Historical Metro Ratings

Nova

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And the loss of Jamie Dunn in B’fast from 2006.

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With the end of the year, a bit of reflection on how the Melbourne radio stations have fared over the last twenty years. Here’s a list of the top 5 stations (average for all surveys) for every five years:

Some observations for the 20 years:

  • Radio is becoming an older person’s game - in 2017, the top two stations are talk and the top 4 stations are aimed at older demographics. With yellow shading identifying the year where a station hit its highest ratings, Gold and Smooth from a music station viewpoint have been the beneficiaries.
  • The overall Top 5 share provides a general indicator of competition. This obviously increased with licences issued for Nova100 (in 2002) and Vega 91.5 (in 2005). However, the drop in Top 5 share in 2012 and 2017 indicates that other players (incl community and DAB) are being more competitive.
  • The Gold prize goes to 3AW for the constant number one position. The Silver goes to Nova 100 as the most successful launch by a country mile with year 1 ending as #4 in the market. Bronze goes to Fox for holding on, especially in the face of Nova’s launch, but the challenge is really on now for Fox with the older demographics taking over.
  • The wooden spoon has a number of contenders, as there are have been some absolutely shockers - Mix101.1 rated 6.4 in 2002, that’s a massive drop . (3MMM still rated 7.9 in 2002). I think the actions of ARN in dumping TTFM for Mix were just a bad call. As KIIS101.1 in 2017 had an average rating of 6.5, the station’s mojo is still MIA. Anyway, the current winner has to be Magic1278 to TLS (enough documented on other threads!), even though its not been in the Top 5 - it takes a committed effort to end up with a rating of 0.3 within a year of relaunch. It makes the much discussed launch of MTR1377 seem quite successfull.

Have a great New Year’s everyone…and enjoy the ratings battle for 2018!

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Inspired by @Rob_Melb_AU above, I’ve done the same for Sydney, as you can see below:

Like in Melbourne, radio in Sydney is becoming an older person’s game in 2017, with 4 out of 5 stations in the top 5 aiming at the older demographics. This was helped by WS repositioning themselves from “Classic Hits” to “Pure Gold” after the arrival of KIIS, as well as the launch & establishment of Smooth.

It’s worth noting that 2DAY has been in the top 3 for most of that period, but by 2017, it fell out dramatically after Kyle & Jackie O jumped ship from 2DAY to KIIS in 2014, the latter having a big rise from when it was Mix 106.5 (its best year under that brand was in 1998, when it had an average rating share of 9.5).
It’s a similar story to why 2UE fell when Alan Jones jumped ship from there to 2GB, causing that station to practically rise from out of nowhere. Unlike with 2DAY in more recent years, 2UE continued to rate quite competitively with 2GB & managed to stay in the Top 5 until John Laws left at the end of 2007.

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Some radio ratings history that I just came across today.

This is from Scene, 1 April 1978. 40 years ago, with a wrap up of the radio ratings for Survey 1, 1978.

In those days actual rating numbers were rarely mentioned. But I do actually have them now:

3UZ 17.4 (prev. 16.5)
3XY 15.3 (16.7)
3MP 11.8 (11.3)
3AK 11.7 (12.0)
3DB 10.5 (11.0)
3LO 10.2 (9.0)
3AW 8.2 (8.9)
3KZ 6.2 (5.5)
3AR 4.8 (4.6)
Other 1.8 (1.4)

“Other” stations would have included 3EA (SBS), 3MBS, ABCFM, 3RMT (now 3RRR), 3CR and any outer stations such as 3GL from Geelong or 3UL from Warragul.

It should also be noted that 3MP was less than 2 years old at this point and appeared to be on the rise at the expense of 3XY, which up until 3MP’s arrival had been hovering around the 20 per cent share mark.

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This link covers Survey 2, 1997 to Survey 2, 1999 (the column on the far left is supposed to be 2/99, not 1/99, plus the 2CA share in 2/99 was incorrect on that page (correct figures here & then scroll down to “Canberra Survey 2/99 released”).

It’s interesting to see JJJ almost knocking Mix 106.3 off the #2 spot back in Survey 1, 1999, although FM104.7 was well ahead of the others, in which they had a more rock-skewed format back then, despite being part of the Today Network, which included Martin/Molloy (which ended at the end of 1998) & Hot 30 on its programming line-up.

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WOW TelevisionAU - thanks for posting that flashback.

After 40 years the only Melbourne station with the same call sign that is still in the ratings is 3AW.

In Sydney it would be 2CH and 2GB.

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Thanks for the links - helps fill in a lot of gaps! That 14.3 turns out to be JJJ’s best ever.

Brisbane would have 4BC and 4KQ. Perth would have 6IX I guess and 6PR and Adelaide only 5AA?

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Here’s the survey in question.

Sydney - Survey 4, 1998

#1 2UE: 13.3
#2 2MMM: 11.8
#3 2Day: 11.3
=#4 2WS: 9.2
=#4 Mix 106.5: 9.2
#6 2CH: 7.6
#7 2BL: 6.3
#8 2JJJ: 5.9
#9 2KY: 4.1
#10 2GB: 3.9
#11 ABCFM: 2.7
=#12 2RN: 2.0
=#12 2SM: 2.0
#14 NewsRadio: 1.9

2SM was scoring a 2.0% share, back when it was a station playing mainly 60s & 70s music, and before Bill Caralis had bought the station.

EDIT: Post updated to include more stations.

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20 years on John Laws is on 2SM mornings.

What was 2KY rating in 98?

