Survey 4 ratings results and analysis

The latest ratings have just been released for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Highlights:
In the first football survey of the year, there was an effect from football coverage in most markets.

In Sydney, 2GB did not increase as expected, suffering a slight drop, but still firmly in second place. Alan Jones’ breakfast increased by 0.3 share points and there were slight rises in other shifts. 2GB’s evening shifts fell significantly, down 2.7 share points. 2DAY remained in first place, down by 0.9 to 11.7%.

2UE held on to third place with 8.7% (down 0.3), with Steve Price’s breakfast up by 0.3 and John Laws’ morning down by 0.3, but still number one morning. Evenings and weekends fell significantly for 2UE, down by about 1.2 share points. 2CH, MIX and Nova had the biggest overall increases of the survey, each with good increases in their breakfast shifts.

In Melbourne, Nova lost its top spot with a drop of 2.5%, reflecting the expected settling of audience now that the station’s “newness” factor is wearing off. Fox held on to its audience and moved to second place behind 3AW, which had a good gain of 1.8 share points, bringing it to number one. Fox FM had a significant TV campaign on air during the period.

3AW scored increases in all timeslots, doing especially well with weekend football coverage (up 2.3 to 12.8% on weekends). Stan Zemanek’s drive shift was up by 0.8, a little less than the average increase of other shifts. An increase of 1.6 on weekends also helped ABC774 move into third place with an overall share of 11.4%. ABC774 also increased in all shifts except afternoons. 3AK lost listeners in drive (down 1.9 share points) now the Jeff Kennett has moved to breakfast. It seems that the increase gained by Kennet in Drive has not yet transferred with him to breakfast. 3AK was down in all shifts, dropping 0.6 overall to 2.8%.

In Brisbane, 4KQ had the biggest increase, up 1.6 to 10.2%, moving it into 4th place. Breakfast and weekends were the big winners for 4KQ. 4BH lost the most, down 1.5 overall with drops across all shifts.

In Adelaide, ARN’s Mix 102.3 had the biggest increase, up 1.5 to 10.9%, while Triple J suffered the biggest drop, down 1.3 to 6.9%. Mix gained significantly in breakfast, evenings and weekends, while Triple J’s losses were right across all shifts.

Survey feedback:
Nova 100 –
Commenting on Nova Melbourne’s drop, General Manager Fiona Cameron told AMT: “We’re not surprised by today’s result and look forward to continuing to provide Melbourne listeners with something different… Our 10 plus share was 10% and while this is down from the last survey we are very happy to be number one under 40 and No. 1 in the key 18 to 24 and 25 to 39 demographics.”

Dan Bradley said: “The station has a strong listener base (851,000 people) and continues to exceed all expectations… Nova 100 was the outright number one station for all people under the age of 40.”

Gold104 –
GOLD104 Melbourne’s Program Director Dave Smith was pleased with the station’s 0.9 share point increase. He told AMT: “We’re really happy – the increase 10+ is always great but to continue to grow our key targets of 35 to 54 year olds, and 40 to 54 year olds is even better. Plus, we’re still Number 3 with 25 to 54 year olds which is outstanding in such a competitive radio market… The growth with Grubby & Dee Dee is fantastic as they’ve been working really hard. In the heart of footy season, we’ve managed to overtake two other FM stations. We’re doing great – you couldn’t ask for more than that.” Overall the station increased by 0.9 to 8.2% and picked up an additional 29,000 listeners with a cume figure of 723,000.

2UE –
2UE’s General Manager Ian Sheppard told AMT about the station’s result: “John Laws has won so many surveys over the years, and this one is particularly sweet.Steve Price is up, John Stanley is up… we’ve worked very very hard on the sound of 2UE and listeners have responded… People in their 70s and 80s are very heavy radio consumers and this certainly gives 2GB an edge in the overall figures.”

Nova 96.9 –
Nova GM Larry Bruce told AMT: ” Nova’s result re-shapes Sydney radio under 40. Nova closed the gap in 25-39 market leadership – the gap was 9.5 share points and is now 2.2. While we don’t program to be number one for everyone, but prefer to focus on being innovative for our listeners, it’s heartening that they have responded so enthusiastically… Nova passed MMM in total audience and MMM’s core target of both 25-39 share and total audience (cume).”

DMG Group Program Director Dean Buchanan said: ” We have been expecting Merrick and Rosso to lead a breakthrough for Nova, and their performance, combined with excellent work from the entire team has delivered a great result.”