The latest Survey 6 capital city ratings results have just been released, with capital city markets feeling the effects of football broadcasts and overnight Ashes Cricket coverage.

The survey was conducted for Commercial Radio Australia between 26 June 3 September.

Click the links below to see the demographic and shift breakdowns results, or click the Nielsen Research link in the left margin (in Knowledge Management section) to see each city’s rankings.

Refresh this story during today to see the latest updates.

Sydney

In Sydney Nova dropped most, down 2 share points to 8.2%, with a big drop in breakfast (down 3.1) and significant falls in all other shifts. Nova lost most listeners in the 18-24 demographic, which appear to have been picked up by Triple M.

Austereo’s Triple M was up strongly, with an increase of 1 share point overall and good increases in most shifts, especially afternoons. 2DAY gained 0.5 share points to 9.4%, with strong gains in morning and drive and a 0.4 share point increase in breakfast. 2DAY’s increase came mostly from the 25-39 demographic.

2GB remains on top in Sydney with the exact same score as last survey, 11.7% overall. Sister station 2CH is now the top rating music station on weekends and scored a 0.2 share point increase to 6% overall. Second placed ABC702 slipped slightly, down 0.4 share points.

2UE was placed fourth, dropping 0.4 to 8.6%. WS FM was sixth at 8.3%, up 0.1, while sister station Mix 106.5 dropped 0.7 to 7.9%. Triple J lost 0.3 to sit in 10th place on 3.3%.

The 10-17 demographic was won by 2DAY just ahead of Nova, 18-24 leadership was a close contest between Nova and Triple M and 25-39s was won by 2DAY. The 40-54 demo was won by WSFM, and 55+ was dominated by 2GB.

Melbourne

In Melbourne Fox FM had the biggest increase, up 1 share points, but unlike Sydney, Triple M dropped significantly, down 1.1 share points overall. Fox’s gains came mostly from the 10-17 demographic and a good increase in breakfast. Triple M lost 10-17 listeners and dropped in all shifts.

Nova 100 was steady, on 10.2%, the same figures as last survey. Some of the shine went off Gold FM’s last result, with the station dropping by 0.9 to 11.3%, still in a healthy third place behind ABC774.

3AW was again the market leader, up 0.4 share points to 14.1% overall. Mornings increased well for 3AW, while evenings dropped and other shifts had slight gains.

Seventh placed Magic dropped by 0.5 to 5.9%, while Mix 101.1 was behind Magic, increasing 0.5 to 5.5%. Triple J scored the same figure as in Sydney, up 0.5 to 3.3%. SEN dropped 0.1 to 2.3%, Classic FM was up 0.7 to 2.3%, and 3MP increased by 0.3 to 2.2%.

Fox FM dominated the 10-17 demographic, 18-24s was won by Nova, and Triple M won 25-39s. Gold FM won the 40-54 age group and 3AW won 55+.

Brisbane

In Brisbane B105 and Nova both dropped, while 4BC gained strongly.

B105 was down 1.3 share points, with significant losses in breakfast and drive, and dips across all other shifts. Nova 106.9 dropped 1.1 share points, with falls in afternoon, drive, evenings and weekends.

4BC’s 1.2 share pioint gain came from 55+ listeners, with good increases in breakfast and morning and on weekends.

Also up were FM 97.3, which was up 1.2 overall, with a jump in 18-24 listening and 4KQ, which gained 0.9 share points.

Triple M remains the market leader, increasing its overall share by 0.5 to 15.8%.

ABC612 was in seventh place, up 0.4 to 8.1%, 4BH dropped 0.3 to 7.1% and Triple J was down 0.2 to 5.3%.

B105 won the 10-17 demographic, Nova dominated 18-24s and Triple M won 25-39s. Top spot with 40-54s was shared between 4KQ and Triple M, while 4BC won 55+.

Adelaide

ABC891 gained most in the Adelaide market, up 1.7 share points to 13.5% overall. Nova 91.9 increased by 1 share point to 12.2%, and market leader Mix 102.3 was up 0.6 share points.

5AA dropped 1.3 share points overall to 15.5%, and is in second place. SAFM was down 1.1 to 11.6%, while Triple M was steady, slipping only 0.1 to 9.4%.

Triple J dropped 0.1 to 4.3%, Classic FM was up 0.3 to 2.7%, Radio national was down 0.4 to 2.6% and NewsRadio dropped 0.3 to 1.5%.

Nova won all demographics 10-39, Mix won the 40-54 demo and 5AA topped the 55+ age group.

Perth

In Perth 6PR had the biggest increase, up 1.9 share points to third place with 12.4%. Austereo’s 92.9 dropped most, down 0.9 to 9.3% overall.

Market leader Mix 94.5 dropped 0.7 to 17.5%, while second placed ABC720 gained 0.8 share points to 13.2%.

