Radio ratings: Sydney – WSFM overtakes 2Day FM for share, while Nova wins on cumulative audience
Sydney share – Monday to Sunday | Source: Nielsen
2Day FM is no longer Sydney’s number one commercial FM station after being overtaken by ARN’s WSFM in share and DMG’s Nova in cumulative audience, according to new ratings for Monday to Sunday share released today.
The reversal is the first time in seven years that Southern Cross Austereo’s 2Day FM has lost its crown. The last time WSFM was number one was in 2005, while Triple M was briefly number one in 2006.
In Monday to Sunday share, 2Day FM’s share fell from 9.3 per cent to 8.4 per cent while WSFM held steady on 8.5 per cent.
Duncan Campbell, ARN’s programming boss, told Mumbrella: “Consistency is a cliched word, but when you look around the country, brands that have been consistent over a long time are the ones that have been successful.”
WSFM’s Jonesy & Amanda breakfast show is on a share of 8.9 per cent, close to Kyle & Jackie O’s 10.2 per cent for 2Day FM although the duo remain the number one FM commercial breakfast show.
In Monday to Friday share, 2DFayFM, owned by Southern Cross Austereo, is still number one with share down from 10 per cent to 8.9 per cent, while WSFM slipped from 8.4 per cent to 8.3 per cent.
2Day FM’s biggest drop came in drive, where the slot occupied by Hamish & Andy on Mondays and Fifi & Jules the rest of the week dropped from 11.1 per cent to 9.3 per cent.
Nova’s Meshel, Tim & Marty drive show is now close behind on 8.9 per cent, despite a slight fall from 9.2 per cent to 8.9 per cent.
The first meaningful results for ARN’s new Sydney breakfast line up of Sami Lukis and Yumi Stynes on Mix 106.5 saw the duo experience a slight decrease in share. However, the fall was marginal, with a drop from 3.1 per cent to 2.9 per cent on the previous period. The ratings survey covers January 20 to March 30. Stynes and Lukis went on air at the end of January.
Meanwhile, as well as share, Nielsen’s cumulative audience numbers – the people tuning in across the period – were also released to stations today. Nova – with a move from 758,000 to 831,000 took the top slot from 2Day FM which dropped from 853,000 to 823,000.
In breakfast, Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa (430,000) closed the gap on Kyle & Jackie O (487,000).
DMG programming boss Paul Jackson told Mumbrella: “Where Nova is heading in Sydney is riveting. Fitzy and Wippa and working so hard day in and day out to get there.”
Meanwhile, talk station 2GB remained the biggest station in overall share.
Southern Cross Austereo metro boss Guy Dobson acknowledged WSFM’s “consistent format” but pointed out that much of its gain had come in the 55-64 age group. He suggested that WSFM may also have gained from ARN’s reformatting of Classic Rock to smoothfm.
In the 18-24 and 25-39 demographic, Nova is top.
Sydney Monday to Friday share | Source: Nielsen
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Strong increase for 2GB , 2MMM, Nova and a sudden drop for ABC
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The other big story here is Triple M – breathing down Nova’s neck!
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Ann,That is if you are talking Cume and all people 10 +..An analysis of specific demos will bring a different story.For example a massive growth in 10-17 will be great for one station but not so much for a talk station and the overall figure could be misleading.
Worth a look at share and specific demos as well.That is if you are looking to select stations to carry your adv message,which is part of the reason we do surveys.
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Great to see 2GB make a leap in Survey 2. Quality radio will always stand up against the naysayers! Go Alan, Ray and all the other broadcasters. Sydney needs you.
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WSFM flying – Mix sinking
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If I were an advertiser, I’d want to know how many people were listening to my ad. The percentage market share is much less relevant. Why don’t people just tell us how many people are listening? I’ve no idea how many listen to Kylie & Jackie O compared to Jonesy & Amanda. Does anyone know? Newspaper and magazine circs reveal the exact number of copies purchased, TV ratings tell me how many people watched, but for radio, no one ever mentions the size of the audience. Which is odd.
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Wow, only a few weeks ago the ABC was crowing they were increasing their market share. These figures aren’t good news for auntie.
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Toby K, you have a point but you need to be specific.It is not as helpful to an advertiser to just know the total number of all people listening.
As they (the advertiser )might have a product or service that is targeted to reach or they want to reach people aged 25-39 or even 25-30 and if the station has massive figures but 90% are 60+ it is of little use to the advertiser, see what I mean.
For more info why not go to Commercial Radio Australia’s website.
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Sure you can Toby – its called average audience. Don’t look at the Cume figure. You can also break it out in 15 minute blocks too if you like.
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Toby, if radio stations traded on listeners rather than % of share, they’d have no advertisers left.
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@ Listener: Aunty suffered a big fall in the Canberra ratings as well. 666 is usually number one or two and they previously had a stranglehold on the breakfast, morning and drive shifts. They slumped to number three in a market with six stations. In left wing, public servant infested Canberra this is unprecedented. It seems people are tiring of having left wing propaganda shoved down their throats as we prepare to boot Socialism out the back door on Sept 14.
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Interesting to read Duncan Campbell’s comments about consistency. All very good when applied to WS, but not so to Mix. Every one of the many line-up changes in recent years has led to a smaller audience. Yumi and Sami now have less than half the listeners Sammy Power did back when the station was competitive.
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Some interesting results. I still can’t see anyone topping Kyle & Jackie O on FM or Alan Jones on AM, even if their market shares drop a little. They are sill by far the two best breakfast shows on radio and have been for such a long time.
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I thought the industry had moved away from size of total audience preferring to look at what audience worked for the individual advertiser..
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