Radio ratings survey 8 results have just been released.
The shine has gone off the major talk stations in Sydney and Melbourne as the covid threat recedes, but they still remain at the top.
FM making a comeback but ABC #1 in Adelaide
ARN with 1 & 2 stations in Brisbane
The survey was conducted by GfK for Commercial Radio Australia between Sun Sept 26 to Sat Dec 4, 2021.
Click the charts to pop out a full size image.
Also check our new interactive charts to view each station’s survey history.
Previous survey results here.
Sydney
- 2GB still way out in front with 14.5%, down 1.2
- ABC Sydney in second place, down 2.9 to 9.4%
- WSFM third, up 0.7 to 8.8%
- KIIS fourth, up 0.3 to 8.3%
- Fifth placed smooth steady at 7.9%
Melbourne
-
- 3AW in top spot, down 2.3 to 16.6%
- Gold and ABC Melbourne equal second on 10.1%
- Smooth placed third, up 1.0 to 8.0%
- Nova fourth, down 0.3 to 6.2%
- Fox fifth, up 1.1 to 6.6%
Brisbane
- 97.3FM gains top position, up 0.2 to 11.2%
- 4KQ slips into second, down 0.7 to 10.6
- Nova drops to third place, down 1.8 to 9.7%
- Triple M is fourth, up 0.2 to 9.1%
- 4BC fifth with 8.0%, up o.1
Adelaide
- ABC Adelaide grabs top position, up 0.9 to 12.2%
- Mix 102.3 slips into second spot, down 0.6 to 10.9%
- Third placed Cruise lost 0.2 to 9.9%
- Nova and FIVEaa were equal fourth with 9.5%
- SAFM is fifth, down 0.7 to 7.4%
Perth
- First placed Nova steady at 12.6%
- Mix 94.5 moves into second, up 0.8 to 12.0%
- 96fm is third, down 0.7 to 10.7%
- Fourth placed 6PR up 0.6 to 8.9%
- ABC Perth is fifth, up 0.2 to 8.4%
Here’s Wayne’s explainer of how to use the dynamic charts.
More info at in our earlier story.
Comparing ratings with cumes illustrated by example with 2GB and KIIS106.5.
The question is, do you sell airtime based on ratings, with 2GB on 14.5% versus KIIS106.5 on 8.3%?
Alternatively, do you sell airtime based on cumes, with KIIS106.5 on 1076 versus 2GB on 681?
Thank you,
Anthony of curious Belfield, Wangul and Darug peoples of the Eora Nation.
Anthony - your comments are always thought provoking!
The share/cume discussion is a constant. Britain used cume, Australia uses share as the key currency. Those who favour cume (reach) say that it is important to advertisers to know how many people in total listen. Those who favour share say it is not about how many people listen, advertisers are interested in how many times they hear the advertiser's ad, so share is a better way to communicate this to advertisers.
One of our articles that covered it is here https://radioinfo.com.au/news/measuring-cumulative-audience
Dear editor,
Thank you for referring to the article about share (ratings) versus cumes at https://radioinfo.com.au/news/measuring-cumulative-audience/.
Whether a radio station sells its time using either shares or cumes is an art in itself. It is best summarised in the final paragraph of the article "...As long as stations clearly explain what they mean when they quote their data, media buyers are likely to accept the different ways of expressing ratings success..."
A measure of success of a campaign is the number of sales of the advertiser's product.
Advertisers may place campaigns on more than one radio station. Taking account of the frequency of the advertisement, the demographics and the propensity to spend for a particular product, the ultimate test is will the number of the advertiser's sales be greater for a high share/low cume station or a low share/high cume station.
Ultimately, the advertiser's sales results may not be disclosed to the broadcaster in order to determine whether the greatest sales are for high share/low cumes, or low share/high cumes.
Thank you,
Anthony of you work it out Belfield, which is in the land of the Wangul and Darug peoples of the Eora Nation.
Commercial radio in Britain is less professionally developed than it is in Australia. The BBC still dominates the broadcasting industry in the UK and many UK radio listeners have an expectation that they shouldn't need to listen to advertising on the radio. UK commercial radio is still a fairly new concept. In Australia, the commercial radio industry has much more experience selling effective advertising campaigns than the commercial radio industry has in the UK. It's unlikely a consumer will respond to an advertisement after only hearing it a few times. Repetition of advertising is very important which is why the Australian broadcasters tend to promote share as more important than cume.