Nova increased 0.6 to 11.9%, sitting in fourth place, followed by 96fm, up 0.9 to 11.5%. Triple J was up 0.9 in seventh palce on 5.8% and 6IX dropped 0.5 to 3.9%. Radio National scored 2.4, followed by Classic FM on 1.9% and NewsRadio on 1.2%.

10-17s was won by 92.9, Nova won the 18-24 demographic. Mix 94.5 won 25-39s and 40-54s. ABC720 won 55+.

3AW

3AW has now won 22 surveys in a row which is a new record for the Melbourne radio market.

Highlights for 3AW include:

Breakfast with Ross and John 5.30 – 8.30am – rating 17.3%. Number one for 30 consecutive surveys (since survey 1/2002)

Morning with Neil Mitchell 8.30am – midday – rating 14.2% and back in the number one position

Afternoon with Ernie Sigley – rating 9.6%, the top rated talk program in the afternoons

Drive with Derryn Hinch 4 – 6pm rating 15.0%, which is number one for 22 consecutive surveys (since his return to 3AW in survey 1/2003)

Nightline with Bruce and Phil 8pm – midnight rating 17.9% , which is number one for the last 11 surveys (since 4/2004)

3AW are back at number one in footy – winning two out of the four football periods (Triple M won Saturdays and ABC Friday nights)

Footy Saturday night, 6pm – 11pm rating 14.4% and number one
Footy Sat night, 6pm – 11pm rating 10.4% and number one

4BC

News Talk 1116 4BC has secured the No 2 ranking overall for Breakfast.

News Talk 1116 4BC recording its best result in Breakfast since Survey 2/2004, with a 2.0% increase to an overall share of 11.3% The success continued across all day shifts with Afternoon’s Greg Cary and Drive’s John Miller recording increases of 1.1% and 0.5% respectively, with overall shares of 7.3 and 7.1.

David McDonald said: “Another great result for News Talk 1116 4BC, which has proven that our all new line up has been positively received by our listeners.”

McDonald went on to say that News Talk 1116 4BC has recorded not only its best result in Breakfast since Survey 2/2004, but also with Greg Cary and John Miller from the same Survey book.

Some of this success is detailed below:

MONDAY
to FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

5AA

FIVEaa has maintained a strong number two position in the Adelaide radio market
despite massive interest in cricket’s Ashes series.

Highlights:

FIVEaa’s breakfast team of Keith Conlon, Tony Pilkington, Jon Blake, Jane Doyle
and Chris McDermott – remain the number one breakfast show in Adelaide on
18.0%

The FIVEaa Sports Show with K G Cunningham and Graham Cornes again recorded
a solid number one in drive on 19%.

FIVEaa’s Bob Francis continues to lead night-time radio listening in Adelaide – 6%
clear of his nearest rival on 23.1%.

FIVEaa General Manager, Paul Bartlett, said: “With a huge amount of interest in The
Ashes cricket series in England, we’re very pleased to have maintained our number one
position in nights. With breakfast and drive shows also maintaining their number one
positions, we’re very well placed heading into the next survey which will take in the AFL
Grand Final.”

A R N

The Australian Radio Network’s GOLD FM has retained the overall number one position
in the Melbourne FM market for the third consecutive survey.

In Melbourne MIX 101.1 continued its encouraging turnaround, recording increases
among the breakfast, morning and afternoon sessions, gaining 0.5 points in overall
audience share.

In Sydney, WSFM continued to strengthen its position. MIX 106.5 held its high level
cumulative audience reaching over 650,000 listeners weekly.

In Adelaide, MIX 102.3 continued to dominate the local market, as the number one
station across all ages to a record 18.5 total audience share, a gain of 0.6 points.

In Brisbane, both 97.3 and 4KQ recorded significant increases in total audience share
with 97.3 overtaking its main competitor, B105 by 2.4 points for the first time.

The chief executive officer of APN News & Media, Brendan Hopkins, said: “Today’s
results confirmed GoldFM as the undisputed leader in Melbourne FM radio, and the
improvement at Mix is also very encouraging.

“Our flagship WSFM brand continued to strengthen in the key Sydney market and the
Sydney breakfast team gained audience in a competitive environment.

“We also performed well in Adelaide 10+ with 18.5 market share, and our Brisbane radio
stations showed impressive market share gains.

“Overall, the result is further confirmation of ARN’s appeal to our listeners and
advertisers as we continue to strengthen our brand leadership position in the 25-54 year
old market,” Mr Hopkins said.

Brisbane MMM & B105

Triple M remains Brisbane’s number one station after it gained 0.7 points to a 15.8 per cent audience share, 4.5 points clear of its nearest rival.

