Top CD’s tell of the ups and downs of Survey 5

Nielsen Survey 5 was a strange one in many ways, particularly for the FM band. Of the 24 commercial FM stations in the five major markets only five went up, the other 19 all  lost share. But triple j had a blinder, going up in all five major markets. In the process it marked an unprecedented milestone. For the first time in history, it took outright first place – not number one FM or #1 non-commercial station – but numero uno in an entire market: Perth.

triple j manager, Chris Scaddan was, of course, delighted with the result telling radioinfo, “It’s the first time we’ve been number one in a metro market.. It’s not that rare an occurrence for us to top 18-24s, which is, after all, our target audience. But it’s very rare (to be top overall)… well, it hasn’t happened before.”

While the 2.2 share gain that catapulted triple j’s western outlet into the lead in Perth may turn out to be an aberration, the fact that all the metro outlets in all states went up with more modest gains, is more likely a confirmation of a longer term trend.

“It’s an interesting thing,” says Scaddan, “We look at the overall trends for triple j, not just for this year, but for the last couple of years and it’s definitely a slow and steady rise for us, both in terms of share and in terms of our overall reach.

“There’s never been more competition around – not just in FM radio, but online, there are so many other people that want to do what we do, which is recommend new music and talk to young people across a number of different platforms.”

So what makes triple j so successful in the face of all that competition? “We generally feel that people like triple j because its reliable and independent. It’s credible and it’s genuine in a way that other media can be… a little bit less so,” says Chris Scaddan.

ARN’s National Content Director, Duncan Campbell was clearly disappointed with the mixed result handed him by the latest survey. This, despite both his stations 4KQ and 97.3 going up in Brisbane, with the latter regaining its lead in that city. In Adelaide, ARN’s other AM station, CRUISE 1323 also gained enough (0.8) to be ahead of FM icons SAFM and Triple M. MIX 102.3 dropped 0.8 but is still so far ahead in number one spot, it hardly matters.

And while WS-FM slipped a tad (-0.1) in Sydney, it was a lot less of a tumble than experienced by arch-rival 2Day FM (-1.0), thus putting WS just 0.4 behind, and within striking distance of the FM lead. It was a similar result in Melbourne between ARN’s GOLD and SCA’s FOX.

So, why the long face, Mr Campbell?

“The big disappointment is Mix in Sydney where we thought we were going to get three books in a row increase, which would have given us a nice trend.  This is a real setback,” he confesses.

“Expectations from where I sit are very high. We put a lot of work into it. We are the underdog network and we’ve done so much over the last three years. But the two missing pieces of the puzzle are Mix Sydney and Melbourne. We just can’t seem to crack that yet but we are absolutely determined to do so. On days like today it is just a little bit  frustrating, that’s all.

“But I think with these sorts of results you default to what your ear tells you – what you hear out of the speakers. And I believe it is getting better. The shows are improving. We had a very strong promotion across the work day which should have worked. But it’s not a day for us to be knee jerking and changing anything radically. It’s a day to remain very focused on our strategy,” says Campbell.

Nonetheless, he has a theory, as all content directors worth the title always do, as to why his stations, along with the majority of his commercial FM competitors, may have been left unrewarded for their efforts by the survey Gods.

“AM listening is up considerably,” says Campbell, “so my take on it is that adult listening has been influenced by the election. When you look at some of the 25-39 demos, 2GB in Sydney for example, went up 4.2 while Mix is off 3.3. 2Day FM also took a hit in 25-39s.

“Interestingly, Nova has come out of it okay. They tend to have less of the 40+ demos and less of the 35+ demos, whereas stations like even 2Day and FOX that carry strong adult demos – because they have heritage breakfast shows and not because of their music formats  – have been impacted as well.

“With us, Gold and WS have remained fairly consistent, which is encouraging. But the election has caused some disturbance with listening, I think, and that’s impacted us specifically on Mix 106.5 and Mix 101.1 which are the two stations that are least robust in terms of their position. They are in a growth faze. Our other stations have been consistent performers for quite a while.

It’s not a great result overall. But we remain committed to the strategy we’ve got in place,” says Duncan Campbell

Read what DMG’s Paul Jackson and SCA’s Craig Bruce had to say about Survey 5 here.