Major shakeups in Sydney and Melbourne breakfast ratings
Ben Fordham is back on top
After storming past 2GB’s Ben Fordham during the last survey to reclaim the Sydney breakfast crown for KIIS, Kyle and Jackie O have taken a 1.7 point tumble, dragging down the ARN station’s overall ratings in the process.
Kyle and Jackie O’s 1.7 point fall more than wiped out their 1.4% leap in the last ratings book. In turn, KIIS 106.5 has suffered the biggest overall drop of all stations in the Sydney radio market, slipping by 1.3 points to command 9.8% overall.
Smooth also fell — by 1.1% — but in a fractured radio market, 10.7% of the audience was enough for the station to top Sydney’s FM ratings for the third time in a row.
Over on the AM dial, 2GB has climbed 2.8 points to reach the top again. This comes after the Nine station dropped 2 points in Survey 4, and another 0.2% last survey, losing the overall lead (AM and FM) to Smooth during the last two survey books. With a commanding 14.2% of the Sydney radio market, and big falls from Smooth and KIIS, 2GB now stands a massive 3.5 points clear of the pack.
Leading the charge for 2GB is Ben Fordham, who gained 2.6 points after losing half a point last survey. He holds 16.8% of the breakfast listeners, compared to Kyle and Jackie O’s 13.6%.
Not that there’s any cause for major concern regarding Kyle and Jackie O. This marks the 54th straight survey the pair has won in FM breakfast, and considering how ineffective the ACMA’s constant wrist-slapping over content breaches has been, we can expect them to rule the FM roost for a while still.
Nova’s Sydney breakfast team Fitzy, Wippa, and Kate Ritchie was the biggest climber in FM, up a modest 1.1% — enough to see them move past both Bogart Torelli on Smooth and Gold 101.7’s Jonesy and Amanda (plus ABC Sydney’s Craig Reucassel on the AM band) to capture 8.6% of the audience, and to become the city’s #2 FM Breakfast show.
A big result – especially considering this happened in the same period that Wippa was jetting off to New York to harangue the UN on social media protections.
2GB has recaptured Sydney (click to enlarge)
Melbourne not so rosy
However, Nova’s gains in Sydney have been sharply undercut by audience share losses in Melbourne breakfast, with the top-rating team of Jase and Lauren slipping by 1.6 points in a tightly contested market, dropping from 10% to just 8.4%.
This marks the biggest drop for the pair since joining Nova in March 2024 and climbing to the top of the Melbourne brekky pile by August that same year.
It also follows an 0.8% point fall in the last survey, when they lost the FM breakfast lead to Gold’s Christian O’Connell. This time around, they have slipped to third in FM, with Fox’s Fifi, Fev and Nick enjoying a 0.5 point bump to sit at 9.5% in second.
O’Connell has retained the top FM spot in Melbourne breakfast for a second straight month. jumping 0.8 points this book.
With 10.9% of the breakfast audience — and with Jase and Lauren falling 2.4 points in the last book surveys — O’Connell sits a comfortable 1.4 points ahead of the breakfast pack – in FM, at least.
3AW hold over one-fifth of the breakfast audience (click to enlarge)
Overall, 3AW’s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft are well out ahead, with a massive 20.3% of the audience, climbing by 1.3% off the back of a 2.4 point jump in the last book.
And, to cycle back to Kyle and Jackie O: after finally thawing out the frosty Melbourne breakfast audiences last survey with a half-point jump, the show has slipped back again, albeit by 0.1%. They’ve also lost their symbolic victory over the “irreverent musings” of ABC Melbourne’s Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy, who clawed back 0.9 points to sit just above them at 6.4%.
It’s worth noting K and J’s 6% market share is still among its best performances since launching into Melbourne last April.
All signs point to an imminent launch into the Brisbane breakfast market, where the pair’s spray tans are sure to find a more receptive audience.
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