CADA is the DAB+ leader again in Sydney in GfK Radio 360 Survey 5. Coles Radio leads in Melbourne and Brisbane, and smooth in Adelaide and Perth. Across 2024 cumulative listening to digital radio only stations continues to decrease. Melbourne is down around 150K and in Sydney 215,000.
In Sydney CADA reclaimed No 1 from iHeart Australia, gaining about as many listeners as iHeart Australia lost. With now only two announcers on the roster, Sophie Nathan on breakfast (pictured, up nearly 20,000 to more than 50K cume) and K-Sera on drive (also near 50K cume), and former Radio Today reporter Megan Smith as a fill in, there is a market for the station for youth in Sydney, noting that the station had a no measured result for listeners 55+.
Coles Radio nabbed second this time. MMM 90s saw the biggest gains, along with smooth relax. At the start of 2023 someone decided to rebrand MMM 90s to MMM Tradie Radio. A big loss of audience saw SCA and Triple M quietly revert back to the original for Survey 1, 2024, and the listeners have gradually returned.
Don’t fix what ain’t broken, as they say.
In Melbourne Coles Radio is No 1 and the only station with an cumulative audience of more than 100K. Biggest gains were in the afternoons and on weekends, for Mum and Dad shoppers I suspect. I must say I always enjoy the music when in store. Most of the SCA DAB+ stations saw losses with the only significant gains for Coles Radio and Chemist Warehouse Remix, seeming to indicate people are more often listening while shopping.
This was the only metro where an ABC Sports station saw notable gains, on breakfast particularly.
Brisbane saw Coles Radio just pip smooth Brisbane, with both seeing some growth. RnB Fridays Radio saw the biggest losses, alongside surprisingly ABC Sports, ABC Country and Double J.
Adelaide is one of the most evenly spread DAB+ markets. Smooth remained No 1 with MMM Classic Rock and Coles Radio close behind. All three saw small losses in cumulative listening. TikTok Trending, RnB Fridays radio, Dance Hits and NOVA Throwbacks were all close behind.
Finally to Perth where smooth FM is again the clear leader. 96FM 80s replaced OLDSKOOL 90s HITS in second with the latter seeing the largest loss of audience. Perth was the only metro to see cumulative audience gains across the day parts and demographics.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo
Other reports: Raw Results, Spin, Cumes