GfK Radio 360 metro survey 4, the midway point of the eight released each year, is out tomorrow, July 22, at 9:30am. It was measured from Sunday April 7 to Saturday July 5. On air talent like Jonesy and Amanda on Sydney’s Gold 101.7 and Jase and Lauren on Nova 100 in Melbourne then took their two week mid year breaks from that Saturday, returning this morning.
On Monday July 7, Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering three relatives with a beef Wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms.
I too return to work today after three glorious weeks travelling overseas. On July 7 though I still read, watched and listened to Australian news and information about that jury outcome. As was seen in the May and June Triton Australian Podcast Rankers, I was not the only person hooked on the trial and outcome. 1.2 million monthly listeners and 4.5 million downloads of the various trial podcasts in May. 3.3 million monthly downloads just for the ABC‘s Mushroom Case Daily in June and ABC News Top Stories topping the ranker as well.
GfK Survey 4 2024 was a fairly stable affair. Eyes were on Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS 101.1 after their recent launch into Melbourne. That will still be the case tomorrow as the Sydney dominating duo struggle to find their footing south of the border after some missteps along the way. This time of year is also generally positive for networks like Triple M and SEN who support the AFL and NRL, with both seasons in full swing and starting to look towards finals.
It has only been just over a month since the release of Survey 3, where talk radio led in Sydney and Melbourne. 3AW was significantly down (but still No 1 overall) but ABC Melbourne and 2GB both had pleasing positive growth. I feel that underlying tomorrow morning’s results will be how stations, particularly news and talk ones, approached their coverage of mushroom trial proceedings. Especially in Melbourne, with the trial and events taking place in the supreme court in Morwell in Gippsland, Victoria.
The extraordinary level of interest in the news and information about the case will surely have some impact on listening and ratings in Survey 4. How much, we will see at 9:30am tomorrow morning.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. A special Survey 4 Radio Today Tonight podcast episode looking in detail at the results is also out tomorrow.