Metro Radio Ratings: Survey 7, 2020

DAB+ ratings: http://www.radioalive.com.au/RA/media/General/Documents/Surveys%20for%20DAB/GfK_DAB-Only-Summary-Report-National_Survey-7-2020.pdf?ext=.pdf

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Massive results for 3AW as the headline suggests. 2GB looks steady but 4BC is still a lost cause even with local shifts.

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Impressive ratings for 3AW during the survey period, which coincided with stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne. It made huge gains across the week, in people 10+, and in all timeslots (even during evenings with Denis Walter).
ABC Melbourne lost ground in all timeslots.
Most FM breakfast shows had small increases from last survey apart from Hot Breakfast on Triple M. Gold was on top in breakfast and second in drive, 0.1% behind Triple M.

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In Sydney, 2GB remains at #1 with a 13.7% share, down 0.5% from the previous survey, whilst Smooth is 2nd with a 10.8% share, up 0.9%. This is followed by KIIS at 8.7%, ABC Sydney at 8.3% & WSFM at 8.1%, whilst Nova fell to 6.1%, followed by 2MMM at 5.4%. 2CH (now SEN) went up 0.2% to 5%, outrating 2Day at 3.4%, whilst 2UE remained rather steady at 0.7%.

In Melbourne, 3AW soared to 20.6%, up 3.7% from the previous survey, followed by ABC Melbourne at 12%. Of the FM stations, Gold is #1 with 8.9%, followed by Smooth at 6.5%, 3MMM at 6.2%, Nova at 5.6%, Fox at 5.2%, JJJ at 4.5% & KIIS at 4.4%. Magic went up 0.3% to 1.2%.

In Brisbane, Nova remains at #1 with 11.9%, followed by B105 at 10.5%, 4MMM at 10.1%, 4BC at 9.5% (up 2.4%) & 97.3FM at 9.3%. This is then followed by ABC Brisbane at 7.4%, 4KQ at 7.1% & JJJ at 6.1%. 4BH fell 0.5% to 1.1%.

In Adelaide, Mix 102.3 remains at #1 with 13.4%, followed by FiveAA at 11%, Nova at 10.8% & Cruise at 10.5%. The AM music station outrated both 5MMM & SAFM.

And in Perth, 96fm has gone to #1 with a 13.2% share, followed by Nova at 12.5% & Mix 94.5 at 3rd place with 12%. Hit 92.9 remained steady at 8.7%, beaten by JJJ, who went up 1% to 9.3%. 6PR remained steady at 8.6%, whilst 6iX fell 0.8% to 4.5%.

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First time any station in Melbourne has topped the 20 share mark since S2/1976 (3XY)

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4BC a lost cause? It’s beating 97.3. Wasn’t that a powerhouse 1-2 years ago?

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Wrong wording on my behalf. Should’ve been ‘still a fair way to go to get to the top’.

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I reckon they should be looking positive. They have done brilliantly so far. Nine have shown commitment to the station and it can only go up from now I’m thinking.

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Well done SEN :slight_smile:. What a shame! I wonder if 2day FM decided to become like 2CH could it get to 5%. I know it won’t happen because of the way the hit network is designed but one can imagine. If on FM I think it may potentially nudge higher in the ratings.

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Sydney’s Triple M now have their highest rating age group as 55 - 64 year olds - where it has a 9.4% share of the market.

Triple M’s original positioner in 1980 was “Because Your Ears Have Brains”

In 2020 they could easily reposition as “Because Your Ears Have Hearing Aids”

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Here’s the overall ratings in ranking order for Sydney & Brisbane.

Sydney

#1: 2GB: 13.7
#2: Smooth: 10.8
#3: KIIS: 8.7
#4: ABC Sydney: 8.3
#5: WSFM: 8.1
#6: Nova: 6.1
#7: 2MMM: 5.4
#8: 2JJJ: 5.2
#9: 2CH: 5.0
#10: ABC Classic: 4.5
#11: 2Day: 3.4
#12: 2RN: 2.5
#13: ABC Newsradio: 1.8
#14: 2UE: 0.7
#15: Sky Sports Radio: 0.6

Brisbane

#1: Nova: 11.9
#2: B105: 10.5
#3: 4MMM: 10.1
#4: 4BC: 9.5
#5: 97.3: 9.3
#6: ABC Brisbane: 7.4
#7: 4KQ: 7.1
#8: 4JJJ: 6.1
#9: ABC Classic: 3.5
#10: 4RN: 2.6
#11: ABC Newsradio: 1.6
#12: 4BH: 1.1

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Very interesting. They’re rating only 1.4% behind WS in that age group, with Smooth the dominant FM station with 13%, in which they’re only 1.2% behind 2GB.

2MMM apparently now plays slightly more 60s/70s rock than WS does these days.

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Other notes:
SYDNEY
Smooth’s 10.8 is its 2nd highest share ever (11.3 being its best in S3/2017)

PERTH
96FM scores its first #1 since S6/2013

And classical makes for good comfort listening - Classic has its best showing in Sydney since S4/2009 and since S7/2003 in Brisbane.

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The music strategy for the Hit network is clearly not working, I cannot understand how they could think applying the 2day fm music format across all their Hit stations would be a good idea.
Look at the share for the Fox in Melbourne.
Obviously COVID has also had an impact on listening patterns during their lockdown too.
The only Hit station that is competitive is B105.

Nova 96.9 daytime figures, getting beaten by the station formally known as 2CH in mornings!!!
Drive is starting to feel the effects of the departure of Marty.
The full extent of Marty leaving will be felt in the final survey of this year.

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I think in Melbourne Fox, KIIS and Nova are not distinctive enough to carve out a consistent audience. All 3 are too similar and are also targeting a younger audience that is actually diminishing.

In the other areas of the building for all 3 networks is their older skewing sister stations which actually do remarkably well with 3 well defined different formats (Smooth, Gold and Triple M). Triple M’s Rock’s Greatest Hits format has now gone regional too so the brand is finally unified and it’s doing well.

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They haven’t even rolled the new music format out in Perth, so what’s their excuse for that?

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I guess if the rumour mill is correct 92.9 will become Triple M, and Mix will join the Hit network.

There is similar speculation in the Canberra market that 104.7 will become Triple M and Mix will align with the Hit network, or become a KIIS station. Will have to wait and see.

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This should be a wake up call for 97.3. FM stations in Brisbane don’t get beaten by talk stations. 97.3 isn’t resonating at all it seems and is slipping behind the other FM’s and now being beaten by 4BC.

It’s probably a good time to re-launch 92.9 in Perth as Triple M while it’s this low - rebuild from there.

I don’t think the FM’s should read too much into the Melbourne results, far to skewed by Covid there to make any conclusions.

ARN kicking goals in Adelaide with both Mix and Cruise. The real issue for ARN at the moment is 97.3 in Brisbane.

2CH - what a waste. It was finally getting there and they killed it.

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I think they should go for a goldie oldies format, older than WSFM even Smooth…

But it won’t happen at the moment anyway. I guess Triple M is getting older… I do believe a 2CA/2CH/4KQ would work very well on FM. The old theory you need to go younger when one converts to FM is no longer necessarily true. For oldies station I don’t think you need to cut out new music totally in my view. Old people are allowed to sample new music :slight_smile:.

I would have consider talking to SEN and seeing if they can “use” the 2CH brand on 104.1 FM. Maybe it would of involved “money” to do that and would SEN agree to it not sure… Instead of the plain “hits” network it would be the “classic hits” network.

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And like that, 2Day’s 3.5 share splinters to KIIS, WSFM and Nova sending the station even further backwards.

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