The result was led by The Cage and Ian Skippen at breakfast, which increased its audience share by 0.8 points to 15.9 per cent audience.

Triple M has continued to build its audience in the 25 to 39-year-old age group with 28.6 per cent of the demographic tuning in – close to double to 25 to 39 audience of any other station.

Austereo Brisbane general manager Richard Barker said: “Triple M continues to be a success story in Brisbane.

“We made significant changes to the station from music to promotions to a brand new breakfast team with Ian Skippen.

“We’ve built fantastic momentum and Brisbane listeners are continuing to tell us we’re playing what they want.

“We are disappointed with B105’s result, but we knew that it would take some time for the improvements we have made there in the past year to come through.

“The B105 Morning Crew have started preparing for the B105 Christmas Appeal with all proceeds going to the Royal Brisbane Children’s Hospital. We are in our 11th year of this appeal and we forward to making it a success in 2006.”

Sydney MMM and 2DAY

Austereo’s 2day FM and Triple M have regained the top FM spots in today’s Sydney radio ratings.

2day FM regained its title as Sydney’s number one FM station with a 0.5 percentage point increase to a 9.4 per cent audience share, while Triple M gained one point to 8.4 per cent.

2day breakfast hosts Kyle and Jackie O again increased their audience, gaining 0.4 points to 8.9 per cent – just 0.1 points from the number one FM breakfast show.

And Triple M’s The Cage had the biggest ratings increase of any breakfast show, gaining 0.9 points to an 8.0 per cent audience share.

The solid ratings result was driven by increases for 2day FM in the 25 to 39-year-old age group. 2day is now the most listened-to station in the demographic, gaining 3.2 points to a 17.3 per cent audience share.

Austereo Sydney general manager Patrick Joyce said the results showed the two stations’ strategies were working.

“We made some crucial changes to 2day this year and the momentum we’ve been building since the start of the year has started to pay off,” he said.

“Both stations have been the real success stories of radio this year. We have grown our audience in all the areas we wanted to grow in.

“But the challenge is to translate that momentum into long-term success. We’ve shown we can turn around the stations – now we need to show we can keep them there.”

ABC 702 Sydney

702 ABC Sydney has recorded its highest reach on record (736,000) in
the current survey.

Based on reach, 702 ABC Sydney has more listeners than any other talk
station in the Sydney market.

With an overall share of 9.5%, 702 is now second in the market, with more
listeners than any other station during the BREAKFAST time slot. The share
of the breakfast audience is up from 12.9% to 13.1% between 5.30am and
7.45am.

702 is also the number one station overall among people aged 35-69.
For the 19th consecutive survey (since Survey 4, 2003), Richard Glover’s
DRIVE program is still number one TALK in the market.

“This is a marvellous tribute to everyone connected with 702. The station’s
consistently strong programming has proved highly effective in attracting
many more listeners to the station.” says Station Manager Roger Summerill,
“We are delighted with the results.”

Nova Network

In the sixth Nielsen Media Research survey, Nova stations across Australia posted consistent results in key demographics. Nova’s national presence remained strong and improved in some areas with its stations achieving:

· Leading position overall for All People 18-24 in every capital city

· Leading position overall for All People 18-34 in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth

· Leading Under 40’s station Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth

In Sydney Nova 969 lost ground overall but performed consistently in key demographics. Merrick and Rosso maintained the leading FM breakfast share at 9.2%.

Nova 100 in Melbourne held overall share at 10.2% and lifted breakfast share with Hughesy Kate & Dave from 11.1% to 11.4%.

Nova Brisbane in its third official survey scored 11.3% of the Brisbane market and remained the No. 2 station overall in Brisbane.

To celebrate its first birthday, Nova 919 in Adelaide lifted overall share from 11.2% to 12.2% and moved into the No. 2 FM position for the first time. Nova 919 also achieved a convincing lead in all demographics under 40 in Adelaide.

DMG’s talk station Fiveaa performed strongly across key sessions, rating No. 1 overall in Adelaide in breakfast, drive and nights Monday to Friday.

In Perth, Nova 937 increased overall share for the second consecutive survey rising from 11.3% to 11.9% overall and remained the No. 2 FM station overall in Perth.

Nova 969

Not only did Australia lose the Ashes to England after 16 years… but today in a close competition, Nova 969 had a shocker of a survey result.

Team captain and Nova 969 Program Director, Scott Muller pulled out his book of sporting clichés and said….

“We fielded a good team and we played hard, but it was not our day”

“The season is a marathon – not a sprint”

“The game was a lot closer than the final score indicates”

“I have high expectations for this team”

“The cream always rises to the top”

The scoreboard at the end of play today:

Leading 18-34 station

Leading FM Breakfast Show with Merrick & Rosso

Muller further adds…”remember, there’s no ‘I’ in Nova”