News October 27, 2015

Radio Ratings Survey 6: ARN continues its banner year

Survey #6 has just been released by GfK, with some big results around the country.The leading stations today are 2GB in Sydney, 97.3 Brisbane, Mix Adelaide, an equal result for Nova and Mix Perth and 3AW stays number 1 in Melbourne.

See the full figures below:

SYDNEY

ARN

ARN have held #1 and #2 on the FM band in Sydney today, with WS the star of their two stations.

WS held #1 overall (FM) with a 9.5% share, with Jonesy & Amanda jagging the #1 Breakfast spot back by a whisker from Kyle & Jackie who declined by 0.7.
It is a very strong book for WS with the station likely to be #1 25-54 in it’s own right following a big rise 40-54, and a pretty solid set of workday numbers; Jason Staveley in afternoons the leading FM show by a country mile.
Sister station KIIS has had a soft book, however remains in #2 FM position overall on 7.8%.
Whilst Kyle & Jackie fell in Breakfast, the bigger issue for KIIS seems to be generating workday TSL, with the 9-4 zone softening.
KIIS was flat in their core of 25-39, but got hammered in the other demos.

NOVA ENTERTAINMENT

A mixed result in Sydney for NE with both stations softening, but some good Breakast news for 96.9.

After 3 surveys of falling ratings Nova will be relieved to see Breakfast jump today, and it was a good jump. Fitzy & Wippa up by nearly a point to be 3rd overall on the FM band, miles ahead of CHR opponent 2Day, although still with ground to make up on KIIS.
However, Nova overall fell marginally with slightly softer workday figures, and drive taking a hit of 1.1%.
Smooth has also softened by half a point, with the station coming off in all dayparts (aside from drive).
The station jumped by 2.2% in it’s strongest demo of 55-64 to be #3 behind 702 and 2GB.

SCA

It would be a brave person to bet that the 2Day Breakfast show can survive following this result, the question appears to be when will they pull the trigger.

2Day overall is down marginally, however Breakfast has fallen by 0.3% to a 3.3.
That show is now nearly 2 points behind it’s nearest commercial rival (2UE) and doesn’t appear to be gaining any traction in the market.
Overall for 2Day, outside of Breakfast, there is not much good news. Down almost everywhere, demos going nowhere, and dayparts flattish or down.
Triple M has improved slightly, and SCA would be pleased to see the 25-39’s starting to rebuild.
The driver for the Triple M growth was daytime, presumably TSL, Breakfast and Drive were flat.

Macquarie

A pretty reasonable result for Macquarie with 2GB #1 again overall with a very strong performance in its key demos – although 65+ fell; and all shifts aside from drive showing improvements.
2CH had a good jump to lead 2Day by 1% overall, driven by a big increase 65+.
Aside from evenings, all dayparts on 2CH improved.

Fairfax

Well what have we here. After years of pain, 2UE have strung a couple of good books together.

2UE jumped by 1.1% to a 5.7%, ahead of 2Day, Triple M , 2CH and not far behind Nova.
All the 40+ demos improved, with 55+ particularly strong.
The growth has been driven largely out of Breakfast with that lead-in showing a good jump for Mornings.
So whilst 2UE isn’t where Fairfax will want it yet, they’ll be quietly celebrating this result

ABC

Triple J was flat overall with no daypart movement of note, and a decline in teens offset by improvement 18-39.
ABC702 was also flat, with most dayparts falling marginally, and the demos jumping around.
So a flattish survey for both ABC stations, however ABC702 remain in #2 overall spot, and Triple J a touch behind Triple M, but ahead of 2Day.

MELBOURNE

ARN

A tale of two stations in Melbourne for ARN, with one not bad, and one soft.

Gold FM, whilst not extraordinary, is certainly consistent. The station is 0.2% of #1 overall, just behind Fox, and has not had any major improvements anywhere, rather incremental growth overall.
The two downsides of the result for Gold FM would be falling behind Triple 40-54; this demo is Gold heartland and they will want that #1 ranking back; and Breakfast declining again.
Mix has fallen again, and appears to be struggling to be competitive.
In a market where both Fox and Nova launched new Breakfast shows in 2014, ARN would have expected more from Mix. Instead, they are the lowest ranked FM station, and with the exception of Gold have the lowest ranked FM Breakfast show.
If the rumours are correct about the KIIS change, ARN may be tempted to move sooner rather than later if they have their lineup plans in place.

