It was hard to find trends in digital radio listening across the five metro markets in GfK Radio 360 Survey 3.

Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and particularly Melbourne saw increased listening to ABC Sport with the 2025 football seasons in full swing, but Sydney listeners dropped away.

SYDNEY

No 1 – CADA 

Growth – BLENDER BEATS

Overall cumulative listening was down for digital radio mostly across the board. Interest in Thy, CADA’s AI DJ appears to have waned somewhat.

Melbourne saw a massive surge of people listening to Coles Radio, giving it a cumulative audience of more than 152K, the most of any station anywhere across Australia.

MELBOURNE

No 1 – Coles Radio (+54K)

Growth – ABC Sport, BLENDER BEATS

Different to Sydney, Melbourne saw increased listening to DAB+ with the doubling of numbers listening to Coles Radio in the car in the afternoon perhaps linked to a good choice for school pick ups.

Coles Radio pipped smooth in Brisbane too. Smooth normally dominates in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth but this survey, while sister stations in Melbourne and Sydney flourished, they stalled.

BRISBANE

No 1 – Coles Radio, smooth Brisbane just behind.

Losses – Nova and KIIS 90s stations

Sports listening was up for SEN Melbourne and ABC Sports

ADELAIDE

No 1 – smooth fm Adelaide

Losses for Mix and OLDSKOOL 80s stations

Fairly steady across the board with no big improver. Afternoons and weekends are when most people are tuning in.

96FM Gold significantly closed the gap on smooth fm Perth who have for a long time been far and away the most listened to DAB+ station in the WA capital. ARN also saw 96FM the most listened to station.

PERTH

No 1 – smooth fm Perth (80,000 cume audience down 14K)

Big mover – 96FM 80s (70K cume audience, up 15K)

Growth also for ABC Sport and Coles Radio

Full survey 3 results here. Cumes, spin and previous survey. Bonus Survey 3 Radio Today Tonight podcast episode below: