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Radio ratings – Melbourne: FoxFM most popular FM station as Triple M Breakfast holds onto FM breakfast crown

Melbourne total people share Mon-Sun. Source: GfK (click to enlarge)

Melbourne total people share Mon-Sun. Source: GfK (click to enlarge)

FoxFM has claimed the most listened to FM Melbourne station title from sister station TripleM and the Australian Radio Network’s Gold, which tied for first place in the last ratings period.

The Southern Cross Austereo owned station boosted its Monday to Sunday audience share by 0.6 points to sit on a total share of 7.8 per cent, ahead of Triple M’s steady 7.6 per cent and Gold’s 7.2 per cent, according to numbers from GfK.

FoxFM’s breakfast team continue to perform well, boosting its audience share from 7 per cent to 8 per cent to sneak into second place as Triple M’s breakfast team of Eddie McGuire, Mick Molloy and Luke Darcy held onto its FM breakfast crown in Melbourne after reclaiming it in the last ratings period. SCA’s head of content Craig Bruce hailed the result as the network’s best “in years” in the city.

Mix 101.1’s Breakfast with Chrissie and Jane fell into third place after an audience decline of 0.6 share points to a share of 6.7 per cent. The ARN station experienced audience declines across all its timeslots, with its morning and afternoon programming of Jess Capolupo and the 3PM Pickup faring the worst, posting declines of 1.1 share points and 1.4 share points respectively. The station had a Monday to Sunday audience share of 6.2 per cent, the biggest drop of any commercial station in Melbourne.

Fairfax’s 3AW was the most listened-to station in Melbourne with a Monday to Sunday audience share of 13.9 per cent, up 1.1 on last survey, with ABC774 down 1.4 points but still second overall with a share of 11.7.

In drive, FoxFM’s drive show with Dan and Maz has closed the gap on Nova Entertainment’s national syndicated program with Kate, Tim and Marty, with the two stations tying with an audience share of 9.3 per cent. The tie is a result of FoxFM boosting its audience by 0.4 share points while Nova’s audience declined by 0.1 share points.

There is a healthy gap between FoxFM, Nova and Triple M which posted an audience share of of 7.3 per cent for its drive time lineup, which includes Rush Hour from 3 to 5pm and The One Percenters with Matt Tilley and Joe Hildebrand from 4 to 6pm. Its audience declined by 0.3 share points.

Melbourne radio ratings: Mon-Fri share and Breakfast (click to enlarge)

Melbourne radio ratings: Mon-Fri share and Breakfast (click to enlarge)

Mix101.1′s national syndicated show with Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross saw its audience decline by 0.9 share points to sit on a share of 6.3 per cent.

In the AM market, the battle continues between 3AW and ABC774 with 3AW reclaiming the top position in the Monday to Sunday share. 3AW posted an audience share of 13.9 per cent, an audience increase of 1.1 share points while the ABC saw its audience decline from 13.1 per cent to 11.7 per cent.

3AW’s breakfast team Ross and John also reclaimed their breakfast crown, grabbing an audience share of 18.6 per cent, an increase of 2 share points on the last ratings period. ABC774’s Red Symons saw his audience decline by 2.8 share points to sit a on total share of 14.4 per cent.

In the drive timeslot, 3AW was victorious once again boosting its audience share by 1.1 share points to 11.4 per cent while ABC774’s audience decreased by 0.5 share points to a share of 10.1 per cent.

ARN’s national content director Duncan Campbell admitted he was “disappointed” with the network’s performance in Melbourne, but added the market is “a real focus for the rest of the year”.

“Looking at 2015 we will make the changes necessary to make sure we perform better in that market,” he said. “It’s in flux and whiule we’re stalling there we remain competitive there.”

Nova’s group programming director Paul Jackson admitted it was “steady as she goes” in the market for the group’s SmoothFm and Nova offerings, with the stations gaining and dropping 0.1 points in overall share between them, adding there were no plans to change the lineups or make major marketing pushes going into 2015.

Miranda Ward

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