SCA

With the carnage at 2Day, SCA must be thanking their lucky stars for Fox FM, which is again the #1 FM station in the market, and is delivering them the #2 FM Breakfast show (behind Triple M), which isn’t a bad effort for a 9-month old show.
Perhaps most pleasing for SCA from the Fox result will be the development of the workday zone, where the station is developing some traction.
Fox FM is the #1 18-39 station in Melbourne in this survey.
Triple M was off a little, but still relatively strong; led by a #1 FM Breakfast result again.
That said; the workday listening softened, and they copped a whack 25-39 to fall to 4th commercial ranking so it’s not all beer and party pies at Triple M today.

Nova will be pleased with improvements in BMA, despite drive falling. Overall the station had a good jump of 0.5% to move ahead of Triple M.
Nova is ranked #3 FM on 7.3%; however they are only 0.5% off the #1 position held by Fox on 7.8%.
The strongest demo, and the one the lead in, is teens on 26.5%.
A flat result for Smooth, down by 0.2% which is within the margins.
What Smooth won’t like will be a touch-up 55-64 where they fell by 3%; however that was made up with jumps in all the younger demos.
No real daypart movement for Smooth.

Fairfax

A softening for 3AW today, although they have held the #1 position overall by a mile.
Down in all the demos (except 25-39) and down in most dayparts, they’re still killing it, but will want to get back to where they were a few books ago.
Magic has done well, up a tad to 5.1%, and around half a point behind Mix. The demos are largely flat, with 55+ jumping nicely, and there is not a lot of daypart movement.
Fairfax would be thinking they’re a lazy chance to leapfrog Mix next book.

Pacific Star

A solid, if unspectacular, book for SEN at the business end of the footy season.
Up a touch overall, with 55+ the key drivers.
Given the competitive final series, SEN will be hoping S7 gives them a spike.

ABC

Tough result for ABC774 with all demos down (outside of 55-64); and all dayparts are down, with Breakfast down by 1%.
Triple J on the flipside have a strong result, moving into the #1 position 25-39, ahead of Fox.
No big daypart movement for Triple J, just some incremental growth.

BRISBANE

ARN

Survey 6 proved another strong round for ARN in Brisbane but they did lose some ground in key shifts and demos.

97.3 still leads the market in Brisbane and is number 1 again.
4KQ also took a slight hit, losing taking them to 7.6 but still holding 4^th place in Commercial.
2^nd survey in a row with breakfast 97.3 losing some more ground but so did other players. 97.3 still command a good lead ahead of closest competitor being Nova 106.9
Across the workday 97.3 lost some share with the biggest drop in drive, shaving 1.2% to 13.9. But they are oh-so close to Nova at 14.1
For 4KQ a drop in Mornings and Afternoons with Drive and Nights steady.
For 97.3 in their 25-54 heartland, ARN command over 35% of the market – increasing a fraction in 25-39’s but dropping 2 points in 40-54’s. The big winner in 40-54’s was Triplej increasing their share of the demo by 2.6%.

SCA

For SCA in Brisbane, one up, one down. The good news was TripleM, the bad b105.

b105 is now pulling an 8.6 10+ plus share, a drop of 0.8 on survey #5.
The bad news for b105 didn’t stop, with drops in all demos. The biggest was 10-17’s, with 18-24’s losing 1.5% but more critical was the shedding a full point of 25-39’s. Nova seems to have picked them up this round with an increase of 2.7% in the demo.
For b105 breakfast a slight drop keeping them 4^th in the commercial market. The station also saw drops across the workday as well. Every shift went down to some degree, some worse than others.
For TripleM a good increase to 9.6 overall, which places them number 3 for this round.
They saw a somewhat strange increase in 10-17’s with 25-39’s up and 40-54’s steady.
Where SCA would be happy is breakfast. A nice increase of 0.9 to take TripleM to 9.4% of the market.
Mornings and Drive increased for the station with Afternoons relatively steady and Nights losing the most overall for them.

NOVA ENTERTAINMENT

For Nova Brisbane not real lot of change for NE.

