Hot Tomato has taken the #1 spot, scoring a 13.9% share, up 1.9% from the previous survey. Gold FM is #2 with 13.4% (up 0.7%), followed by sister station Sea FM with 12.8% (down 0.1%).
Hot Tomato’s Flan & Emily Jade tops the breakfast slot with 14.5%, followed by Gold’s Bridge & Spida at 13.3% and Sea’s Galey & Charli with 10.9%. In drive, Hamish & Andy on Sea is #1 with 17.5%, followed by Hot Tomato’s Mal & Moyra with 15%, and Gold’s Bianca Dye (who is moving to 97.3FM breakfast in the new year) with 11.6%.
In the demographics, Sea is #1 in the 18-39s (Hot Tomato is #1 in 10-17s), Hot Tomato tops the 40-54s & Gold is #1 in the 55+.
The Brisbane FM’s (and AM’s 4KQ, 4BC and Magic) are all included individually in the survey so not in the “others”. Seems Triple M and Nova do the best of the Brisbane stations there.
I’d think there would be big numbers for 94.1, Rebel and Breeze. Also Radio Metro for the younger audience.
Possibly Radio 97/104FM too on the southern end of the coast.
For a market with so many radio choices the “other” figure is huge.
PS. As much as I have a personal love for Rebel and Breeze, I have a sneaking suspicion the big surprise would be 94.1 in terms of listeners particularly among older listeners. They are a real classic hits station and they play on nostalgia for 4GG from time to time.
How on earth does that station keep winning surveys down there? It has such a disjointed playlist, but I guess there must be people into that
Gold FM a close second, but those demographics look concerning. Creamed in 25-39s and second to HT in 40-54s - they really should be dominating there. By contrast, their sister station Sea FM dominates 18-39s despite coming third overall
And the comments about 94.1 are all spot on - it’s a quasi-commercial station playing music not played elsewhere. Juice 107.3 and Radio Metro would account for some, as would Rebel and Breeze and maybe even Radio 97 (though unlikely). But I’ve seen 94.1 on in stores and saved in car presets all around the Coast, unlike the rest, so it really wouldn’t surprise me if it has a large following
By my reckoning, the ‘other’ ratings for all demographics are as follows:
10-17: 6.9%
18-24: 10.2%
25-39: 20.5%
40-54: 20.4%
55-64: 32%
65+: 48.3%
That to make seems pretty clear young listeners are generally getting what they want in the stations listed in the survey, which IMO is no surprise given they have Sea, Hot Tomato, JJJ as well as the Brisbane stations like Nova and Hit. However, those older demographics show some pretty significant numbers tuning in elsewhere.
Without the data, an educated guess would be that 94.1 would capture a great deal, Juice 107.3, Breeze 100.6 and possibly even Radio 97 on 104.1 (the over 65s might still like hearing John Laws of a morning). While I know advertisers aren’t exactly queuing up to reach those much older listeners, even the numbers tuning out in the 25-54 category must be of some concern.
And looking at it, that’s where Gold FM really can (and need to) lift their game - there’s a good chunk of audience there that they can bring home if they do things a bit better, and a lift in that demographic would likely help them overall as well
@tamago_otoko
Agree completely with that assessment. A station like Gold should be able to take a much bigger chunk if they lifted their game. If they took some cues from Smooth FM (or Breeze!) for example and broadened themselves a bit they could grab the vast majority of 40+ listeners on the coast.
HT have become competitive, often at or near #1. If you don’t like it, it goes to show the competition isn’t much chop either. Tell us why? What exactly?
GC really should manage 50% 3 station share but does not.
Interesting to look at it this way, thanks for sharing that info.
We’ve often said here that the GC has the widest variety of radio offerings just about anywhere in the country, with its local commercial and community stations, as well as those fortuitously heard from neighbouring areas. In light of that, you could almost say that the 3 local commercial stations capturing 40% of the market is a good outcome, considering the variety on offer. It’s not like Wollongong for instance, where the two local stations both target mostly the same audience and leave those searching for alternatives desperately reaching for other options.
However, it is still in the unique position where it possibly could be greater for all, if they all had their own target demographics carved out. Sea FM should be entertaining the kids (i.e. under 30s), Gold FM should have their parents (30s to 60s), and Hot Tomato probably could sit somewhere in between, providing a bit for both. That’s kind of how they are positioned at the moment, but it’s not quite working like that, particularly for the older listeners. However, grabbing a few more of those listeners across the board and there’s no reason why the GC couldn’t match the audience reach of say a Central Coast, which is in a similar situation
HT went older this year, more tinkering with the music, more daggy 80’s tunes in the play list at the expense of tracks which had been rotating from that era for the past couple of years.
