The results of the 4th capital city ratings survey for 2008 have been released. In Sydney WSFM and 2DAY are down and ABC702 is up. In Melbourne 3AW and Fox have gained while Nova and Mix have fallen slightly. Nova and ABC612 had good gains in Brisbane, triple M was up in Adelaide and 92.9 gained in Perth.
Click on the links in this story to see the results and refresh this page later to see the latest additions to this story.
The survey was conducted for Commercial Radio Australia between Sun March 23 – Sat April 26, and Sun May 04 – Sat June 07, 2008.
2GB remains on top of the Sydney market in a stable survey for the leading station. ABC702 moved into second place with a gain of 1.7 share points, while 2DAY dropped to third place, losing 1.2 share points. WSFM also fell, down by 1.0 share points.
3AW strengthened its top position in Melbourne, gaining 1.6 share points. Also up was second placed Fox, which gained 0.8 share points. ABC774 is steady in third place. There was little significant overall movement in other stations, with Mix and Nova recording slight falls of 0.7 share points.
Nova 106.9 consolidated its hold on the top position in Brisbane with a jump of 1.2 share points this survey. Triple M in second place is just ahead of third placed 97.3, both stations dropped slightly this survey. ABC612 had a significant gain, up 1.4 share points in 4th place. Radio National and B105 slipped slightly, with RN down 0.9 and B105 down 0.7.
5AA continues to lead the Adelaide market with a small increase of 0.1 share points. Second placed ABC891 gained 0.3 and SAFM was steady in third place. Triple J had the biggest fall, down 2.0 share points, and Mix 102.3 also fell, down 1.5 share points.
Mix 94.5 is top station in Perth, steady on a 17.5% overall share. Second placed 92.9 gained most this survey, up 1.4 share points. ABC720 was steady in third place. 6ix had the biggest drop, down 2.3 share points, the biggest fall of any station this survey.
Strong increase for vega 95.3fm
vega 95.3fm was the only commercial FM station to go up in today’s Nielsen Media radio ratings results*, attracting 4.2% overall share and a strong growth in 40-54 year olds listening (7.2%).
The Sydney station experienced significant gains across the board:
• 394,000 listeners each week (up from 371,000)
• 4.2 % overall share (up from 3.5%)
• Sydneysiders listening on average for 7.19 hours each week (up from 6.27)
• Breakfast with Tony, Bec and Mikey – 3.7% (up from 3.2%), adding 26,000 new listeners
• 7.2% 40 – 54 year olds (up from 4.8%)
• The only commercial FM radio station to increase across the workday 9am – 5pm
vega 95.3fm’s new Program Director, David Kidd, said, ”This is a great result for vega 95.3fm. It’s a credit to the team and rewards the confidence in the station’s direction. We’re excited about building on this strong result.”
Initiatives that have helped strengthen vega’s audience in the last survey include the popular vega on tour ‘08, where the station took to the suburbs of Sydney with daily outside broadcasts from workplaces, and vega 95.3fm’s Music Gladiators, attracting the station’s highest number of calls over a three-week period.
vega on tour 08 returns next week with live broadcasts from Caringbah, Collaroy, Seven Hills and Galston.
AUSTEREO RETAINS FM LEAD IN COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Austereo’s Today and Triple M networks have consolidated their market leads across the country according to today’s Nielsen radio ratings.
Adelaide and Perth attained the number one and number two FM stations in each market with Adelaide’s SAFM the number one FM choice and Triple M gaining 1 point to grab the highly competitive number two position.
Perth’s Mix 94.5 achieved its incredible 69th consecutive number one FM position while 92.9 had a strong increase of 1.4 points to become the number two choice. 92.9’s success was helped by a massive jump in breakfast up 2.8 points to a 13.4 per cent audience share.
Sydney’s 2Day FM and Melbourne’s Fox FM continue to dominate the FM markets with number one FM, number one FM breakfast shows and number one FM drive shows in each state. Fox FM had a stellar result with a 13.2 per cent audience share for breakfast team Matt and Jo, which is rare in this highly competitive time.
Triple M in Sydney and Melbourne were down slightly but Sydney saw a big movement for drive team Wil and Lehmo who gained 0.7 points to an 8.1 per cent audience share. Melbourne’s Triple M has consistently continued to increase in the 25-39 demographic and the all important football market.
Austereo chief executive officer Michael Anderson said the results confirmed the nationwide strength of the Today and Triple M networks. “To have number one and two positions in Adelaide and Perth and still maintain number one in Sydney and Melbourne is a great result for the company and that’s where we’re aiming to stay.
“The results in Brisbane were slightly down on what we were expecting but we’re confident in each station.
“The results for Today’s national drive show Hamish and Andy and Triple M’s Wil and Lehmo are very encouraging. Hamish and Andy are a national media juggernaut and are still winners in each FM drive market. Triple M’s Wil and Lehmo have had a great survey with increases in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane,” Mr Anderson said.
Austereo chairman Peter Harvie said: “These results wrap-up a solid performance for the 2008 financial year. From FM leadership in three cities a year ago, Austereo now holds number one place in four of the five capital cities. It has been a great programming outcome across Australia.”
