Radio Ratings Survey #8: KIIS FM holds tight to 2Day fans

The final survey of 2015 has been released, and as always there will be some stations pleased to put the year behind them, and others who will chalk it up as a job well done. See below for the full analysis for each metro.

SYDNEY

ARN

After an exceptional year ARN have ended the year in #1 and #2 FM position with WSFM #1 FM overall on 8.9%. KIIS improved to 8.4%.

WSFM dominates 40-54, #1 with a 5% lead over the next placed station, and the performance of the workday was particularly strong in this book with WS #1 FM in Mornings and Afternoons.

However, it didn’t all go there way, KIIS had a big increase in Breakfast to end the year on 11.3%, #1 FM Breakfast, with WS in #2 position on 9.9%.The demos are great for KIIS, they will be #1 18-39, and #1 under 40, and it’s likely that they’ll win 25-54 as well on these figures.

NE

Whilst ARN are the clear FM winners in Sydney, Nova Entertainment have had a pretty decent day as well; with both stations improving by nearly a point overall.

Nova moves up by 0.8 overall, driven by an improvement in workday, drive and evenings, withNova Breakfast slipping a touch to end the year on 6.6%, in 3rd FM place behind KIIS and WS. Drive has moved into #1 position overall, leapfrogging ABC702.

Smooth had a strong increase of 0.9% and in doing so has moved ahead of Triple M overall.As with Nova, Smooth’s growth was workday and drive driven with Breakfast generally flat.

SCA

This is a year that SCA will be pleased to put behind them, particularly in Sydney with 2DayFM.

And ironically, this survey being flat for 2Day is probably perfect for SCA, the last thing they’d have wanted was a big jump out of the box. This survey was same/same for 2Day; breakfast flat, days flat, drive flat, overall share flat, not much demo movement.

Triple M, at least in an overall share sense, has finished poorly. They’ve slipped 0.7 to a 5.4 share, giving SCA the embarrassing scenario of having the two lowest ranked FM stations in Sydney; even Triple J is ahead of both stations.

So there’s not much to be excited about in the Triple M figures, however they are consistently on the record as saying they only look at the male results, so perhaps those will be more positive.

Fairfax

2UE has had something of a resurgence in the last couple of books, however they've slipped a touch in the final survey of the year; down 0.3 to 5.6%. However this positions them ahead of 2Day, Triple M and 2CH so whilst 2UE cops a fair bit of flak, they're ahead of some other commercials.

Unhelpfully though, the demos are probably older than they'd like. 55-64 and 40-54 declining will not be welcome, the station now has a heavy 65+ profile.

Macquarie

2GB is a very strong station, consistently it delivers the ratings survey in survey out. And the demos are healthy for 2GB, clearly as you'd expect, the station performs well 55+, but it is also #2 overall 40-54 in this book – quite an achievement for an AM talk station.

The dayparts are strong; Alan Jones again dominates Breakfast, Ray Hadley wins Mornings, and whilst not as dominant in the other dayparts 2GB is in the top 3 overall in each other session.

ABC

A flat finish to the year for 702 with not a lot of movement to note; the strongest performing dayparts are the bookends of Breakfast and Drive.

Triple J has come home with a wet sail, finishing ahead of 2Day and Triple M on 6.5%, and notably, attaining the #1 position 25-39's. The improvement was workday driven with both Mornings and Afternoons improving by over a point each.

MELBOURNE

Fairfax

A strong finish to the year for Fairfax in Melbourne with both stations improving. 3AW grew by 0.6% and is again a clear #1 overall with nearly 3 points gap to the #2 station. The damage is done in Breakfast and Mornings where 3AW have an absolutely dominant position.

Magic moved up a touch and did it's job. It will never rate much higher than the 5's, and as long as it delivers that consistently it is doing what Fairfax would require of it.

SCA

The FM market in Melbourne has been the tightest in the country for many years, and that remains so in this book. Fox, however, ends the year #1 FM overall on 8.5%, ahead of Gold in the #2 position.

It'll be tight 18-39, and hard to see on the surface whether Fox or Nova will get it, but whomever does there won't be much in it. Fox Breakfast has ended the year in #2 position, behind sister-station Triple M. From 2015, Fox Breakfast will be under the threat of losing some cume to Matt Tilley on the relaunched Mix/KIIS.

Triple M are flat today overall. Beneath the surface though, under 40 they improved in all demos, whilst over 40 they declined in all. As is historically the case, Breakfast is the standout on Triple M, #1 FM station, and providing a great lead-in to the workday which has also performed well.

