after Peter Dutton accidentally sent journalist Samantha Maiden a text describing her as a 'mad f**ing witch', the group has about 60,000 members across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Whatsapp Jennie Hill. Published with her permission.

Of these, at least a few thousand are very active, Jennie told Hack.

"When Coles pulled out we had 1200 screenshots of their announcement sent in through our message service within 15 minutes," she said.

"All we're doing is providing the infrastructure for them to do the work."

Mad Witches members email, call and direct message companies advertising on Alan Jones's show to pressure them to withdraw, and together compile a list of which companies are still with Jones, and which are out.

Jennie said most of the members do not fit the stereotype of young left-wing activists, but are middle-aged small-l liberals - moderates who may have backed Malcolm Turnbull over Tony Abbott.

About a quarter of Mad Witches are men, she said.

All this points to a broad base of support, and that could come in handy in a few months time when members tire of the slog.

"Some of the companies make a fuss and then go back to Jones," Jennie said.

"But we've made a very firm commitment that we'll be listening to the advertisers and catching what's going on for as long as it takes."

"That could be six months to a year, to a few years."

Mad F**king Witches founder doxxed by Alan Jones supporters

As the boycott grinds on, a counter-group of Alan Jones supporters has formed, though with far fewer members - a bit over a thousand.

They're using the same tactics as their adversaries - keeping a list of who's out and who's in, and contacting the companies directly - to convince companies to stick with Jones. The organisers are anonymous.

"Spread the word to stop this left wing bigotry!" one post on their Facebook page reads.

On the page, in a post that begins "This is by no means posted with any malice", the page admins have posted the work phone number and work PO box of Jennie Hill - the Mad Witches founder, who is not anonymous and gives media interviews.

Jennie told Hack her home address had been posted in the comments. We cannot confirm this was the case as the post has been deleted.

"We've actually put in security cameras," Jennie said.

"It was pretty frightening having my picture and all my details splashed over their page."

"I had to shut down my company's website and Facebook page."

The business landline rings all day now but we don't answer it.

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Whatsapp NZ PM Jacinda Ardern.

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Whatsapp Jones with then opposition leader Tony Abbott at an anti-carbon tax rally in 2011.

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Whatsapp Alan Jones (L) performs alongside musician Andre Rieu in Sydney 2009. Jones's radio audience tends to skew to an older demographic.

On the page, members speculate the Mad Witches founder is intellectually disabled, miserable, twisted, and "probably just needs a stiff scotch and a screw".

"These people need to be hunted down and dealt with," one person wrote.

Another wrote: "Those leftist women with foul mouths are not good customers of anyone ... The only good witch is a dead one!"

To point out the obvious: A page set up to support a male broadcaster who made a domestic violence slur against a woman appears to be inciting violence against women, and have also posted the contact details of the woman they have been privately insulting.

"It's probably exceeding our wildest expectations," Jennie said of the campaign.

"When you're thinking 101 companies have pulled out and the majority of them are very big companies - it's got to be a huge amount of money."

But the devil is in the detail

In late August, marketing analyst Lory Vecchio, who runs his own consultancy, published a blog post suggesting the boycott is not as successful as it may appear.

He pointed out that many advertisers have distanced themselves from Jones, but continue to advertise on 2GB - dampening the impact of the lost ad revenue.

It's possible, he speculated, that some advertisers were spending just as much as they were before the boycott, but just not on Jones's show.

Speaking to Hack this week, Lory said his analysis did not mean the campaign would fail, but that it might be harder for it to succeed than it would appear. Ad spend can be funneled into other shows, or the difference can be made up later in the year, when the advertisers trickle back.

"2GB has over 500 advertisers spending various budgets with 2GB and within Alan Jones's breakfast show," he said.

"It's only significant if 30-40 advertisers are pulling out and they're top end advertisers and they're pulling out for a long time."

He also noted that some boycotting companies are locked into 12-month advertising contracts with 2GB and will be keen to get back on the breakfast show soon.

"They might have a commitment to Alan Jones of a certain amount of money per year."

They may call up 2GB and say, 'Hey we need to pull out but when someone says something offensive on another medium we'll be back'.

But the pressure will also be mounting within 2GB headquarters.

Another industry observer, Denise Shrivell, told Hack the boycott would be affecting the morale of the 2GB staff who sell ads for Alan Jones's show.

These advertising traders work on commission, which means the boycott would be affecting their annual incomes.

"They go to a lot of effort to to bring advertisers in and then Alan Jones speaks the way he does and those advertisers leave - that impacts them financially," she said.

"I wonder if there's some morale issues."

Another consideration is that 2GB has new owners who may be less forgiving of an ageing presenter alienating some of Australia's largest companies.

Macquarie Media, which owns 2GB, merged with Fairfax in 2014, which has since been bought out by Nine Entertainment.

"There might be some difficult decisions for management in regards to the type of content it broadcasts," Denise said.

"Certainly Jones on numerous occasions has spoken like this.

"But this one does feel a little different for me."'