- Nova 106.9: 13.8
- Hit 105: 11.5
- 97.3FM: 11.4
- 4MMM: 10.8
- ABC Brisbane: 9.8
- 4KQ: 8.1
- 4JJJ: 6.4
- 4BC: 5.5
- 4RN: 2.3
- ABCFM: 2.0
- Talking Lifestyle (formerly 4BH/Magic): 1.5
- ABC News: 1.1
And if they didnāt have breakfast propping them up? Breakfast isnāt the problem - itās the rest of it.
The āh!t rotā is starting to set in at Fox too. SCA must be alarmed and fearing what will happen post-H&A. I actually donāt think the h!t network is a bad listen but clearly still not resonating with the market.
Nova continues to gnaw away and climb the ladder. The water-tight formatting is doing the trick it seems. It does sound very good in 20 minute bursts and the playlist has regained some of the lost credibility of the ad-nauseum Bieber and Hannah Montana era. Itās still one of lifeās great mysteries to me why the top-rating Brisbane tailored format canāt be rolled out to the other markets.
Iāll preface this by saying that Iām a big H&A fan and they are still my #1 choice of drive show, but I think they may be part of the problem at hit now. Twice in recent years theyāve taken time off which has given their competitors a chance to break into the market - they wouldnāt have dreamt of doing something like that back when they started out - the story goes that Fox only wanted them Monday-Thursday to begin with but they came back offering to do Friday for āfreeā so that their competitors couldnāt take their audience.
The 10 years in 10 weeks idea was great for die hard fans, but was also quite irrelevant and repetitive to their current audience.
I also think the market is getting tired of H&A - having been around for so long now their people are getting bored of their style and want something different. Their tactics are also started to get really repetive and are like soaps now - I feel like I can go days without listening and donāt really miss much with all the recaps and backstory they give.
I think a new drive show gives hit a real chance to give someone new a chance to make a really different sounding show that wonāt have any preconceptions in the market.
Long post of analysis incoming!
As expected, 2GB largely rose across the board with the return of Alan Jones & Steve Price. Although I wonder how Ray Hadley feels about his 0.3% dropā¦
9.9% for Smooth 95.3ā¦quite possibly their highest ratings ever? If so, good for them. Theyāre providing a unique format in the Sydney market and are rightly being rewarded for that. The ratings for Smooth 95.3ās largely music format/news service-centred breakfast show (equal #4 with their sister station which does have a high profile duo) also prove that you donāt always need high profile presenters to have ratings success first thing in the morning.
Nova 96.9 only 0.3% behind KIIS 1065, very interesting. Dare I say it this quite possibly could become the biggest Sydney radio ratings story of 2017, one to watch in coming surveys.
A promising sign for the now Magicless-2CH, with a 1.0% increase. Next survey should be rather interesting, the first full one since the latest rebrand.
WSFM would surely have to be worried with those drops across the board. I wonder if the ratings decline continues in Survey #3, weāll see WSFM drift to a softer, more Smooth-like music format?
I wonder if right about now, Seven News Sydney is regretting letting Chris Bath go? Because it appears that her appointment is helping ABC Radio Sydney, with nights seeming to be the only weekday timeslot to have a ratings increase (and a rather healthy one too, with a 1.2% jump) this time around with the rest of the station either remaining steady or falling.
Iām honestly surprised that Talking Lifestyle got a ratings boost (even if only by 0.2%) in Sydney. Itāll certainly be rather interesting to see how that station goes in the next survey.
The one radio network in Sydney who should be extremely worried at the latest ratings results is SCA. 2DayFM slightly dipped, but the big worry is Triple M with a full 2% of their breakfast show audience tuning out between Surveyās #1 and #2. Ouch!
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I gather by the afternoon figures that Iām not the only person who dislikes Triple M broadcasting from Sydney in the afternoon. Also what happened to Lee Simon? Iād much rather Lee and the 80s that Ugly Phil with his 90s.
Iāve been changing to Gold in the afternoon and it appears Iām not the only one.
The shock is Talking Lifestyle losing half of its listener share which was already dire.
Shock? The only shock was it was only half.
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You donāt mention performance and influence of local ABC stations or JJJ ?
ABC Sydney is #3 overall behind 2GB & Smooth, whilst ABC Melbourne is #2 behind 3AW & ABC Brisbane is the highest rating AM station in Brisbane, rating 5th overall. In Sydney, JJJ rates ahead of the two SCA FM stations, but in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth, it rates behind every commercial FM stations.
Melbourne has the highest overall ratings share for RN in any major metro market, scoring 3.8%, in contrast to Sydneyās 2%. Interestingly, RN rates an 8.6% share in the 65+ in Melbourne, scoring 4th in that demographic behind 3AW, ABC Melbourne & Smooth.
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The word shock implies an element of surprise. MRN might be shocked that their changes are bombing out, but I think for anyone in this forum it is anything but surprising.
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Iāve taken a closer look at the cumes and they paint some interesting alternative stories.
In Sydney, Nova breakfast is now the highest cuming breakfast show, overtaking KIIS for the first time since Survey 6, 2015.
In Melbourne, Fox still have the #1 cume, but have dipped back below 1,000,000. They also remain the #1 cume station in Australia.
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In Brisbane, thereās no 4BH music and no Smooth.
We know thereās a shift amongst the 55+ audience due to Magic ending, however 882 has had a gradual decline from its rebranding from 4BH to Magic with a noticeable change in music.
No Smooth in the widespread analogue market either. Is the āotherā/un or mis-reported share rising for it?
So what are the format gaps in Brisbane? What should be on air?
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Itās actually good in parts, I think, with Prior to Dawn being the stand out. A pity that an entertaining program probably has minimal listeners because of the predominantly repetitive infomercial talk back during the day. Tim Webster is fine, as are the other presenters, but some of the content is not. The dumbed down Breakfast show is the biggest disappointment.
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Brisbane is in desperate need of a Smooth format, even if it has to be on AM (882) and DAB. This was basically what 4BH was playing a few years back when it was rating well - even beating 4KQ. Soft AC is whatās missing. 4KQ is way too hard for many in the music department. When 4BH was re-branded to Magic they lost the soft AC format and became a daggier 4KQ - hence the ratings drop. I think many āotherā listeners are probably moving to Smooth or Easy on DAB, or Breeze FM (southside Brisbane anyway).
I honestly donāt know why NE donāt mount an advertising/awareness campaign around Smooth on DAB in Brisbane.
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In Survey 1, the āOtherā figure on among the 55-64s in Brisbane was at 18.6%, whereas in this survey, itās at 20.7%, which is up 1.1%.
Down in Melbourne, the āOtherā figure on among the 65+ last survey was at 7.8%, whilst in this survey, itās up 2.3% to finish at 10.1% after the loss of Magic.
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In Sydney:
No.2 FM Breakfast: smooth - and they only play music with a good news service.
No. 1 Overall Drive: smooth - and they only play music with a god news service.
So interesting.
Music and a credible news service. What FM radio does well.
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20% share for Breakfast with Ross & Johnā¦
Goodnight.
Iād say thatās not really a ābig shockā.
Tbh, Smooth 91.5 again #1 (ahead of SCA) is!
As well as Nova drive equal #1 with Hamish & Andy.
If Smooth FM were on the FM band in Brisbane and not just on DAB they would be rating Number 1,especially with over 45 listeners .
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Yes Smooth would definitely would be No. 1 if they were on FM in Brisbane.
97.3FM would be a clear No. 1 too if they āsmoothifiedā themselves just a little.