Sydney radio ratings: Smooth tops FM charts for first time as Hamish and Andy lift 2DayFM
SmoothFM has topped the FM ratings in Sydney for the first time with the Nova Entertainment station grabbing a total people audience share of 8.2 per cent on the back of strong growth over the ratings period.
Sydney radio ratings survey 5 2015 – Total people. Source: GfK
Despite only taking in half of the survey Hamish Blake and Andy Lee’s return to drive has led to another upswing for the Hit network across the board, with their drive show posting audience increases in all five metro markets.
On Sydney’s 2DayFM the duo – who returned to the drive show on July 6 during a ratings break – increased the show’s share by 2.7 per cent, from 3.8 in the last survey to 6.5 in the latest GfK rankings.
In Sydney 2DayFM got the second biggest audience lift after Smooth of 0.9 percentage points overall, with breakfast duo Dan Debuf and Maz Compton’s share rising 0.6 to a 3.9 share and shares up across all other timeslots except evenings.
Drive time radio ratings for Sydney: Survey 5, 2015. Source: GfK
The audience shares for all of Hamish and Andy’s major national show rivals in Sydney also dropped, with Nova’s Kate Ritchie, Marty Sheargold and Tim Blackwell still leading the way on 9.6 per cent, down from 10.1 per cent share in the last survey.
KiisFM’s Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, suffered the most falling 1.8 points to a 7.3 share, while Merrick Watts on TripleM went backwards by 0.6 to a 7 share.
In the FM breakfast battle Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s KiisFM show dropped 0.8 percentage points to 7.8, falling behind sister Australian Radio Network station WSFM’s Brendan ‘Jonesy’ Jones and Amanda Keller who topped the FM survey with a share of 8.4 per cent, down 0.2 on last time.
TripleM’s Grill Team were the hardest hit FM station down 1.4 points in breakfast to a 6.7 share, although it stayed ahead of Nova’s Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitgerald and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli who stayed static on a 6.3 per cent share.
Overall talkback station 2GB remained the dominant force in the market with a share of 13.2 per cent, up 0.4 on the previous survey, with breakfast king Alan Jones jumping 1.1points to 17.1 per cent.
In the total people figures SmoothFM made the biggest jump and became the most listened to FM station in the market, up 1 point to 8.2 per cent share, led by its breakfast show which was up 0.5 points to a 5.9 share, and its drive offering which leapt 1.4 to an 8.2 share.
After a good survey last time out Southern Cross Austereo’s TripleM was the biggest loser on this occasion falling back 1.4 in total people to a 6.5 share behind Smooth, WSFM (7.6 per cent), Kiis (7.2 per cent), Nova (6.6 per cent), but ahead of 2DayFM’s 4.4 per cent.
Sydney radio ratings survey 5 2015 – Mon-Fri share and breakfast. Source: GfK
Alex Hayes
Hamish and Andy are the most expensive second rated drive show after Kate, Tim and Marty
Hit should keep the champagne corks in the bottle as this result is well below what they expected. to celebrate a 4.4 share station is very silly
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@Alex why is your article talking about a station that rates a 4.4 share. That result is still grounds for binning the station. And to add the expense of Hamish and Andy and they are a long way behind Kate Tim and Marty is going to murder their financials
They should be very worried
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The real results are yet to come for Hamish & Andy. Only half of this result is attributed to their time on air… BIG things to come!
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There’s a little drive show on 2GB that finished way ahead of all the AM + FM stations but doesn’t even rate a mention in your article.
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Are radio listeners aged hipsters? SmoothFM has one of the most bland playlists on radio. Even Stardust on digital radio has a more lively playlist and that’s saying something.
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I don’t understand FM radio , they are music stations but they talk rubbish with blokey , macho accents , just shut up and play music ! The worry is that these listeners vote.
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So the commercial FM radio station that is the cheapest to run (no seven figure salaries or maybe even six figure salaries for the announcers) is now the No.1 radio station in Sydney.
It seems like it may just be the music that matters after all.
Who’d have guessed?
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Hi John, I recognise your post from another website. As I said on that post as well – H&A’s result was based on only half a survey.
For fun, how about you double their results and ask yourself “are you not entertained”. In a few surveys time they will be so far ahead it wont be funny and all the other shows on Hit will see the benefit of that!
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So how many listeners does 1% share equate to in Sydney?
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@Radiophile … Grown ups are tired of shock jocks telling them what to think and have no time for smarty twenty somethings telling poo jokes. Yes, the music on Smooth is bland but not everyone wants some know-all gibberering the same old same old in their ear day after day. The truth is radio in Sydney is boring in the extreme. With music, no one plays anything outside their narrow little demographic – oldies, pop, rock, dance – in case someone somewhere might wake from their slumber and dare to change the station. With talk, it’s the same old ranters on commercial stations and PC luvies on the ABC. What about the Mark Latham drive show? C’mon someone take a chance. He might say anything at any time about anyone and be off the air within a week, but at least it wouldn’t be boring.
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Well done to Kate Tim and Marty. Of the Nova/KIIS/MMM drive shows they would surely attract the most similar audience to Hamish & Andy and therefore have the most to lose, but dropped the least.
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@zumabeach I like it , Mark Latham Drive Show , more like crash and burn with loose canon “Listener Mark”. a 2GB fan. Can we have the Latham , Price and Bolt show with Mark translating for the south western listeners. I think even Voltaire might object to somethings Mark says.
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Drive numbers shown against all FM / AM drive shows aren’t entirely true – most of the shows run from 4-6 or 3-6. If someone could run the numbers against that timeslot then that would give a truer picture.
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Considering the reported $ Hamish and Andy are being paid for 4 months work there is a long way to go in rebuilding that former mega brand 2 day. Drive band aids with H and A but what about breakfast and all the other sessions.?
Craig Bruce has presided over the parlous state of ratings across the group and yet postings about the exit lounge last week, contributors were glowing about what a brilliant programmer he was?
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@ Dmans5 … The Latham drive show could be spruiked as “Big Marky’s Demolition Derby … get some crash, bang, wallop into your drive home.” Drivers would be running off the road in fits of laughter, outrage and everything between. It might only last a week before he was pulled off air, but it would never be dull – like the snoozefest that is Sydney drive radio now. But no Price and Dolt – sorry, Bolt – thanks … everyone knows exactly what they’ll say again, again and again …
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‘Shock jocks’ eh? Australia has no shock jocks. It has broadcasters that cater to the conservative side of the political spectrum, which the Left have labelled ‘shock jocks’. But I guess if Latham came on board, he could be labelled a ‘shock jock’.
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@4 and Jim Ball would`ve had even higher ratings than you if he were picked!
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