Radio ratings: Rove & Sam stagnate in Sydney; Gold tops FM in Melbourne; Howson down in Brisbane; Mix tops drive in Perth
Rove McManus and Sam Frost’s breakfast show has failed to make an impact for Southern Cross Austereo’s 2DayFM with the show’s audience share remaining stagnant at 3%, still bottom among its FM rivals despite a huge marketing push at the start of the year.
Rove and Sam failed to grow audiences despite a huge marketing push
However, 2DayFM did manage to find significant audience gains across some of its weekday daytime shows, including a 2.6% point leap for mornings and 2% share jump for the afternoon slot, while Hamish Blake and Andy Lee’s drive show managed a 0.1% jump, with the station up 0.7% for total people to a 4% share.
Alan Jones remains the dominant breakfast force with the 2GB announcer climbing 0.8% to 16%, while Ray Hadley dropped a massive 4.4% share points falling to 14.1% as the talkback station slipped to 11.6% share among people 10+, down 1.2 points on the last survey.
KiisFM is closing the gap on 2GB climbing 0.9 points to a 9.7% total people share, thanks largely to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s breakfast show managing a significant 2.4% share jump to 12.5%.
Sydney ratings
TripleM’s Grill team jumped to second place, up 0.4% to 7.2% share, ahead of WSFM duo Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller who lost 0.1% share to start the year on 7.1%.
Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa slipped backwards 0.6 points to a share of 6.5% while sister station SmoothFM saw a 0.9 point rise in breakfast to a share of 5.6%.
Sydney radio ratings survey 1 2016: Total people share. Source: GfK
Smooth enjoyed big gains across the spectrum, growing its overall share to 8.6% coming second in the FM market behind Kiis, while TripleM moved into third place with a 1 point leap to 7.1%, with the Southern Cross Austereo station overhauling Nova and WSFM.
In the drive-time slot Kiis’ Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek took the crown, climbing 2.3 points to an 11.6% share for the most listened to drive show in the market, overhauling long-time leaders Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold, who slipped 0.4 points to 9.1% share and second place.
Despite a slight gain, Hamish and Andy remain bottom of the commercial FM stations in drive in Sydney, with TripleM’s Merrick Watts managing a 1.9 point gain to 7.3%.
In the AM fight 2UE saw its total share slide 0.6 points to 4%, after a 1.2% drop for Garry Linnell and John Stanley in breakfast.
Sydney radio ratings survey 1 2016, Mon-Fri and breakfast shares. Source: GfK
Alex Hayes
Melbourne: Gold claims top spot as new breakfast shows go backwards
Australian Radio Network’s Gold FM grabbed the mantle of most listened to FM station in Melbourne after growing audiences across the key breakfast and drive timeslots with its overall audience share growing 0.7 share points.
Gold posted a total share of 8.9%, pushing FoxFM into second place as its share slid by 1.1 points. Southern Cross Austereo’s FoxFM managed a share of 8.6% ahead of Triple M and SmoothFM which tied for third place with a total share of 6.9%.
Melbourne ratings
In the breakfast timeslot, Triple M’s “Hot Breakfast” of Eddie McGuire, Mick Molloy and Luke Darcy reclaimed the breakfast crown with a total share of 8.5%, ahead of FoxFM’s Fifi and Dave who saw their audience share slide by 2.5 share points to 6.7%.
Gold’s Jo and Lehmo claimed third place with a share of 6.4% up 0.2 share points.
ARN’s KiisFM’s new breakfast duo of Matt Tilley and Meshel Laurie – Laurie moved across from Nova, replacing Jane Hall – posted an audience share of 6.2, up on the previous survey by 0.3 points.
Meanwhile Nova’s new breakfast team of Chrissie Swan, Sam Pang and Jonathan Brown, who replace Meshel Laurie and Tommy Little, saw their audience share grow by 0.5 share points to sit on a share of 5.8%.
In the drive timeslot, FoxFM’s nationally syndicated Hamish & Andy held onto the top spot despite a decline of 2.3 share points to fall on an audience share of 10.5%.
Gold came in second place with a share of 9.4, up 2.3 share points from the previous survey.
Melbourne radio ratings survey 1, 2016. Total audience share. Source: GfK
KiisFM’s Hughesy and Kate saw their audience drop away by 0.9 share points to a share of 8.4% while Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty also saw their audience decline by 0.8 points to a total share of 7.5%.
SCA’s Triple M’s drive show Merrick and Australia saw its audience slide by 2 share points to a share of 5.8%.
Looking at the AM market, perennial leaders 3AW once again topped the overall market with an overall share of 12.9%, ahead of ABC774’s share of 11.1%.
