Survey results for the Eastern Victorian regional areas of Gippsland and the La Trobe Valley have been released. The results are a complex set of figures that have to be read with care, because three service areas overlap in some places, and some stations have translators in parts of the each other’s service areas.
The main geographic areas covered are: West Gippsland, which includes the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne and south to Philip Island and includes Traralgon; East Gippsland, which goes south east to Wilson’s Promontory and includes Sale; and the La Trobe Valley, which has some overlap with both areas and includes the cities of Moe, Morwell and Traralgon.
The full figures for the West Gippsland and La Trobe Valley areas are not publicly released, but the full East Gippsland figures are available.
West Gippsland:
Star FM has continued to dominate the West Gippsland area, coming in at number 1 with all people 10+, number 1 with all people 25-39 and number 1 with all people under 40. The survey area includes a total of 20 stations, including all Melbourne stations.
While the exact all people 10+ figures are not officially available, radioinfo understands that the local stations (some of which are not heard in the entire service area) score the following figures: Star 12.0%, 3GR 9%, 3GG 6.4% and 3GV 4.4%. In the under 40 demographic Star has 23.4 share points and 3GR scores 14.3. Some Melbourne stations are believed to be scoring figures between 5-10%.
Star FM holds the number 1 cume position with 42,600 weekly listeners, while sister station 3GG holds number 2 cume position with 33,200 weekly listeners. The combined Macquarie Regional RadioWorks stations (Star and 3GG) unduplicated cume for the market is 65,400 people. Star South East broadcasts on FM 94.3, while Star La Trobe is on 97.9 and 3GG is heard on AM 531.
Station manager Jason Doherty says:
“Star FM and 3GG will not be resting on the result, but already have plans in place to improve the audience numbers even further in the new year with the launch of the eagerly anticipated Charles Wooley program on 3GG from the end of January. The combined cume result will produce a strong listener base for advertisers in one of Australia’s fastest growing areas.”
Latrobe Valley:
In this area the Ace Radio network are clear leaders, with Ace’s 3TR FM and 3GV the dominant stations in the Latrobe Valley.
Ace Radio’s national sales manager Peter Headen has told radioinfo: “this is a great result for ace radio and its national advertisers… in the all important breakfast shift, the ace radio network continues to dominate.”
All people 10+ figures in this area are: 3TRFM 27.6%, 3GV 17.5%, 3GG 8.1% and STAR FM 6.3%.
3TRFM leads at breakfast with 26.8 share points, followed by 3GV on a 23.3 share, 3GG with 6.8 and STAR FM scoring 4.0 share points at breakfast.
3TR’s cume is 19,300, 3GV has a cume of 10,300 weekly listeners, Star FM has 9,800 and 3GG 7,000 in this survey area. 3TR dominates the under 40 demographic and 3GV is strongest over 40.
East Gippsland
In East Gippsland 3TR FM is first placed with 30.4% overall, followed by ABC Local Radio’s Gippsland service on AM 828 (and various other local FM frequencies) at 22.8%.
ABC Gippsland is currently celebrating its 70th birthday and has been running a number of outside broadcasts in the region during the survey period. ABC Gippsland’s studios are in Sale, while 3TR’s studios are in Traralgon.
Third placed 3GV scored 15.7%, followed by other local stations (not heard in all the survey area) Star FM with 4.2% and 3GG with 4.0%. Triple J scored 4.1%.
3TR FM dominated the under 40 demographics, while 3GV and Local ABC jointly held the 40-54s and ABC dominated the 55+ demographic.
3TR just won the breakfast timeslot with 30.9 share points, ahead of ABC Gippsland with a 29.2 share. 3TR won the other daytime shifts easily, and just inched ahead of ABC in evenings. ABC Gippsland won weekends.
3TR cumed 47,700 weekly listeners, ABC Gippsland had a cume of 38,500, 3GV had 27,300 weekly listeners, 3GG had a cume of 11,600 and Star cumed 11,300.