GfK radio survey schedule for 2025

Australia’s radio stations are back in full swing from this week, the beginning of the 2025 ratings survey year.

GfK field work began last Sunday 19th January and the five major capital cities will be surveyed 8 times during the year, until the final fieldwork ends on Saturday 13 December.

GfK also surveys Newcastle, Canberra and the Gold Coast, which will have three surveys this year.

Xtra Insights surveys regional markets and McNair Yellow Squares surveys the Community Radio sector.

Results are announced publicly about three weeks after each survey finishes.

How do Australian radio ratings surveys work?

  • Survey duration is usually 5 weeks. There are 4 breaks during the year which roughly correspond to national school holiday periods.
  • Results are publicly announced about three weeks after each survey’s field work period is completed.
  • Results include share, cume (also known as weekly reach), average audience and streaming results for AM and FM stations, plus DAB+ station results.
  • The last couple of weeks of the previous survey are rolled into the next survey to smooth out any unexpected peaks or dips resulting from differences in samples, these are known as ‘waves,’ example below.

  • Most surveys are now collected with ‘digital diaries,’ using a phone or watch to capture listener station choices. A small percentage of diaries are still paper ‘books’ to capture audiences who cannot or do not wish to use digital devices.
  • Each survey area is broken up into districts and a representative sample of diaries is dropped in each area, Sydney example below

  • Sample size for each market varies between 1750 to 2400 people, which are valid statistical samples for each market. Diaries are allocated so that they represent the proportion of population by age group and gender. Details below

From 2025, a major change will take place in survey reporting. Results from the last survey of the year will now be published in January of the following year, so that the radio industry comes out of the gates strongly at the beginning of the year with new data, rather than having to wait until March as in the past.

The GfK radio ratings are primarily designed for commercial radio stations to sell advertising, so listening data released early in the year is important for commercial stations to pitch to advertising agencies. ABC stations are also surveyed in the GfK ratings but commercial advertising sales are not a priority for the national broadcaster.

GfK does survey all radio stations, but data for unsurveyed stations and the community sector is not available publicly because they do not pay to buy the survey results. When share and cume listenership does not add up to 100% of the potential radio listening audience, those missing figures usually reflect unreported stations such as commercial stations outside the survey area, SBS Radio, foreign internet radio stations and community radio.

Survey dates and and results release dates for the main radio markets are shown below.

Release dates for all markets are listed below. A ‘blind’ survey is when the exact weeks of field work in smaller markets are intentionally unknown within a wider survey period, this is to ensure that promotional activities are evened out across a longer period rather than just concentrated in short bursts.

Our annual calendar includes survey dates and also world conferences and events of interest to radio and podcast professionals. Feel free to embed it or use it for your own planning if you wish. If you would like an event included, please emails details to [email protected].

 

 

 

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