In breakfast 3AW was again in the lead with a share of 17.8% while the ABC had a share of 16.3%. In drive, 3AW claimed a share of 9.9% and the ABC had a share of 9.7%.
Miranda Ward
Melbourne radio ratings survey 1, 2016. Mon-Fri share and breakfast. Source: GfK
Brisbane: TripleM ups ante as Spencer Howson loses listeners
Howson
ABC breakfast host Spencer Howson has managed to retain his breakfast crown in Brisbane, despite a massive 3.1 point fall since the summer ratings break.
In the first survey of 2016 Howson had a 14.1%, down from 17.2% last year, while TripleM’s breakfast team of Greg ‘Marto’ Martin and Ed Kavalee appeared to be major winners of the survey with the pair surging 3.4 points to a 11.2% share.
That jump sees TripleM’s breakfast now competitive with 97.3FM’s breakfast hosts Robin Bailey, Terry Hansen and Bob Gallagher who were down 2 points to an 11.6% share.
Brisbane radio ratings survey 1, 2016. Total audience share. Source: GfK
Also on an 11.6% share was rivals Nova 106.9’s breakfast duo Kip Wightman and David Lutteral ‘Kip & Luttsy’ after a 0.3 point rise this survey, while Hit105.3’s new breakfast trio of Osher Gúnsberg, Abby Coleman and Stav Davidson rose 0.7 to a 9.4% share.
The shift in breakfast was reflected in people 10+ with TripleM up 2.4% to a 10.8 share. ARN’s 97.3FM retained its lead in the Brisbane market with a 12.1% share despite a 1.4 point fall, while Nova 106.9 was on an 11% share, down 1.7 and Hit105.3 was on 10.3% down 0.4.
In drive Hamish and Andy remained in second spot in the Brisbane timeslot with a 14.5% share beaten by Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty who were also stable on a 14.5% share while KiisFM’s Hughesy and Kate were down 1.7 to an 11.3% share.
Macquarie Media talk station 4BC was up 0.4 overall to a 5% share with the decision to start networking Radio 2GB’s afternoons program with Chris Smith seeing a 1.9 point rise to 4.5%.
Networked breakfast with Alan Jones and mornings with Ray Hadley were both down recording 5.7% and 6.4% respectively.
Brisbane radio ratings survey 1, 2016. Mon-Fri share and breakfast. Source: GfK
Nic Christensen
Perth: Mix reclaims top spot from Nova in drive
Tight competition in the drivetime slot in Perth has seen Mix 94.5FM’s Lisa and Pete climb back on top with a 1.8% rise to beat Nova 93.7’s Kate, Tim and Marty by just 0.1%.
Perth radio ratings survey 1, 2016. Total audience share. Source: GfK
The Mix duo finished with a share of 15.9%, ahead of Nova, which lost the hold on the top slot from the final ratings of last year despite a rise of 0.9 points.
In the all-important breakfast slot, Nova held its share with Nathan, Nat and Shaun finishing with 13.3% ahead of Mix’s Clairsy and Kimba in second, where they finished the 2015 race, but saw their share rise 0.5 to 13%.
Overall Mix maintained its lead over Nova with a 15% share, equal to its December share while Nova made inroads with a rise of 1.7 points to 13.7%. Hit 92.9 also saw a lift, up by 1.1 points to 10.9%.
Perth radio ratings survey 1, 2016. Mon-Fri share and breakfast. Source: GfK
Adelaide: Hughesy & Kate’s slide allows Nova to overhaul Mix
Nova91.9 has topped rival Mix102.3FM in Adelaide beating it by 0.2% to finish with a share of 11.6% in the first survey of the year, turning around the result from December’s rating.
The bad news for Mix was highlighted by the continuing slide of Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, who dropped another 1.5% in drive to 11% after surrendering 2.8% in the fianl survey of last year.
Adelaide radio ratings survey 1 2016: Total people share. Source: GfK
Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty benefitted from the poor form of their drive rivals, with another rise of 0.9% to 14.2%.
In breakfast ABC891 dominated with a share of 18.9%, but the FM wars were won by the Mix breakfast duo of Jodie and Soda, who maintained their lead with a share of 11.3% despite being down 1.4%, with Lewis & Lowe up 0.1% to 10.7%.
Adelaide radio ratings survey 1 2016, Mon-Fri and breakfast shares. Source: GfK
Simon Canning
Always wondered why ARN’s The Edge never appears on these ratings surveys. Not that I believe they would rate highly, but it’d be interested to see how they fair in their 18-25 demographic in Sydney.