They still have a strong hold being number 2 for the market – while losing just 0.2 to be at 11.5%.
Nova did take a hit in 18-24’s with Triplej taking their fair share this round. That has Nova at 21.3% of the demo, compared to Triplej’s 21%
Nova while losing a chunk of 10-17’s (down 3.7%), they did increase in 25-39’s by 2.7% to lead that key money demo ahead of the others convincingly.
For Nova breakfast, off just a little with Ash, Kip & Luttsy losing 0.8% to 11.7%. They lost some of that ground they made in survey #5 – they sit at number 2 behind 97.3.
Across the day Mornings and Afternoons are up with the biggest fall in Drive and Nights. That means Kate, Tim & Marty hold onto Number 1 just, with 97.3 breathing down their necks.

Fairfax Radio

Fairfax would be disappointed with 4BC in Brisbane, considering it was good cycle of news and sport events.

4BC took another small drop to now hold 4.3 share of Brisbane.
They halved their 40-54 demo which would be disappointing but did maintain 55-64’s and 65+.
From Breakfast and across the day see’s 4BC have small drops with the biggest being nights.
Over at Magic882, an increase of 0.4 to a 5.4 share. Magic lost ground again 55-64’s but gained 2.8% in 65+.
For the dayparts, Breakfast, Mornings and Afternoons are up with Drive steady and Nights losing just a little.

ABC

Another great day for 612 ABC now holding 11.5% of the market up from Survey 5.

Their biggest growth was from people aged 65+
612 ABC dominates breakfast listening with a 15.1% share – number 1 by fair margin over anyone else.
The good news continued across the day for the ABC with all other dayparts increasing their share.
For Triplej, they had the biggest increase of any station this survey. Up 0.9% to an 8.4 share.
They had a huge push in 18-24’s and even 40-54’s this book.
That momentum was also felt in BMAD & N – all dayparts having big increases.
ADELAIDE
Nova Entertainment
Another positive result for the duopoly for NE today in Adelaide:
- The standout would have to be Nova, pull an increase of 1.8% 10+ to 11.8% put them ahead of stable mate FIVEaa but more importantly Number 2 Commercial for the market.
- Nova saw great increases 18-24’s and 25-39’s. It also makes them now number 1 25-39.
- For breakfast they clocked over double figures to a 10.2 share, making them number 3 Commercial.
- M.A.D had some ripper increases as well with Nights the only shift to take a hit.
- That now puts NOVA number 1 in Drive ahead of Mix.
- For FIVEaa they now fall behind the ABC which would be disappointing for them, an 11.1 versus a 12.2.
- They had a good increase in 40-54’s but lost in the upper end to the ABC.
- While Breakfast dropped 0.5% to 12.2% , Mornings, Afternoon and Nights increased.
SCA
Just as SCA have had the reset button pushed on SAFM Breakfast… the survey results come in.
- They had some great increases in all dayparts for the station. The standouts being Breakfast up 0.8% to a 7.5 share and Mornings up 1.1 to a 9.5 share. All other daytime shifts also increased.
- Nice increases for SAFM in 18-24’s and 25-39’s but it didn’t drag them up too much 10+, increasing .05% to an 8.5% share.
- What transpires for them in the coming weeks as Hayley and Michael exit and then new offering comes in will be interesting.
- For TripleM all a bit flat. A slight increase 10 plus and while gaining a little in 25-39’s they lost ground in other key demos.
- For breakfast they lost a little going down 0.3 to an 8.9 with across the day staying fairly consistent. A couple of rises with some shifts and down a little in others.
ARN
For ARN consistent as, but a couple of changes in play to be aware of.
- While Mix took a slight dip 10+, they are still number one by a mile with 15.2%.
- They are number 1 in Mornings and Afternoon but now play second fiddle to Nova in Drive.
- With breakfast they are still number 1 commercial but Number 2 overall behind the ABC.
- Mix still dominates 25-54;s for Adelaide, way ahead of their competitors.
- For Cruise off the mark a little this round, which pushed them down the pack a little.
- Breakfast was consistent again with falls in other dayparts impacting the station.
ABC
ABC891increased its margin again in Adelaide – up 1.3 to now command a 12.2 share.
- With that they are number 1 at breakfast again, moving ahead of Mix for the second time.
- All other dayparts performed well as well with good strong increases in all.
- Triple J was down again with declines across the board.
- They were even down in 25-39’s where they were number 1 last survey
Ratings analysis courtesy of Radio Today