Radio Ratings: Sydney – 2UE and MixFM slip further, 2GB and 2DayFM on top
Sydney Monday to Sunday share survey 8 2013| Source: Nielsen
Fairfax Radio 2UE’s share slipped further on Monday to Friday ratings according to the latest figures from Nielsen to 3.2 rating points, losing more ground to rivals 2GB which celebrates its tenth consecutive year at number one in Sydney climbing to 14.4 per cent of the available audience.
It remains the lowest rating commercial radio station with the drive show slipping a further 0.7 points after the sacking of Jason Morrison in the middle of the survey, and evenings slipping further losing 2.6 points, its biggest drop in the survey.
In a statement Fairfax Radio said the station will undergo significant changes to its line-up in 2014, with national content director Clark Forbes saying: “The changes to 2UE will reveal a new and reinvigorated station that better reflects our influential and informed audience.
“We’d like to thank outgoing presenters Paul Murray and Jason Morrison from the Morning and Drive programs and wish them well in the future. We’re preparing for a big year for 2UE in 2014.”
Sami Lukis and Yumi Stynes bowed out of MixFMs breakfast show losing 0.9 per cent giving them just a 3.3 per cent audience share, making it the lowest rating commercial breakfast show. Overall Mix recorded a 0.7 drop to 4.9 per cent share, with the only show to record positive growth being Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross’s drive show.
Next year parent company Australian Radio Network (ARN) is set to relaunch the station as Kiis 1065 with 2Day’s former hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson, who recorded a 0.8 per cent drop to a still-dominant 10.4 per cent share, taking the reins from January 20.
ARN program director Duncan Campbell said he was not concerned by the fall at Mix, adding: “It highlights why we were so keen to pursue Kyle and Jackie O when the opportunity presented itself. It will help us incredibly to have such a strong breakfast show, which finished on a ten share on 2Day, and a lot of research we have done says a lot of that audience will follow them over.”
ARN’s other station WSFM was one of only two commercial FM stations to gain share with a 0.2 per cent rise, picking up 0.7 per cent in the drive slot with Rob Duckworth and 0.8 for its evening schedule.
The growth of DMG’s SmoothFM has finally come to a halt with the station losing 0.9, slipping to 6.5 per cent share in Monday to Friday leaving it level with ABC’s Triple J, and just 0.2 ahead of WSFM.
It lost 0.9 per cent for breakfast with Bogart Torelli and two share points for drive with Byron Webb.
Its stablemate Nova finished the year as the second FM station with 7.6 per cent share, with stable numbers across all time slots apart from evenings which dropped 1.8 per cent share.
DMG group program director Paul Jackson said the industry is entering its biggest transition in many years, and backed the stable breakfast duo of Fitzy and Wippa on Nova to shine, with changes at 2DayFM and MixFM rebranding and refocusing its music mix.
“We’re about to enter a huge period of change with Mix becoming Kiis and WSFM apparently softening and chasing down Smooth, which it is already behind, and huge changes on 2DayFM,” he added. He also pointed to the end of Adam Spencer’s popular breakfast show on ABC702 which finished with a 13.5 per cent share as an opportunity for Smooth to build audience.
Southern Cross Austereo will be hoping to build with a new lineup for 2DayFM, which lost 1.2 per cent share finishing the year on 8.7 per cent, 1.1 per cent ahead of nearest rivals Nova and the top FM station overall. The breakfast show retained its top title, despite a 0.8 per cent share drop, the lowest drop of any of the station’s shows with evenings hardest hit,losing 1.7 per cent share.
SCA’s other station Triple M had the biggest gain of all FM stations up 0.4 to 5.7.
Sydney Monday to Friday share Survey 8 2013 | Source: Nielsen
A couple of years ago I got a new car radio so I cold plug my ipod in and listen to podcasts or music. I assume a lot of other people do the same. What percentage of people filling in the ratings books don’t listen to any radio anymore?or do they not get given the books?
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2UE. When will they start sacking the managers making the bad decisions.
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Lowest 2ue rating in history and the management survives??
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Hey Billy C, if you’re a “non listener” you still get a book. Its really common for people to say “I didn’t think I listened to the radio but….” when the books are returned.
Only around 7/8% get through a full week without listening to some radio. (even with the ipod in the car, when I have passengers there is the inevitable disagreement about what to listen to, then the “just turn on the radio for a while” conversation. Which I imagine is pretty common… especially for sports updates/games.
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Dmg’s Paul Jackson just showed his ignorance of the aust market if he really thinks that smooth will gain more listeners from abc702 due to Adam spencer leaving…abc listeners don’t change stations due to announcers leaving…they will whinge but will never go commercial. [Edited by Mumbrella]
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Will Kiis Breakfast just churn out the same old stuff from yesteryear or will they dare to be different? Either way Radio will eventually go the same way as TV, whichever way you spin it!
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2UE’s management might learn from the mistake that the departure of Paul and Jason may correct: that being a Mini-me 2GB (ie rightwing rants lifted from the Australian) is a niche market that 2GB fills quite adequately.
A bit of genuine talk-back – you know, where the host is knowledgeable but puts callers to the test with some devil’s advocate questions makes entertaining and informative listening. Maybe training from John Laws might help.
Oh and do some work towards credible journalism beyond (and indeed even IN the news bulletins)
After all you are part of a company that puts Independent Always on its mastheads – and you are serving a population that is revealing some disenchantment with the government they put in power only a few weeks ago.
And that’s going to be something for even 2GB and its song-sheet The Australian to consider carefully.
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If 2UE stopped trying to imitate 2GB and actually hired some presenters who are more to the left of politics, it might help them increase their ratings.
KISSFM surely will have a more contemporary sound in the New Year – I could not imagine Kyle and Jackie O moving to a “Best of the 70s & 80” station.
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@PB Kiis will likely play the same songs Kyle & Jackie O played on 2DayFM – disposable, generic Top 40 fare, nothing too cerebral.
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2UE should have Paul Murray at Breakfast -Sarah and Dicko aren’t the right style of presenter for that time.-better say 12-3pm
Jason Morrison -9-12 -but hold on -he’s been sacked
Bring back John Pearce( oops-he’s dead), John Laws(oops-almost dead)
Mike Carlton?(to spit his vile at Alan Jones)
Bring Back Gary O’Callaghan(he’s still alive)
Alan Jones is wonderful- I love his Spirit!!
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How about stopping changing all the time 2UE? It took Alan Jones 6yrs to reach the top and the old 2UE left him there because they believed in him. Don’t believe me? I was there and it was a long hard ride but we all knew he had a chance at the top. 2UE has had 8 breakfast shows in 12yrs since Jones left and 7 general managers as well. Coincidence?? Changing things to look busy. Management is 2UE’s problem and its ticket to success. They’ve just had bad after bad.
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Why do the management survive? Another appalling year. We’ll get ‘another fresh new line up’ no doubt.
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It may be a disappointing result but it could be the one 2ue had to have.It will bring about a change in direction and format.In time 2UE will be its own identity and character.They tried to play 2GB at their own game but came off second best.Now for something different.
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I agree with the comments by Murray – UE keep changing presenters moving them to different time slots let announcers gather a following before changing things up – a ratings improvement is never immediate. Time for management to be made responsible for the decisions its making. You have just lost 2 credible announcers and the latest ratings have shown that was a mistake. John has a good suggestion time you started listening to the people, but when did we matter!!!!
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