https://radioinfo.com.au/news/radio-ratings-survey-2-listeners-turn-news-and-talk-virus-crisis
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Firstly to Sydney, and 2GB stays on top with a 1.6% increase to 14.8%, due to its coverage of the coronavirus. This also benefited ABC Sydney, who went up 0.7% to 9.6%, therefore maintaining 2nd place. Of the FM stations, Smooth takes back #1 with 9% (up 0.9%), with WS not far behind at 8.9% (up 0.5%). KIIS is #3 FM with 8.5% (up 0.4%), whilst Nova fell 0.7% to 7%. JJJ fell 1.4% to 5.5%, 2MMM went up 0.5% to 5.4%, whilst 2Day fell 0.2% to 5.1%. 2CH went up 0.3% to 3.8%, whilst 2UE debut with a very poor 0.7%, which is no better than what MSR was rating.
In Melbourne, 3AW is #1 with 13.9% (up 0.6%), followed by Gold 104.3 with 10.7%, whilst Smooth & ABC Melbourne tied for 3rd place with 9.7%. Fox rated 8.1%, followed by Nova & JJJ, who tied with 7.2%, and then KIIS with 5.9%. 3MMM fell to 5%, whilst SEN went up 0.6% to 2.2% & Magic debuted with just 0.2%.
In Brisbane, hit105 & 97.3 tied for the #1 position with 10.5%, followed by Nova with 10.4%, 4MMM with 9.9%, ABC Brisbane with 8.4% (up 1.2%), JJJ with 8.1%, 4KQ with 7.9% & 4BC with 7.6%. 4BH debuted with just 0.4%.
In Adelaide, Mix 102.3 is still at #1 with 11.9%, but FiveAA, ABC Adelaide & Cruise are just less than 1% behind. Nova rated 10.2%, followed by 5MMM with 8.4%, hit107 with 8.1% & JJJ with 8%.
And in Perth, Mix 94.5, out of nowhere, goes back to #1 with 12.6%, with 96fm & Nova tied for 2nd place with 12%, followed by hit92.9 with 10.1% & JJJ with 10%.
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In Melbourne, all the commercial FM stations fell from last survey while ABC and 3AW went up. This indicates that people were tuning in to ABC and 3AW for their coronavirus coverage. SEN also went up thanks to its coverage of AFL pre-season.
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The overall ratings in ranking order:
Sydney
#1. 2GB: 14.8
#2. ABC Sydney: 9.6
#3. Smooth: 9.0
#4. WSFM: 8.9
#5. KIIS: 8.5
#6. Nova: 7.0
#7. 2JJJ: 5.5
#8. 2MMM: 5.4
#9. 2Day: 5.1
#10. 2CH: 3.8
#11. ABC Classic: 3.7
#12. ABC RN: 2.8
#13. ABC Newsradio: 2.0
#14. 2UE: 0.7
#15. Sky Sports Radio: 0.6
Brisbane
=#1. hit105: 10.5
=#1. 97.3FM: 10.5
#3. Nova: 10.4
#4. 4MMM: 9.9
#5. ABC Brisbane: 8.4
#6. 4JJJ: 8.1
#7. 4KQ: 7.9
#8. 4BC: 7.6
#9. ABC RN: 3.2
#10. ABC Classic: 2.7
#11. ABC Newsradio: 1.8
#12. 4BH: 0.4
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The Nine music stations need some sort of promotion on TV. No one would know they exist at the moment. It’s not like the good old days when you’d find something by turning the tuning knob on the car radio across the AM dial.
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Things that you spot when you should be concentrating on a teleconference…
I havent done a deep dive on this, but I noticed something interesting about GOLD104.3’s ratings - their daytime (mornings, afternoons) are much stronger then the rest of the day - Smooth (Melbourne) has similar in the afternoon and drive shift. Do these stations have larger “workplace” listeners, their music formats are probably good options for having on at work as they are reasonably broad.
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To be expected coming from such a low base and almost zero promotion. And would be a lot cheaper to run than MSR?
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Looking at the demo ratings, on the 18-24s in Sydney, JJJ fell sharply from 14.6% to 6.5%, getting beaten by Smooth (who is 2nd in that demo behind Nova! 
) & WS. JJJ still does well in the 25-39s, rating 2nd behind KIIS. It’s worth noting that 2GB rated 6.8% in the 25-39s, beating WS in that demo.
WS is #1 on among the 40-54s, well ahead of sister station KIIS, and is a close 2nd in the 55-64s behind 2GB. 2CH fell to 3.6% in the 55-64s.
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Realistically given the survey method how reliable are the ratings in the lower age groups?
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That’s a valid point, but then again, JJJ rates well in every other city, including in the 18-24s. Maybe the fortuitous reception of The Edge 96.1 may have something to do with the Sydney figures? 
Another interesting thing to note, re Nine Radio’s music stations, is that each of those stations peak in different demos. The highest rating demos for each station is as follows:
2UE: 25-39s (1.4%; 0.5% behind 2CH)
Magic 1278: 65+ (0.8%)
4BH: 55-64s (0.9%)
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I would say so re Smooth and Gold. Years ago it used to be TTFM that was the “safe” playlist at work because its music sat somewhere between Fox and Gold 104 at the time.
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Triple M is plumbing new depths in Sydney and Melbourne and only doing ok in Brisbane due to lack of competition IMO. Wish they’d just copy the Virgin UK or Absolute Radio format for goodness sake! How long before something is done?
Although I’m sure we’ll hear that they’re doing fantastically in their target tradie demo.
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Another interesting observation:
In Brisbane, JJJ is tied 2nd with 4MMM in the 40-54s (97.3 is #1). In that same demo, the “Other Stations” scored a 22.4% share, well ahead of 97.3’s 12.8%.
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More observations about Melbourne:
3AW made increases in every timeslot.
Gold and JJJ were the only FM stations to have increased their share at breakfast, while Ross and John on 3AW rebounded from the shock drop in survey 1. Sammy J on ABC also went up.
Tom Elliott increased the lead over his rivals at drive. Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty dropped by a full one point which must be concerning.
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I don’t put too much faith in the demo figures but that is interesting. That “other” figure would be interesting to know the breakdown. River 94.9, Rebel, Breeze, 99.7, even Mix 92.7 in the north
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My observations from this survey:
Triple J drop across the country is most likely to do with the audience adjusting to the new presenters now the Hottest 100’s are done and dusted.
Triple M Brisbane
Obviously 97.3 and the Robyn Bailey affect is starting to be felt.
Hit105’s equal #1 would be a result of the downfall of Nova 106.9 in Brisbane. The audience is not liking the changes to the music going to the Sydney / Melbourne log. This also seems to be the case in Perth with drops to Nova 937 now tying with 96fm.
The status quo continues to take place in Sydney and Melbourne with the talk stations, Smooth, Fox, Kiis, WS, and Gold.
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Nova is spending too much time on Throwbacks at the expense of Fresh Hits. If only The Edge was included in the survey.
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All the Nova stations are in decline, with Nova 93.7 now tying with 96Fm.
SCA Fox and Hit 105 are now the only CHR with playlists tailored to their market and they are getting better results.
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The Edge is number 1# by a mile in the digital ratings, how much of that listening is on fm?
I wonder how many Nova listeners went to the Edge to not hear throwbacks?
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