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Radio Ratings: 2DayFM hits new low; Melbourne market settles down; Mix dominates Adelaide; Shock jock growth stalls in Brisbane

Here is Mumbrella’s wrap of the movers and shakers in the second to last radio survey of the year across the five metropolitan markets.

Hamish & Andy

Hamish & Andy

In Sydney 2DayFM slumped to its lowest total people share yet dropping 0.5 percentage points to 3.5 per cent, behind AM music station 2CH.

In their final survey in the breakfast slot Dan Debuf and Maz Compton slipped back to just a 2.9 per cent share, also behind 2CH’s breakfast shift and bottom of the commercial FM pile. Rove McManus and Sam Frost took over from the pair this week.

Worryingly for the Southern Cross Austereo network star signings Hamish Blake and Andy Lee also saw a 1.2 per cent share fall in drive, falling to 5.6 per cent, fifth out of the six commercial FM stations for the slot in only their second full survey back on the airwaves.

Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty were the main beneficiaries jumping 1.1 points to 10.5 per cent share to maintain top spot in drive, while KiisFM’s Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek made further gains jumping 0.8 points to a 9.1 share in second.

Only Merrick Watts on sister SCA station TripleM was lower than Hamish and Andy. Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson reclaimed top spot in FM breakfast for KiisFM leapfrogging sister Australian Radio Network station WSFM’s Brendan ‘Jonesy’ Jones and Amanda Keller after gaining 0.6 points to an 8.9 per cent share.

In AM Alan Jones was top of the pile for breakfast again, but will be looking over his shoulder after dropping 1.3 points to 13.8 per cent share, while ABC702 with Robbie Buck climbed 1.7 points to a 12 share. ABC702’s drive show also leapfrogged 2GB’s gaining 1.5 points to 12.2 share with 2GB dropping 1.1 points to a share of 9 per cent.

Kiis climbed back to the top for overall share in the FM market ahead of WSFM after gaining 0.2 points to 7.7 per cent, leapfrogging Nova station SmoothFM which fell back after a record share of 8.2 per cent in the last survey to 7.4 per cent.

Nova itself climbed 0.5 points to 7.2 per cent, while TripleM was fifth on a flat 6 per cent share, just ahead of sister station 2DayFM.2GB remains top overall despite dropping 0.8 per cent share to 12 per cent, with ABC702 in second with 10.3 per cent, up 1.4 on the last survey.

Sydney Mon-Fri and breakfast shares, survey 7 2-15. Source: GfK

Sydney Mon-Fri and breakfast shares, survey 7 2-15. Source: GfK

TripleM's Hot Breakfast

TripleM’s Hot Breakfast

After a major reshuffle in the last survey Melbourne’s FM rankings settled down with FoxFM increasing its lead in top of the total people, despite a slight slip from Hamish and Andy in the drive slot.

With the Melbourne breakfast market set to see a host of new faces next year TripleM’s Hot Breakfast trio of Eddie McGuire, Luke Darcy and Mick Molloy gained 0.4 points, coinciding with finals season, to take a share of 9.3 per cent and top FM spot.

KiisFM’s outgoing pairing of Jane Hall and Matt Tilley (Hall will be replaced by Meshel Laurie from January) lost 0.5 points to remain bottom of the FM pile with 5.2 per cent. Laurie’s Nova breakfast show with Tommy Little stayed stable at 6.4 per cent, joint third with SmoothFM. Nova will have Chrissie Swan, Jonathan Brown and Sam Pang from January.

FoxFM is replacing anchor Dan Anstey with SeaFM’s Byron Cooke, although the Fifi Box and Dave Thornton show gained 0.4 points to 7.9 per cent in the survey in second.

Merrick Watts

Merrick Watts

TripleM’s drive host Merrick Watts also enjoyed a major spike lifting 1.4 points to 8.2 per cent to leapfrog Gold and KiisFM into third spot. Kiis’ Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek slipped to fourth losing 0.2 points with a 7.7 per cent share, while Gold lost 0.3 points to take a 7.6 share in fifth. Hamish and Andy remained top of the tree in their home town with 12.6 per cent share.

Perennial leaders 3AW topped the market share overall with 14.5 per cent, and a whopping 20.3 per cent in breakfast, up 1.9 points on last survey, as closest rivals ABC774 slipped 0.8 points to 12.8 per cent in breakfast.

FoxFM was the top FM station in total people with 9.4 per cent, ahead of Gold’s 8.3 per cent with SmoothFM in third with 8.1 per cent.

Melbourne Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7, 2015. Source: GfK

Melbourne Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7, 2015. Source: GfK

Hamish and Andy are now the top rated drive show in Brisbane recording a 14.0 per cent share in latest ratings survey and helping Hit105.3 rapidly close the gap on rival Nova106.9 in the market.

