Digital radio listening at the start of the year is quite different to other times of the year as it incorporates part of school holiday breaks, and long weekends, where people listen for longer over car trips and all day events like Double J‘s reliving of the Hottest 100 of 2004.
Each state’s results in GfK Radio 360 Survey 1 of the DAB+ audience are quite markedly different with some stand outs that are contrary to fears about local music listenership and radio’s role as a source of discovery of new music.
Sydney’s results are quite astonishing with an additional cumulative audience of just shy of 250K. Most are aged 25-39 but there was healthy growth in 10-17s too. They are listening across the day and on weekends, and particularly during the morning. For the first time iHeart Australia was the number 1 DAB+ station in Sydney, just beating CADA which also saw growth.
iHeart Australia plays only Aussie music and plenty of new stuff. CADA is the home for new and breaking music. These two results should give hope to our music industry. Between CADA and iHeart Australia is KIIS 90s who literally doubled their listenership. ABC Sport was up over 100K listeners too. Such was the embrace of digital radio this summer in Sydney that no station struggled, with the exception of MMM Classic Rock.
Melbourne wasn’t as enthusiastic about DAB+. Lots of the previous leaders shed listeners with Coles Radio, BLENDER BEATS and MMM Classic Rock most affected. Double J surged, as did TikTok Trending, both in the 15-39 aged group (TikTok Trending also in 10-17s). People were not as enthusiastic about the cricket in Melbourne will ABC Sport halving its audience. No 1 in the city, and the only station with more than 100K listenership, was Gold 80s. Sydney’s WSFM 80s has become Gold 80s as of this survey too.
Brisbane sees smooth fm and Coles Radio neck and neck. Coles Radio audience grew over the summer, unlike in Melbourne. Smooth’s dropped and even more surprisingly on weekends. Close behind the top two is Nova 90s. iHeart Australia is only available on DAB+ in Sydney and Melbourne at this stage.
Smooth FM is also No 1 in Adelaide, just, slightly ahead of Coles Radio and NOVA Throwbacks. Mix 80s and Double J were the most improved. Smooth halved its breakfast audience but a full return to work might see that changed Survey 2.
Finally in Perth, smooth fm dominates DAB+ listening, and contrary to Adelaide and Brisbane, grew its audience. It has double the listeners of any other DAB station with the exception of 96FM 80s. There is a new station from the Capital Radio Network this survey, Forever Classic 60s. To have discovered this little gem you will either be a listener of 6iX or have stumbled upon it while surfing the dial. That 10K plus have found it first survey bodes well. Survey 2, a second station, Forever Classic 70s, should also debut and potentially steal from smooth’s dedicated audience or perhaps simply entice more people to listen to DAB+ in WA.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster. Email: [email protected]
GfK Radio 360 Survey 1 full results. Previous surveys here. See also: Spin Cycle and cumes.