The latest Survey 5 capital city ratings results have been released.
The survey was conducted for Commercial Radio Australia between 8 May – 11 June and 26 June – 30 July.
Click the links below to see the results, or click the Nielsen Research link in the left margin (in Knowledge Management section) to see each city’s rankings.
In Sydney it’s a ‘steady as she goes’ survey, with most stations remaining stable. The exceptions are 2UE (up 1.0) and WS FM (up 0.9), which have increased, while 2GB dropped by 0.6 share points. ABC702’s breakfast show, which included some of Angela Catterns’ last weeks and some of James Valentine, increased slightly by 0.2, while overall the station dropped a fraction. 2GB is the top station overall.
2Day won 10-17s, closely followed by Nova. 18-24s was won by Nova, followed by 2Day. 25-39s saw Nova first, closely followed by Triple M, 2Day and Mix. 40-54s was won by WS FM, with ABC702 and Mix just behind. 2GB leads 55+, followed by ABC702, 2UE and 2CH.
2GB was steady in first place at breakfast, with ABC702 second at breakfast, followed by Nova and 2Day, which both increased. John Laws received a welcome 70th birthday present, increasing his morning shift by 1.2, putting him second behind 2GB’s Ray Hadley who dropped slightly but was still number one in mornings. Weekends was won by 2GB.
In Melbourne there was also not much movement, with the exceptions being 3AW, which dropped 2 share points, and FOX FM, which gained 0.8. The fortunes of Mix 101.1 may be turning, with a small increase this survey instead of the gradual falls it has suffered recently.
Fox regained ground with its 10-17 listeners and is ahead in that demographic, followed by Nova. 18-24s was won by Nova, well ahead of Fox and Triple M. Triple M won 25-39s in a closely fought battle which saw Nova, Fox and Gold all close to the leader in this demographic. 40-54s was won by Gold followed by 3AW and ABC774. 3AW won 55+, followed by ABC774 and Magic693.
Breakfast was won by 3AW, followed by ABC774, Nova, Triple M and Gold. It was a win for music in the mornings, with Gold top in that timeslot, followed by 3AW’s Neil Mitchell and 774’s Jon Fain.
There was further movement in the Brisbane market, with Nova increasing its overall share by 1.1 to 12.4%. 4BC also had a good increase, up 1.2 share points, and 97.3 increased by 0.9. The biggest fall of the survey was ABC612, which dipped by 0.9 share points.
Nova convincingly won the young 10-24 demographics. Triple M won 25-39s, followed by Nova and 97.3. Music stations dominated the 40-54s, whcih was won by Triple M, followed by 4KQ. 4BH and 4BC won the 55+ demographic ahead of ABC612.
Breakfast was won by Triple M, ahead of B105 and Nova. Triple M also won the other ‘at work’ timeslots and weekends, while Nova won nights.
A combination of a 1.8 share point fall by 5AA and a strong increase from Mix 102.3 (up 2.5) has given Mix the top spot in the Adelaide market. ABC891 also increased well, while SAFM fell by 0.8.
Nova won the 10-24 demographics, ahead of SAFM. 25-39s was won by Nova, followed by Triple M and Mix. Mix 102.3 dominated the 40-54s and 5AA won 55+.
5AA is still well clear in breakfast, followed by Mix and ABC891. Mix won morning and afternoon, while 5AA won dirve and nights. 5AA was also ahead on weekends.
Perth also had a steady survey. 6PR and ABC720 gained the most (up 0.6) and Triple J dipped 0.5 share points.
The 10-17 demographic was won by 92.9, just ahead of Nova. 18-24s was dominated by Nova. 25-39s was a close contest between Mix94.5 ahead of 96fm, followed by Nova and 92.9. Mix 94.5 dominated 40-54s, while the 55+ demo was won by ABC720 ahead of 6PR.
In a closely contested breakfast timeslot, Mix 94.5 was just ahead of ABC720, followed by 6PR and Nova. Mix won the ‘at work’ timeslots, while ABC720 won evenings and Mix won weekends.
Nova Network
dmg Radio Australia’s national Nova network maintained the leading share of the Under 40’s market in every mainland capital city.