SEVEN IN A ROW FOR FIVEaa!
FIVEaa has increased its share to be Adelaide’s number one radio station for the seventh consecutive survey according to the latest Nielsen Media Research*.
Survey #4 2008 Highlights:
FIVEaa – number one with a 10+ share of 16.6%
FIVEaa’s breakfast team – Keith Conlon, Tony Pilkington, Jon Blake, Jane Doyle and Chris
McDermott – number one breakfast show for 28 consecutive surveys (since 2004) holding
18.5% of listeners – 5.7% clear of all other radio stations.
FIVEaa’s Leon Byner has consolidated the number one morning position in the Adelaide
radio market with 14.7% of all listeners.
FIVEaa’s weekday Sport Show with KG and Cornesy has also grown its number 1 rating with
a 10+ share of 17.9% while their Saturday Sports Show has notched up 20.9%, 10.1% ahead
of all other Adelaide radio stations.
FIVEaa’s Bob Francis’ domination of night time listening continues – a massive 15.1% ahead
of his nearest opposition with a 10+ share of 27.6%.
FIVEaa’s Michael Keelan has again retained his hold on weekend breakfast with an average
10+ share of 24.1% – 7.4% clear of all other radio stations in Adelaide.
FIVEaa’s Sunday Roast with Stephen Rowe and Chris McDermott leads the Adelaide market
with a 10+ share of 16.4%.
FIVEaa’s football coverage has again proved a winner for the radio station increasing its 10+
share to 17.2% of all listeners.
General Manager Paul Bartlett said, “With three and a half years of a breakfast show at number one,
with our sports and football coverage leading the ratings drive at weekends and with a seventh
consecutive number one overall, this is another great result for FIVEaa!”
DMG Network
THE AUSTRALIN RADIO NETWORK POSTS SOLID RESULT AMONG
TARGET AUDIENCE
The Australian Radio Network’s Classic Hits and Mix stations have retained their strong
position among their core target audience of listeners aged 25 to 54 in Sydney,
Melbourne and Brisbane, according to the fourth radio ratings survey of the year.
And while overall audience numbers declined across the FM band in the major markets,
the breakfast team of Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenney on Mix 106.5 in Sydney
achieved its highest share so far this year of listeners aged 10 plus with 5.8 per cent
overall share.
The Sydney Classic Hits station WSFM posted a steady result among its core target
audience of listeners aged 25 to 54.
In Brisbane, the network increased its share of listeners aged 25 to 54 to 23.4 per cent,
with the 4KQ breakfast team of Laurel, Gary and Mark increasing its share of overall
listeners to 9.7 per cent.
In Melbourne, Gold FM produced another solid result for the network, recording 7.8 per
cent of total audience share. Mix 101.1 recorded 4.5 per cent of overall share of
listeners aged 10 plus.
In Adelaide, Cruise1323 increased its share of listeners aged 10 plus to 7.2 per cent,
while sister station Mix 102.3 recorded 10.8 per cent of total audience share.
The Chief Executive of ARN, Bob Longwell, said despite increasing competition and a
seasonal loss of listeners from FM to AM stations as a result of sport coverage,
especially in Melbourne, he was pleased with the results of the network’s stations
among their core audience.
“Our Classic Hits and Mix streams have produced a steady result among listeners aged
25 to 54, our core audience target,” Mr Longwell said.
“We are continuing to fine-tune our programming for stations such as Mix 101.1 in
Melbourne as we understand it takes time for some of our new teams to bed in.”
3AW has cemented its position at the top of the Melbourne radio ladder with a stunning win in Survey 4, 2008.
This 44th consecutive number one for the popular talk radio station. While 3AW heavyweights such as Ross & John, Neil Mitchell, Ernie Sigley and Derryn Hinchmaintain their dominance Monday to Friday Football kicked in with a powerhouse performance from Friday night through to Sunday evening.
3AW Football won Friday Night (up 3.1 points); Saturday Afternoon (up 3.1 points); Saturday Night (up 3.2 points) and Sunday Afternoon (up a whopping 4.9 points). No other station came close.
3AW Program Director Clark Forbes said: “Rex Hunt, Dennis Cometti, Tony Leonard, Graeme Bond, Shane Healy and Shane McInnes, had every other station on the ropes this survey.
“As well as winning the calls 3AW’s pre-match with the likes of Robert Walls, Mike Sheahan, Caroline Wilson, Neale Daniher, Tony Shaw, Rohan Connolly and David King was clearly the number one listening choice for Melbournians”, he said.
The Breakfast team of Ross Stevenson and John Burns rated a massive 20.7 in this survey, while Neil Mitchell lifted his figures from 17.2 to 18.1.
In the Afternoons, Ernie Sigley increased his share to 12.2 and Derryn Hinch rose a point to 15.1.
3AW’s Nightline continued it’s winning way and Weekends blitzed the opposition with the highlight being a 5.5 increase for Buy, Swap & Sell taking the program to a massive 24.9 share.
MACQUARIE RADIO NETWORK