NE

For Nova 100 the survey was somewhat uneventful; a flattish result. Not a lot of demo movement, although a slight slip 25-39's meant Triple J hold the #1 25-39 ranking outright, and whilst Breakfast, Mornings and Afternoons fell, Drive and Evenings improved.

A pretty good result for Smooth; up a touch overall, but more pleasing for NE will be the gentle increases across the board in all dayparts, and the 25-39 jump of 1.1%. Smooth would be hoping the relaunched KIIS/Mix takes the audience younger to free up some older females; although Sydney would indicate that is not the (ARN) strategy.

ARN

A good end to a turbulent year in Melbourne for ARN. Gold has jumped nicely to 8.0% and is #2 FM behind Fox, the result also saw Gold win back the #1 40-54 ranking and, excluding evenings, saw strong increases in every daypart. Gold is, like WSFM, the leading FM station in Mornings and Afternoons.

For the final survey as Mix, the station improved by 0.3%, however remains in last place of the commercial FM stations. Drive was up a little, whilst daytimes were down. The final survey for the 'Chrissie & Jane' Breakfast show saw them finish on a 5.9% share, ranked 5th FM Breakfast, ahead of Smooth on 5.4%.

Pacific Star

SEN has fallen by nearly a point in this survey, however for a heavily football focused station this is unsurprising, and will be unlikely to be too concerning on Swan Street. All dayparts fell (drive was flat) and all the key demos fell in what is a seasonally driven result.

ABC

Ouch. ABC 774 has been hit heavily in this book, surprising considering it was a book containing the Victorian election, or perhaps it was because of that. The upper demos were where the damage was done, and the declines were spread equally, and heavily, across all dayparts.

Triple J is flat today, with not a lot of movement. The most notable result was that they obtained the #1 spot 25-39, due to Nova declining.

BRISBANE

ARN

Survey 8 has seen 97.3 drop with Nova 1069.9 stealing the 10 plus crown to be number one.97.3 is number 2 in the market 10+ with a 12.3. It’s biggest losses were those under 24, they gained a few 25-39 but lost ground in 40-54’s.

4KQ is down again this round but it still places them 4thin All Commercial.

4thsurvey in a row sees 97.3 breakfast loose share, which sees the gap widen between it and Nova.For 4KQ biggest drop was in Mornings losing 1.7 to now be 7.6 share. Afternoons and Drive increased with Nights losing some ground.

The heartland for 973 is 25-54, this survey sees them regain the dominate spot from Nova.

SCA

Another good round for b105, up again. Departing CD Mickey Maher will be happy. For Triple M an small increase 10 plus as well – they'll take that.

b105 is now pulling an 9.7 – 10+ plus share, an increase of 0.7 on survey #7. While losinga few 10-17’s and 25-39’s this round, b105 was up in 40-54’s.As Labby says goodbye, b105 Breakfast is up – 3rdin the market for All Commercial, nice way to finsih off with the station. In other shifts Mornings, Afternoons, Drive and Nights all up.

For TripleM up again a smidge. 25-39’s are down but 40-54’s are up.All dayparts are up with the exception of Breakfast and Nights.

NE

For Nova Brisbane will be happy – taking out number 1 for last book of the year. They had a 0.6 increase to now hold 13.5% of the market – ahead of 973’s 12.2 share.

For Ask, Kip and Lutsy, they romped home in breakfast to be number 1 in the market. In Drive Kate, Time and Marty prove again their strength across the network – clear number 1 ahead by 3.7 on the nearest competitor being 973.

NE has a big increase in 18-24’s, gain a few in 10-17’s but lost a some broadly 25-54.

Fairfax

Another increase for News Talk 4BC. Second survey they have gained ground, driven by a leap in the upper end demos.All shifts on 4BC are up with the exception of Drive which is flat. Breakfast leads the charge with a 0.6 increase to hold a 5.8 share – that places them 5thin the market for all Commercial.

Overall another good confidence boost for the station to lead into the New Year.

At Magic 882, not so good. Losing ground 10 plus. While up 40-54’s, further up the chain they lost audience.In terms of the dayparts, all took a bit of a hit. Breakfast and Drive losing a small amount, with Mornings and Afternoons losing the most ground.

ABC

They took another belting this round.ABC 612 had the biggest drop of all stations last survey and Survey 8 didn’t prove much better. Losing almost a full point to now hold 8.5 – 10 plus share.612 ABC Breakfast held steady but the ABC lost share in all other shifts.

For triple j on the other hand, they had a nice boost. 18-39’s both up. All shifts also gained ground for the final book of the year.

Source: Radio Today