Other Highlights included:
Nova 969 in Sydney achieved its 13th consecutive survey win as the leading FM station.
Merrick and Rosso recorded their highest ever result, increasing from 11.5% to 12.1%* to remain the leading FM breakfast show in Sydney.
Nova 100 also posted strong gains in the survey increasing share from 9.6% to 10.2% overall. The Melbourne breakfast show of Hughsey, Kate & Dave increased strongly from 9.8% to 11.0%* to become the leading FM breakfast show.
In Brisbane Nova 106.9 continued its strong growth trend after just three months on air, rising again in share from 11.3% to 12.4% and remain the No 2 station overall.
In Adelaide, Nova 919 remained the leading station in every demographic Under 40.
dmg’s talk station in Adelaide Fiveaa maintained the leading share in the breakfast and drive shifts Monday to Friday.
In Perth, Nova 937 increased overall share from 11.0% to 11.3% to remain the No 2 FM station.
And in key demographics:
o Nova leads Under 40 in every metropolitan market across Australia
o Nova leads 18-39 in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth
o Nova increased 25-39 shares in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide
And last week, dmg Radio Australia launched its newest FM station vega 95.3 in Sydney targeting 40 – 60 year olds, with the stations first full result due on December 6th this year.
Austereo Network
Austereo’s Today network showed solid gains in the crucial Sydney and Melbourne markets, according to today’s Nielsen radio ratings.
Sydney’s 2Day FM increased its audience share by 0.7 points to 8.9 per cent, led by strong results from the Kyle and Jackie O Breakfast Show and Lowie’s Hot 30 Countdown in the evenings.
Melbourne’s FOX FM grew its audience share by 0.8 points to 9.8 per cent.
Austereo chief executive officer Michael Anderson said the strategic changes made to the network at the start of the year were beginning to show in the results.
“It’s a promising result for the other Today network stations around the country,” he said.
“We’ve put a lot of work into the network and Sydney and Melbourne were the first to experience the improvements.
“We’d expect those changes to begin to flow through to the other capital cities in the next few months.”
Mr Anderson said a small decline in ratings for the Triple M network demonstrated the volatility of the Australian radio market.
“It’s probably one of the tightest fields in radio right across the country,” he said.
Austereo chairman Peter Harvie said: “We expect that sort of volatility. You’re going to see a lot more bouncing around for every station and we’re not going to let that distract us from our strategy.”
A R N
The Australian Radio Network’s Classic Hits stations in the key Sydney and Melbourne
markets have increased their audience share in the latest radio ratings survey,
confirming ARN as the undisputed leader in the combined Sydney and Melbourne
markets among its core demographic target – listeners aged 25 to 54.
The network also increased its overall audience in the 25 to 54 demographic in every
market, winning 86,000 new listeners nationally.
GOLD FM has retained the number 1 position in the Melbourne market with an audience
share across all age groups of 12.2 – an increase of 0.2 points. WS FM in Sydney had
the biggest increase in overall audience share of any FM station in Sydney – up 0.9
points to 8.2.
In Adelaide, MIX 102.3 is now the number one station right across all ages and across
both FM and AM, recording an unprecedented 17.9 share of total audience – up by 2.5
points.
In Brisbane, 97.3 FM also recorded an increase in overall audience share, jumping by
0.9 points to 9.9.
In Melbourne, MIX 101.1 also recorded an increase in overall audience share to 5.0,
signalling that the station is now on its way to making significant inroads following an
extensive programming revamp, while its sister station in Sydney, MIX 106.5 recorded
another solid result.
The chief executive officer of APN News & Media, Brendan Hopkins, said: “The results
for ARN improved the Network’s position as the leader among its core demographic
target.
“In a radio market that is highly competitive and becoming even more so, it is pleasing to
see such a strong result, especially for our Classic Hits stations in Sydney and
Melbourne, and MIX in Adelaide.
“With both GOLD FM in Melbourne and WS FM in Sydney posting strong improvements,
ARN is now the number one network among the commercially important 25 to 54
listeners in the two key markets in the country.”
3AW
3AW has been number one in Melbourne since survey 1 2003, a record 21 surveys in a row.
