Melbourne Market ratings analysis and comment

GOLD 104

GOLD104 today “proved that Good Times & Great Classic Hits (plus a fun breakfast show) are the key to strong results with the release of AC Nielsen radio ratings (5/2002). The station is Number 1 in its target of 35 to 54 year olds with a cume of 370,000 people (up 41,000) and Number 2 with a Share of 14.7% (up 0.6),” according to PD Dave Smith.

Overall the station increased by 0.3 to 8.5% (10+) taking third place in the commercial Melbourne Market ahead of NOVA and Triple M. GOLD104 picked up an additional 58,000 listeners with a cume figure of 781,000 (10+).

Dave Smith, GOLD104 Program Director, told radioinfo: “This is a fantastic result is for GOLD104 – our key targets of 35 to 54, and 40 to 54 year olds are rock solid, we’re the Number 2 Station for At Work, our cume increased by almost 60,000, and we’ve leap frogged into third place ahead of NOVA and Triple M! I’ve got to take my hat off to Grubby & Dee Dee, and the whole team at GOLD104 who work so hard on making the station great for our listeners. I’m a very proud PD!”

Nova100

Nova 100 is “still way ahead of expectations” according to GM Fiona Cameron. After only five survey periods Nova 100 “continues to be the number one radio station for Melbourne audiences aged between 18 to 30. Nova 100 has certainly come off an unprecedented high, however to rate number one in an important core demographic at this early stage is still an outstanding achievement…Challenging the radio paradigm was never going to be an easy or quick path and the radio landscape will certainly look very different within a twelve month time frame,” said General Manager Fiona Cameron.

In Melbourne 3AW retained top spot with a significant increase of 1.2 share points, up to 15.2% in this football survey. AW gained most in the 40+ demographics, with a good increase in Ernie Sigley’s afternoon and on weekends, while AW breakfast was slightly down. In second place Fox scored 13.2%, also up strongly by 1.1 share points. Fox’s gains came in the 10-17 demographic, with breakfast, evening and weekends all up significantly. 3AW dominates breakfast, with Fox and ABC774 in equal second place.

Third placed ABC774 scored good increases in all daytime shifts to lift its overall figure to 12.1, up 0.7 share points. Most of ABC774’s gains were in the 25-39 demographic, although it lost listeners 18-24. Gold 104.3 was in fourth place with 8.5%, up 0.3 on last survey with gains in the under 40 demographics and rises in all weekday shifts.

Nova dropped 1.6 share points down to 8.4%, in fifth place. Nova’s losses were in the under 40 demographics, with drops in all daytime shifts. 3MMM was behind Nova in sixth place, down 0.1 to 7.8%, steady in most shifts. Mix 101.1 dropped by 0.8 share points into seventh place with 6.2%. Mix gained in the 25-39 demographic but lost in all other age groups, with most losses coming from the ‘at work’ timeslots.

Magic 693 sits in eighth place at 5.4%, down 0.5 on last survey, followed by 3MP on 3.8%, up 1.0 share points. 3MP’s gains came in the ‘at work’ timeslots and on weekends. 3JJJ was at 2.8%, down a further 0.7 on recent losses since Nova entered the market. Classic FM scored 2.8, down 0.1 share points, followed by Radio National on 2.1% (up 0.2) , 3AK on 2.1 (down 0.3) and Sport 927 on 1.8 (down 0.4) . NewsRadio was up 0.5 share points to 1.5%.