Sydney radio ratings: Smoothfm grows but still trails commercial FM pack
Smoothfm: grew to 4.8% share
After its first full ratings survey, dmg’s Smoothfm has seen the biggest jump in the radio ratings from Monday to Sunday.
The new easy listening channel has risen from 4.1% to 4.8% from Monday to Sunday.
The jump puts the network even with Australian Radio Network’s Mix106.5, which dropped to 4.8% from 5.2% to see the two networks share the commercial FM wooden spoon.
Paul Jackson, dmg’s group program director told Mumbrella: “The station didn’t exist 10 weeks ago. To capture that sort of attention and bring in 100,000 listeners in cumulative listenership in Sydney, it’s a sensational result.”
The new channel also saw a big jump 18-24 demographic, up 3.3 percentage points from 4.3% to 7.6%.
Jackson said: “Going back to the start we said the audience would come from across the board. We’re playing a superb selection of music, from Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars to music with older appeal. We have appeal right across the board. The older you go with listeners the longer it takes to get them to change the dial.”
The network’s More Music Drive Show, hosted by Byron Webb also saw a jump from 4.9% to 6.0%. The biggest increase in drive across the Sydney market.
In the battle for breakfast, WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda couldn’t beat 2Day FM’s Kyle and Jackie O. The 2Day hosts increased from 10.5% to 10.6% while the Classic Hits hosts took a hit from 9.7% to 9.2%.
It’s a big gap to third place in the commercial FM market where Triple M’s The Grill Team stays in third place on 5.7% down slightly from 5.8%, while Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa are in fourth on 5.4%, down from 5.6%.
The positions set the tone for drive-time where 2Day’s Fifi and Jules maintain top spot, followed by WSFM’s Rob Duckworth, who hangs on to second despite a drop from 8.2% to 7.8%.
Nova’s Mishel, Tim and Marty, static on 7.5%, rounds out the top three as Smoothfm’s Byron Webb pushes ahead of Triple M’s Merrick and the Highway Patrol on 5.5% up from 5.0%.
2GB’s The Alan Jones Breakfast Show remained on top with 18.5%, static on last survey. Likewise, the network maintains its Monday to Sunday dominance, up from 14.9% to 15.2%.
Sydney’s Monday to Sunday ratings:
Sydney’s Monday to Friday ratings:
Given this is the first survey for smooth, they should be happy with how well the station launch has cut through. They have had really solid audience gains which is a good sign there is interest in the station. Now they just need to convert and they should see some solid numbers in the future
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More and more taxi’s I get into have this playing nowadays, which is a welcome change to the crap I usually hear on talk back radio shows while in a cab
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I absolutely love Smooth. It’s on in my car all the time.
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Our office has a smoothfm karaoke comp running. Almost every song that comes on, someone performs to. We LOVE it. Go smooth!!!!
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Ive made the change to smooth FM love it,i tune at 12 Noon till i switch off great music.Mornings i listen to Kyle & Jackie O and to Lawsie and then i ease away to smooth.
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I made the switch to smooth as well, happy they are going well. I think the biggest plus (besides the music) is the limited number of ads and announcers talking for no reason. It is a good formula.
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I am personally responsible for the smoothfm result. I think I’ve told everyone I know to listen to smooth. The best station in Sydney by a long way
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I wonder if 2GB Olympics coverage is in these figures
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IP check please Tim?
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It must be said Kyle just keeps growing. The power of a powerful and skilled broadcaster. Love or hate him, Sydney listens to him. That’s where the clients need to return too. Its no longer a case of damaging the clients brand because they’re on the show, its a case of damaging their product if they are not.
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Do the surveys cover commercial premises or just individual households? A lot of the places I go to are now playing Smooth FM – my doctor and hairdresser have switched to it, so has a local cafe. It’s a pretty ‘safe bet’ for music that most people can listen and not find too loud or offensive, let’s face is, Smooth FM could be the new 2CH!
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Wow, Bill has been busy. Looks like he made the exact same comment about Smooth FM on Radio Today’s website only 8 minutes before commenting here.
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Things have changed in radioland when a boss is happy with a low (but increasing) rating after the launch of a new format. In 1976 2GB relaunched itself as a rock music station to compete with 2SM and 2JJ (no FM back then). After just two surveys following the relaunch 2GB bosses scrapped the format, sacked over 50 people and went back to its old format.
It is good to see that radio bosses now acknowledge that Rome wasn’t built in a day and are willing to wait for a new format to bed down before taking any further action.
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