No radio station in Melbourne has ever achieved 21 successive survey wins until now (in the years 1996 – 1998 3AW won 20 surveys in a row).
3AW’s Program Director Clark Forbes said:
“This is a fantastic era for everybody at 3AW. We’ve all worked tremendously hard for this result and we are looking forward to making it 22 in a row next time around. It’s a tribute to our loyal listeners and the passion that everyone at 3AW from the on-air team to the mail room brings to the job.”
Highlights for 3AW include:
Breakfast with Ross and John 5.30 – 8.30am – rating 17.3% – number one for 29 consecutive surveys – (number one since survey 1/2002)
Morning with Neil Mitchell 8.30am – midday – rating 13.4% – number one morning talk program
Afternoon with Ernie Sigley – rating 9.3% – top rated talk program in the afternoons
Drive with Derryn Hinch 4 – 6pm rating 14.3% – number one for 21 consecutive surveys (number one since his return to 3AW in survey 1/2003)
Nightline with Bruce and Phil 8pm – midnight rating 19.0% – number one for the last 10 surveys – (number one since 4/2004)
3AW Football – number one Friday and Saturday nights
Footy Friday night, 6pm – midnight rating 14.4% and number one
Footy Sat night, 6pm – 11pm rating 10.4% and number one.
2UE
Consistent increases throughout the day have delivered 2UE Sydney’s largest increase in radio listening and a strong all-round performance in the latest radio ratings.
Overall, 2UE has moved into the third commercial position, led by substantial increases in the audience share of John Laws (up 16%), John Stanley (up 41%) and Steve Price (up 10%).
Another excellent result for 2UE is on Sunday afternoon (Midday-6pm), with Murray Olds (12pm-1pm) and George Moore and Paul B Kidd (1pm-6pm) clearly number one on Sunday afternoon; ahead of both Rugby League calls on 2GB and the ABC and all other music formats.
In the much publicised demographic of 35-64, 2UE’s (Mon-Sun) audience continued to increase, up 16.0% across the day.
Graham Mott, Southern Cross Group General Manager for Radio says: “I am delighted with today’s result, particularly with 2UE’s strong performance with the financially influential 35-64 year olds.”
4BC
In the most recent Nielsen Media Radio Survey NEWS TALK 1116 4BC recorded its highest cumulative audience since Survey 3/1991, more than 14 years ago.
It also increased its audience share in every day part Monday to Friday with all new shows on Weekends also increasing. NEWS TALK 1116 4BC’s overall share of 7.6% represented an increase of 1.2 %.
General Manager David McDonald, said that he was very heartened by the increase in ratings and the fact that the changes implemented at the station recently appeared to have had such a quick impact. The most pleasing aspect of the result was obviously the cumulative audience increase to 211,000 listeners Monday to Sunday.
He then went on to say that 4BC had the highest share increase Monday to Sunday of any Metropolitan Radio station in Brisbane. Positive share increases were experienced right across the board including:
Breakfast – Peter Dick & Ross Davie +1.2
Mornings – John Laws +1.0
Afternoon – Greg Cary +1.8
Drive – John Miller +1.8
Sports Today – Rod Tiley +0.7
Nights- Ian Maurice +0.7
SATURDAY
Fishing/Boating & Leisure – Dave Downie +1.2
Gardening – Col Campbell +1.5
Real Estate – Kevin Turner +0.4
Continuous Call Team – Ray Hadley +0.1
SUNDAY
Fishing/Boating & Leisure – Dave Downie +1.3
Gardening – Col Campbell +1.6
Pet Show – Dr Cam Day +0.7
Car Talk – Graham Gould +0.5
Continuous Call Team – Ray Hadley +0.5
5AA
FIVEaa has maintained a strong position in the Adelaide radio market. Highlights include:
The FIVEaa breakfast team of Keith Conlon, Tony Pilkington, Jon Blake, Jane Doyle and Chris
McDermott – remain the number one Adelaide breakfast show at 19.0%
The FIVEaa Sports Show with K G Cunnigham and Graham Cornes – consolidated it’s number
one drive position, with a 0.2% increase in share to 21.0%.