The jump in HitFM’s result came despite drive rivals KiisFM’s Hughesy and Kate remaining stable with 13.5 share and Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty also recording a rise with a 13.3 share up 0.9 points.

Hit105.3FM’s rise came on the back of strong boosts in mornings (up 1.3 per cent), afternoons (up 1.9 per cent) and drive (up 1.0 per cent) Hit105.3 lifted 1.1 share points from a 9.8 share to 10.9 putting it within striking distance of second placed Nova106.9 on 11.3 in people 10+.

Commercial market leader ARN’s 97.3FM retained its lead in the market with a 13.8 per cent share up 1.3 per cent on last survey, where it reclaimed the crown.

This result came in a market where ABC breakfast host Spencer Howson built on his lead in recording a 15.5 point share up 1.5 points. 97.3FM’s breakfast hosts Robin Bailey, Terry Hansen and Bob Gallagher also built their audience with up 0.6 per cent to 13.1 building their lead on Nova’s Kip Wightman and David Lutteral ‘Kip & Luttsy’ who claimed the title back in August and recorded a 10.7 share this survey, down 0.7.

Over on talk station 4BC the growth seen earlier this year from networking Sydney shock jocks Alan Jones and Ray Hadley appears to have stalled, with the station recording a 5.3 share, down 0.6. Jones in breakfast was up 0.2 to 6.5, Hadley’s mornings slipped 1.2 to 6.8, while afternoons with Clare Blake was down 1.0 to 3.3 and in drive Ben Davis was down 0.4 points to 3.8.  

Brisbane Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7 2015

Adelaide Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7 2015. Source: GfK

The sugar hit that was the arrival of Hamish and Andy in the drive Adelaide drive slot for Hit107 appears to still be working as the pair continued to gain a drive audience adding 0.4 points to move to a share of 11.7 per cent. jodie-and-soda-feature-image

That helped them gain on Nova91.9 with syndicated team of Kate, Tim and Marty, which slipped 0.4 points to 12.3 and drive leader Mix102.3 with Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek which lost 0.6 to finish on 15.3.

The Mix Breakfast team of Jodie and Soda held the top spot, despite losing 0.8 points to finish with 14.5, comfortably ahead of Nova which was up 0.3 points with a 9.8 per cent share.

Overall Kiis Network’s Mix held its comfortable lead on Nova with a share of 14.7, down by 0.5 points, while Nova maintained a narrow gap on Hit, dropping 0.4 points to a 10.1 share, as Hit lost 0.3 to record a 9.0 share.

Hit was also overtaken by 5MMM, which gained 0.3 points to sneak in with 9.1On the AM brand ABC891 gained one point to finish with 14.5 in drive, ahead of FiveAA which lost 0.6 in the slot to record a 12.6 share.

Overall the ABC’s share of 10.3 (up 0.2) leapfrogged FiveAA which lost 1.6 points to drop to 9.9.

Adelaide Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7 2015. Source: GfK

Adelaide Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7 2015. Source: GfK

96fm kiis

The first survey since Perth’s 96FM rebranded under the Kiis banner saw the station drop 1.4 points to record a share of 8 per cent and remain at the bottom of the FM heap.

Survey 7 saw Mix94.5 remain comfortably on top, increasing its share from 14.3 to 15.2. Nova 93.7 declined marginally, down from 12.1 to 11.9. Hit 92.9 was also hit hard as its Monday to Sunday share shed 1.3 points to 9.7.

In drive the Nova93.7 team of Nathan, Nat and Shaun extended their lead with a rise of 0.5 to 14.0 points.

This was against a drop of 0.2 points to 13 per cent share for the Mix duo of Clairsy and Kimba. The bad news for 96FM continued in the breakfast slot, with Carmen and Fitzy shedding 1.6 points to 7.8 per cent. ABC station TripleJ enjoyed a big rise, up 1.8 points to 11.5 in breakfast.

A drop of 0.9 in drive to 15.4 by Nova allowed Mix to claw its way closer as it charted a 15 share on a rise of 0.4. Mix also grabbed second spot in drive as Hit92.9 lost 1.8 points to fall back to a share of 13.6

In the battle of the AM stations ABC720 maintained its lead on 6PR, despite losing 0.1 points to a share of 9.0 per cent as 6PR gained 0.3 to finish with a Monday to Sunday share of 8.7 per cent.

Perth Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7 2015. Source: GfK

Perth Mon-Fri and breakfast share, survey 7 2015. Source: GfK

Alex Hayes, Nic Christensen, Simon Canning

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