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Triple M is the story in Sydney… Let there be rock! (sport and comedy too)
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Rove isn’t funny. He isn’t entertaining. He’s never been. He’s an AMAZINGLY insightful businessman (ROVING ENTERPRISES) with a good knack for things (THE PROJECT, etc) but nobody wants to see him or listen to him. He’s annoying. I’m sure Chelsea Handler has nightmares about him.
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@Marc, it’s not in the Metro market despite overlapping into it. The station actually is based in the Blue Mountains, so is in the regional market.
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Industry rumor has been mmm Brisbane’s brekfast duo contracts were not getting renewed this year. This result will give a few people cause for reaching for the antacids. And they just shunted the programmer responsible for the success to the regionals.
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@marc it would be interesting, however they are licensed to Katoomba, overlap is rarely surveyed & is only ever done when all full license holders agree to their entry.
Though, doubt it would do much worse than 2Day at present
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Very helpful seeing these stats. Is there a graph for Melbourne?
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K and J at a 12. 5 on the FM band is around their peak while at 2day FM golden years. They are daylight to 2nd and whatever spin doctoring comes from SCA Rove and his co host worked thru the off peak out of ratings period to build listening when the others were resting and that has not worked in book 1. A 3 is a 3 and an expensive one.
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What a great idea it was giving those shares to Rove.
Sam will be gone soon replaced by someone from his managements stable.
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@Katherine
RE The Edge. They should still be in the ratings. How do you explain the Gold Coast and Wollongong ratings? Brisbane and Sydney stations are included in those! It’s simply not a level playing field where overlapping metro stations are allowed in nearby regional ratings but not vice versa. It’s a crock
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@BC it may change once the new media laws come into play. If ARN allowed the Edge into the Sydney ratings it would mean they have three stations in one market, which under the current laws is illegal.
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Overhauling or overtaking?
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Just curious, how many people are surveyed in a market like Sydney? Or any market for that matter. Thinking Hughesy & Kate have more then double the audience to Hamish & Andy in Sydney is hilarious.
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@Troy
Yes perhaps. But if you look at the Gold Coast ratings SCA have 4 stations in those.
Sea FM
Gold FM
Hit 105 (Brisbane)
Triple M (Brisbane)
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Brisbane people want to listen to 4BC Brisbane, not 4BC Sydney, no matter how good the Southern broadcasters are.
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Sydney radio finally got the laughs they wanted. Ratings.
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Yes, it can’t be long until Sam Frost is replaced by one of Rove’s comedian buddies, like Peter Hellier or Corrine Grant. Not that it’ll help them close the enormous gap Kyle and Jackie O have opened up on the competition in breakfast.
Hamish and Andy – not funny at all, I think their time has passed, to be brutally frank.
Smooth FM – not surprised at their good ratings performance, they play a nice mix of adult contemporary and classic adult contemporary music.
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Oh Rove. I can rely on you for a flat joke and no strong opinions. Exactly what I want from a host.
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Rove is about as entertaining as Donald Trump
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2Day radio have clearly embarked on a dead end solution for their Breakfast Show…and yet they are complacent and happy to see the audience dissipate.
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Is it only me who thinks the campaign for Rove and Sam actually worked AGAINST the program?
All that time and money for them to keep telling us “nothing happening”.
I know they were referring to romantic/sexual chemistry, but their demeanour suggested they were not going to lengths to be interesting. Walking through the show.
Add that to the shots of half-finished photo studios, a pony with a cone on its head. A veritable Palace of half-baked.
Plus, the voiceover “hilariously” told lies. Laugh? I thought I’d never start!
See a pattern?
Here’s a hint: my ex-wife says she listens to Alan Jones despite not liking him but listens because he has good GUESTS and does good interviews (well, interesting, anyway).
A better approach:
“Rove has met and interviewed almost all of the most interesting people on the planet. You won’t believe who he can get on the show. Sam has insights into male/female relationships and is pretty smart.”
“Will sparks fly as they discuss the day’s events?
You’re welcome. I’m here all week, try the veal.
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I don’t think it is just as simple as blame the hosts, commercial radio has become far too generic and predictable. No matter what personalities you put in the seats, they still have to conform to restrictive company rules and put on these fake attitudes to sell products and station gimmicks.
Put interesting people on, let them speak and behave more freely, ditch the same old same highly predictable formats, stop playing the same 14 songs over and over, stop trying to force content on the listeners – allow the programs to be genuinely interesting and the audience will build.
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I enjoy what you guys tend to be up too. This sort of clever work and reporting!
Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve included you guys to our blogroll.
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