FIVEaa radio legend Bob Francis continues his domination of night time radio in the city with a
26.8% share, more than 13% ahead of all other radio stations.
FIVEaa is number 1 on both Saturdays and Sundays with 18.3% of the Adelaide radio
audience.
FIVEaa General Manager, Paul Bartlett, said: “Year on year we’re 1.9% up on last year’s Survey #5
figure and the great news for the radio station is that in every survey this year we have improved on
last year’s corresponding survey result. So far, 2005 has been a great year for FIVEaa.”
Triple M Brisbane
Triple M is still Brisbane’s number one station after the station recorded a 15.3 per cent audience share in today’s ratings.
The Cage and Ian Skippen remain Brisbane’s favourite breakfast show with a one point increase to a 15.1 per cent audience share.
The B105 Morning Crew with Jamie, Penny and Deano retained its Number 2 spot with 11.7 per cent. B105’s total audience share declined slightly by 0.8 points, while Triple M dipped by 0.1 points.
Austereo Brisbane general manager Richard Barker said: “We’re seeing a lot more volatility in the Brisbane market.
“It is a hard-fought market and we are pleased Triple M remains the clear market leader.
“We will continue to work hard and maximise the improvements on B105.”
2Day FM Sydney
2Day FM breakfast hosts Kyle and Jackie O have gained 0.7 percentage points to become Sydney’s number two FM breakfast show.
Their audience share grew from 7.8 per cent to 8.5 per cent.
And Lowie’s Hot 30 Countdown is now Sydney’s favourite FM evening show, gaining 1.6 points to 9.4 per cent.
The two shows led 2Day to gain 0.7 points to an 8.9 per cent audience share.
2Day FM also grew 4.2 in the 25 to 39-year-old age group with a 14.1 per cent audience share.
The station had gains across the workday, with mornings up 0.2 points, afternoons up 0.5 points and drive 0.9 points.
Austereo Sydney general manager Patrick Joyce said 2Day was continuing to build its momentum.
“The strength in the 25 to 39 age group shows that the broader listening audience is also listening, not just the young audience. It is a great result from Kyle and Jackie, and from Lowie. Their audiences are showing some solid growth, and Lowie especially should be congratulated on one of the best improvements in the survey.”
Triple M declined by one point to a 7.4 per cent audience share, but Joyce urged caution.
“Triple M has been the real improvement story of the year, with several consecutive surveys of growth. We’re taking the survey seriously, but we think the station has the right mix of great music and fun shows.”
Nova Perth
With the release of Survey 5, 2005, Nova 93.7 has achieved much the same result as last survey.
Sure, our overall share went up a bit, but more predictably, Nova 93.7 is STILL:
•The Leading Station –18 to 39
•The Leading Station –Under 40
•Nathan and Nat –Leading Breakfast –18 to 39
•Nathan and Nat –Leading Breakfast –Under 40
…and in a National case of ‘Same Shit, Different Survey’…
•The Nova Network around the country still attracts the highest number of Under 40 listeners in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Pretty boring eh?
Nova 919 Adelaide
With a theme of pink pigs on its press release, Nova Adelaide says it’s been a pretty good day in the farm – with Nova 919 bringing home the bacon for Adelaide’s under 40s.
* Rolling it in – leading station 18-39, up to 22.1%
* Not a porky – leading station 25-39, up to 19.3%
* Oink – leading station under 40, up to 23.3%
Program Director Jason Staveley says, :I don’t want to come to any rash conclusions… but this looks like a great result for listeners and clients.”
Nova 1069 Brisbane
Brisbane’s newest radio station Nova 106.9 has somehow managed to fluke the radio ratings again.
Debuting as Brisbane’s leading station for listeners under 40, Nova has repeated its good luck, going to a 24% share (up from 23.2%).
In other flukes:
* number 2 station overall at 12.4%
* breakfast up from 8.8% to 10.4%
* No 1 nights with 16.1%.
Nova head honcho Sean Ryan said: “I’m pretty proud of all the guys – especially Meshel, Ash, and Kip with Luttsy. They don’t really know what they’re doing – but they seem to be doing it well.”