It is nearly a year, 360 days to be exact, since Radio 360 changed radio audience measurement in Australia to a holistic picture of listeners for agencies, networks and advertisers. To mark the milestone Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) is releasing some new insights from the innovative system.

Radio 360 was developed by GfK in response to how audio consumption was changing. GfK Media Measurement Director Deb Hishon said the MediaWatch wearable technology (pictured above) had offered new insights into audience habits, outside of the traditional survey periods:

“We used MediaWatch data to measure Summer listening and found that 91.1% of daily listeners continued to listen between 3 December 2023 and 28 January 2023, but at a slightly later time of day.

The insights that wearable data provides were not available under the previous methodology, and it is fantastic that we can use these to further highlight the value of radio.”

Jo Dick, CRA chief commercial officer, added:

“Radio 360 was the first hybrid audience measurement system in the world when we launched it 360 days ago. Now, through the combination of surveys, log files, and the MediaWatch wearable technology, advertisers have a more complete picture of listeners – who they are, when they are listening, and if it’s via broadcast or streaming.”

The continuous monitoring of MediaWatch data recently showed a 40% spike in radio listeners during the tragic Bondi Westfield attack on April 13, demonstrating how radio is a critical source of information for the community during significant events.

Ciaran Davis, chair of Commercial Radio & Audio and CEO of ARN Media, said:

“There has never been a better time to invest in radio – our audiences keep growing to new record-highs and we are delivering world-leading innovation when it comes to radio measurement.”