Claire Butterworth, GroupM interim general manager of investment
The linear radio ratings only tell half the story, however it is really positive to see growth of average and cumulative audiences in nearly all markets survey on survey.
Even more pleasing is that the growth is not just in the older demographics, showing that audio remains a strong media channel to reach all demos.
Claire Butterworth
Like all rating surveys the devil is in the detail, with swings seen by station and by demo, demonstrating constantly evolving listening habits, which can make planning challenging.
Broadly ARN, Nova and SCA continue to vie for younger audiences whilst talkback dominates older demos. Overall, there’s been no major changing of the guard, but Nine’s new talent line up appears to be working.
Dave Cameron, SCA chief content officer
There were three things we were initially focussed on in the results – 2Day breakfast, Triple M Melbourne breakfast and the Perth rebrand.
Perth had the most amount of a change after blowing up a station [Mix 94.5] and rebranding it and relaunching it as a new station with a new breakfast. We re-aligned it to the Hit Network and it was a bit of a dream start with the initial results. To go up was a great result. Then to have Triple M launch above 8% and be so close to a major competitor [96FM] was probably as good as it gets when you are launching a new radio station.
In Melbourne at Triple M we had changed an 11-year-old breakfast show and there was going to be audience churn as the two shows – The Hot Breakfast and The Marty Sheargold Show – talk to different audiences. There were a few nerves around what we might have got today, but to get a Triple M breakfast launching over 6%, which was higher than The Hot Breakfast average in the last two years, was very strong.
Dave Cameron
In Sydney it was an odd survey with every station going down apart from 2Day FM. The pre-Covid commute listening doesn’t seem to have returned yet and a few shows were banged around. To go against the tide at 2Day was the theme of the day. It was a solid start for Hughesy, Ed and Erin. Our challenge for the next 12 months will be awareness and getting on the radar of the potential audience. The challenge will not be product-based because we know we have a really strong product.
[While SCA is going hard on marketing its new LiSTNR product, Cameron said they will also be marketing the new breakfast shows too.] “There is no point marketing the delivery product LiSTNR, if you are not marketing the fuel that goes into LiSTNR. We are making sure we are getting market awareness with all the shows that go into LiSTNR.”
Duncan Campbell, ARN chief content officer
We remain the #1 network based on share which is the metric we use in this country. We worked so hard to get that. We want to maintain it and when we keep it shout it from the rooftops.
[Christian O’Connell’s success] Gold is now entrenched as the #1 FM station in Melbourne and Christian is entrenched as the #1 breakfast show in Melbourne. It is something of a fairy tale – a guy from London uplifts his family and finds success at Gold 104.3 in Melbourne. His content is extraordinary and he is a great broadcaster.
Christian is very inclusive of his audience and he is unique in that respect. Jack’s role as the sidekick is unique too. Something that is not so common in this country.
Christian O’Connell and the name who brought him down under, ARN’s Duncan Campbell (credit: SDP Media)
The fact that KIIS 101.1 is closing in on a cume audience of 1m shows the strength of the brand. The goal in both Melbourne and Sydney has been to get to a cume of 1m which indicates you are doing pretty well.
[As to why KIIS Sydney had a slide across the day] “We put it down as an anomaly. It was an AM book for sure. It was particularly disappointing for Jonesy and Amanda and the rest of WSFM. But every time WSFM goes down they do bounce back. We are going to be marketing Jonesy and Amanda more than we have been and we are confident they will bounce back.
[In Brisbane Campbell wanted to get 97.3 back in the FM pack after some disappointing results last year.] We certainly did that this survey – nearly back to double figures. We did some work on the breakfast show based on research. The team is working better together and Robin and Terry are having more fun and the goal now is to get the breakfast show and the station back to #1.
In Perth, Campbell is thrilled to have a former colleague taking over 96FM breakfast. “Dean Clairs was my drive announcer when I was program director at the station back in 1991 when we were both young. Fred Botica has had an extraordinary career and is a passionate radio and music guy, as is Dean who rates very highly when it comes to personality testing and he’s a great transition for the station from one announcer to another.
[The new SCA shows] “We listen and get external consultants to monitor for us. Given the survey we’ve had in Sydney it’s too early to tell what is happening at 2Day. Triple M Melbourne did reasonably well keeping the audience from a big personality like Eddie McGuire.
Paul Jackson, Nova Entertainment chief programming and marketing officer
The smoothfm result was a real highlight for us and especially in the 25-54 demos where it recorded its highest ever result. The Sydney station is the most listened to station in the country.
The Nova stations did well considering the weeks of the survey which stretched from a holiday period into a back-to-work and back-to-school period. It’s too early to judge how the year might go for ours and other stations. We wonder if there is sampling going on at the new shows and if those people will move.
Paul Jackson
[Nova’s new drive] After Marty left we changed the dynamic of the show and it could have gone two ways. You could even make a better show, but people might not take to it because it was not the old show. We were very conscious about changes we were making with a different style of humour to Marty. The team has succeeded with Kate and Tim evolving their performance on air with Joel bringing the laugh-out-loud comedy. Kate, Tim and Joel is now a very different show to Kate, Tim and Marty. I suspect we have lost some of the old listeners but added on some new ones and in doing so it remains the #1 network drive show winning all the demos. We are very happy to have been able to transition from one show to another and be just as successful when it could have been very different. It can be hard to start new shows and get them off the ground.
[New SCA shows] Marty is now doing a different thing and he has done pretty well for a beginning. The show will evolve and could do well.
In Sydney we know it will be difficult for 2Day. To get an audience to change their radio stations is not an easy thing to do. I speak from experience after we created smooth and how long it took to find that audience and deliver big numbers. But while we want to know what is happening elsewhere, we don’t get too focused on the competition because it distracts you from your own stuff.
Greg Byrnes, Nine Radio’s Head of Content
[Stations in Melbourne and Sydney recorded their best GfK Survey 1 results in more than a decade. Nine’s talk radio stations – 2GB, 3AW, 4BC & 6PR – grew their audience by 6.4% year-on-year and retained their #1 position in the 40+ demo with a 28.1% share.]
This survey proves that 3AW and 2GB are the “must listen” radio stations in their cities. We are way out in front as #1 and the audiences are getting even bigger. More than 100,000 new listeners are tuning in each week when compared to a year ago.
Greg Byrnes
Ben Fordham in Sydney and Ross and Russ in Melbourne have again recorded stunning results while in Perth, Gareth Parker has grown the 6PR Breakfast audience by 26% year-on-year.
Right across the country talk audiences are growing stronger year-on-year, with more and more people turning to us for live and local news and opinion.
See also:
Sydney Radio Ratings
Melbourne Radio Ratings
Brisbane Radio Ratings
Adelaide Radio Ratings
Perth Radio Ratings