In Sydney, as predicted, 2GB maintains its #1 position. Smooth takes up the #2 overall position with a 9.6% share, up 0.5% from the previous survey, beating out 702 ABC by 0.1%. KIIS fell slightly by 0.1% to 8%, whilst WS recovered from a ratings low by going up 1.4% to 7.6%, placing themselves as #3 FM. Nova fell 1.1% to 7%, whilst JJJ overtakes 2MMM. 2Day fell 0.4% to 3.7%, placing themselves only 0.1% ahead of Magic 2CH, but its breakfast program, Rove & Sam, went up by 0.2% to 4.1%. However, mornings (9am-12pm) on 2Day managed only a 1.9% share!!!
In Melbourne, Fox & Gold shared the #1 FM position, with Smooth not far behind, followed by 3MMM, Nova & KIIS. In Brisbane, Nova holds on to the top position, followed by 97.3FM, hit105, 4MMM & 4KQ, who managed to score a 9% share, which is pretty incredible for an AM music station in a major city in 2016!
In Adelaide, Mix 102.3 is the #1 station, followed by FiveAA, 891 ABC, Nova, 5MMM, hit107 & Cruise. And in Perth, Mix 94.5 is once again #1, whilst 96fm continues to lose listeners.
Looking at the two biggest markets…
Pretty flat or declines & boring 
2GB will be happy their slide stopped in Sydney.
3AW will be happy with increases for Breakfast with Ross & John and the Neil Mitchell morning program (dominate).
SmoothFM in Sydney had a 2% jump in afternoon to be #1 (ahead of AM radio).
FoxFM dropped. KISS 101.1 slight increase.
ABC was flat.
Was the ABC’s coverage of the Rio Olympics included in the survey or will it be in the next one? Most of the broadcast was in the mid morning which might affect ratings for morning programs such as Jon Faine on 774 Melbourne.
Looking at the Sydney ratings more closely:
- JJJ is #1 in 18-39s.
- WS outrates Smooth in the under-25s and is the #3 FM station in the 18-24s behind JJJ & Nova.
- Magic 2CH went up 1.3% to 7.2% in the 55-64s, placing themselves only 1.1% behind WS in that demographic.
- Smooth outrates Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa and 2MMM’s Grill Team in breakfast. Of the FM stations in breakfast, only Kyle & Jackie O rates higher than Smooth.
- Smooth is #1 in drive overall & is #2 in evenings behind 2GB.
Only the first week of the Olympics was covered during this survey.
Whoever writes the survey analysis for Radio Today should take more care. They say Smooth is number 2 in Sydney (true) and then further down say 702 is number 2.
Before anyone asks about the Brisbane ratings in order, here it is below:
- Nova 106.9: 14.4
- 97.3FM: 12.1
- hit105: 10.3
- 4MMM: 9.5
- 4KQ: 9.0
- 612ABC: 8.5
- 4JJJ: 8.2
- 4BC: 4.6
- Magic 882: 2.8
- ABCFM: 2.2
- 4RN: 2.2
- NewsRadio: 1.5
The “Other Stations” figure is 14.7%.
Good to see Ben Fordham in 2GB drive has picked up his game. He must have had quite a shock after the last survey. John and Garry in 2UE Breakfast have also seen a significant jump.
9% rating for 4kq an amazing result for an am station would the results be different for 4kq if smooth fm broadcasted on fm in Brisbane I think so Brisbane is lacking a real alternative adult fm station
KIIS will be happy in Melbourne, finally a jump in the shares, especially at breakfast.
Given 2Day’s only significant demographic is 10-17s one might assume their audience is all in school from 9am?
Meanwhile, Magic is now the lowest ranked commercial station in Melbourne (although RSN is not surveyed but I suspect it’s even lower). MRN’s cutbacks and networking have done it no favours. Magic 2CH has dropped slightly in Sydney and Magic 882 doing abysmally in Brisbane.
Former great radio station 4BH rating at 2.8 nothing magic about those results. Probably most listeners have gone to KQ Breeze or the great community station in Logan 101.1 FM
Smooth 95.3 is not only the #1 FM station in Sydney but #2 overall behind 2GB?! All I have to say is this…WOW! With a 9.6% share in Survey 5, I wonder if Smooth 95.3 just might be able to get double digit ratings in the next survey or two!
Also, it’s quite interesting how more Sydney radio listeners are listening to Smooth 95.3’s “More Music Breakfast Show” than Fitzy & Wippa on Nova, Jonesy & Amanda on WSFM or The Grill Team on Triple M - all three of which are infinitely more promoted and prolific than Smooth’s lower key program. Could this possibly be a sign that Sydneysiders are finally tiring of personality-driven breakfast shows and want to wake up with more music?
On the other end of the scale, there’s 2DayFM. Being beaten by all other commercial FM stations and Triple J is bad enough, but 92.9 ABC Classic FM outrating the station and Magic 2CH almost beating 2DayFM? Who would’ve thought that this might happen only three or four years ago?!
At least one promising sign for 2DayFM is that the breakfast ratings are up ever so slightly to 4.1%, surely enough to keep Rove & Sam on until at least the end of the year? Mind you, knowing the Smooth 95.3 breakfast ratings I kind of wonder if 2DayFM have at some point been tempted to run a lower key “More Hit Music at Breakfast” type show…
@Blondie73
Spot on . 4KQ does a great job but the ratings also highlight the gap in what the FM stations are offering for adult listeners in Brisbane.
Both FM104 and 97.3 could pick up a couple of % easily if they broadened their playlists and appeal just a little. FM104 in particular could top the ratings if they softened the rock a little and toned down the bogan.
Similarly, Smooth FM in Brisbane would throw a cat amongst the pigeons in a big way. IMHO both Perth and Brisbane are crying out for another FM station.
Memo to 96FM. Whatever you’re doing over there - stop doing it!
Here’s 96fm music log from over the past week (updated regularly): Free online radio stations – listen for free at OnlineRadioBox.com
As you can see, it’s not hard to understand why their ratings are way behind all the other commercial FM stations & JJJ. If I was to go to Perth soon, chances are I wouldn’t be listening to the commercial FM stations much and therefore just stick with 6iX, DAB-only & the Community stations. This is a fairly significant contrast to 4 years ago (when I was last time there), when 96fm was quite unique for a rock-skewed metro commercial FM station under Fairfax ownership, and was rating better back then too, ie. 10%+. Suffice to say, both 96fm & 6iX kept me entertained during my visit to Perth. 
I agree. The same could be said for Adelaide too.
What is with Perth and JJJ? It’s a fraction away from toppling 92.9.
[quote=“Brianc68, post:15, topic:1740, full:true”]
Memo to 96FM. Whatever you’re doing over there - stop doing it!
[/quote]My source at ARN tells me that 96FM is making significantly more money than they were when ARN took over, largely due to them targeting a younger audience.
Though they still have very low ratings in all demos below 40, so it that’s the case they must have some pretty stupid advertisers.
I think the more likely scenario is that ARN are more experienced in selling a music format, as opposed to Fairfax who have their success in Talk formats, meaning that their belief in their current format could be based on false belief.
LOL
Gold FM beat Triple J in a young demographic in Melbourne 
3AW has high ratings and a high average audience, but it’s audience figures are mostly boosted by a 65+ audience listening for extended periods. Almost half of their average audience is 65+. In the cumulative audience figures 3AW is seventh with 681,000, well behind the leader Fox on 1,087,000.