2KY was rating 4.1%, outrating 2GB!! :open_mouth:

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Thanks for posting those figures TV_E, much appreciated as always! :slight_smile:

Certainly a good reminder of just how far the 954AM frequency has fallen in the past 20 years, although I’d imagine that 2DayFM and Triple M also wouldn’t mind having their 1998 ratings again.

Out of interest, here’s Survey 4, 2003 (15 years ago) overall figures for Sydney, about 2 years after Nova went on-air:

#1 2Day: 11.4
#2 2GB: 10.9
#3 Nova: 10.5
#4 2UE: 8.5
#5 ABC702: 7.6
#6 Mix 106.5: 7.3
#7 2MMM: 7.1
#8 WSFM: 6.7
#9 2CH: 6.3
#10 2JJJ: 4.5
#11 2RN: 2.9
#12 ABCFM: 2.1
#13 2KY: 1.7
#14 NewsRadio: 1.6
#15 2SM: 0.5

In the demographics, 2Day was #1 in the 40-54s, with WS at #3 behind 702. In the 55+, 2UE was a strong 2nd behind 2GB. Nova dominated the 18-24s, scoring a 34.4% share, way ahead of 2Day (15.2) & 2MMM (13.7).

In breakfast, 2GB’s Alan Jones was #1 with a 16% share, followed by 2Day’s Morning Crew with Wendy Harmer (now at ABC Radio Sydney breakfast with Robbie Buck) at 2nd place with 11%, 702’s Angela Catterns with 9.6% and Nova’s Merrick & Rosso with 9.4%. WS’s Jonesy & Kayley scored only a 5.7% share. In mornings, John Laws on 2UE outrated 2GB’s Ray Hadley (who was only heard in Sydney at the time).

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I’m guessing that the results above would’ve been from a couple of surveys before this?
NNNSydneyradioratings2003

IIRC, that cap (of some 2003 footage from National Nine News Sydney) was taken from the Australian Story piece on Ray Hadley back in 2013 which your post reminded me of.

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Just looking at my records & I can tell you that the above ratings figures are from Survey 1, 2003. That survey was significant in which it marked the first time that 2GB went to #1 since Survey 3, 1987.

Some of the other stations not mentioned in the above cap:

  • Mix 106.5: 7.3 - Up 1.2
  • WSFM: 7.2 - Down 0.7
  • 2CH: 7.1 - Up 1.9
  • JJJ: 4.3 - Down 0.2
  • 2KY: 1.8 - Down 0.3
  • 2SM: 0.6 - Down 0.3
  • Other FM: 10.1 - Up 0.6 (most of which would be towards The Edge, as well as C91.3, Gosford & Wollongong stations)

In the demos, 2Day won the under-40s, whilst 702 ABC won the 40-54s (WS was #1 FM in that demo) & 2GB won the 55+.

In breakfast, Alan Jones was of course #1, followed by Angela Catterns on 702 and then 2Day with Wendy Harmer & The Morning Crew. In mornings, Ray Hadley beat John Laws for the first time since the former went to 2GB with an 11% share to the latter’s 8.5%, although 2Day won the slot overall.
In evenings, 2GB’s Brian Wilshire was #1, followed by the Hot 30 with Kyle & Jackie O on 2Day, then Nova with its local evening program, the Nova 19s, and then Mix 106.5 with Love Song Dedications with Richard “The Love God” Mercer.

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Here’s the rest of the Sydney radio ratings for that survey, in case anyone is interested.

Sydney - Survey 3, 2008

#1 2GB: 11.7
#2 2Day: 10.7
#3 ABC702: 8.9
#4 WSFM: 8.5
#5 Nova: 8.2
#6 2UE: 7.5
#7 2CH: 6.7
#8 2MMM: 6.0
#9 Mix 106.5: 5.9
#10 2JJJ: 4.6
#11 Vega: 3.5
#12 ABCFM: 2.5
=#13 2RN: 2.2
=#13 NewsRadio: 2.2

In breakfast, Alan Jones was of course #1, followed by Kyle & Jackie O on 2Day, and 702’s Adam Spencer, whilst Hamish & Andy won drive. In the demos, JJJ was #3 in the 18-24s behind 2Day & Nova, whilst WS was (and still is) king in the 40-54s. In the 55+, 2CH was #2 behind 2GB.

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As mentioned in the thread discussing the latest metro radio ratings survey, WSFM got 11.3% of Sydney radio listeners and was the market’s #1 FM station: A pinch over their (as previously mentioned in this thread) Survey #2 1997 results as 2WS-FM 101.7 with 11.2% when they were #3 in the market behind 2DayFM and 2UE but of course as it’s already been pointed out, we’re talking about the days before Nova 96.9 and Vega/Classic Rock/Sydney’s/Smooth 95.3 came onto the scene.

So for comparison purposes, how did 2WS-FM 101.7 and all the other Sydney radio stations do during Survey #1, 1997? :slight_smile:

Sydney - Survey 1, 1997

#1 2UE: 13.6
#2 2Day: 13.3
#3 2WS: 11.3 (exactly the same share as S5/2018!)
=#4 2MMM: 7.7
=#4 2BL: 7.7
#6 Mix 106.5: 7.6
#7 2CH: 7.3
#8 2JJJ: 6.1
#9 2GB: 5.6
#10 2KY: 2.5
#11 ABCFM: 2.4
#12 2SM: 1.8
#13 2RN: 1.3

ABC NewsRadio/PNN wasn’t measured in the ratings back then.
The “Other Stations” ratings were 11.8%.

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Thanks for posting that! :slight_smile: