Sydney radio ratings: Nova FM edges towards Kiis FM
Nova 96.9 has edged towards rival Kiis FM in the last survey of the year, finishing on a 8.6% share compared to Kiis’ 8.8%.
The two stations, which both have legacy breakfast shows in Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli and Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald, and Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson respectively, both saw growth in the final survey of the year, with Nova up 0.7 points and Kiis FM up 0.2 points.
The result put Nova 96.9 well ahead of 2DayFM and Triple M, which both sit on a 5.4% share at the end of the year.
Nova Entertainment’s other network, Smooth FM, topped the FM bandwidth for the second consecutive survey, with a 9.1% share – up 0.3 points – while Kiis FM’s sister station, WSFM, climbed 0.5 points to an 8.7% share.
But overall, 2GB won yet another survey, with a 13.9% share, a slight dip from last survey’s 14.1%. ABC 702 had a larger share than Smooth FM, up 0.4 points to a 9.2% share. Macquarie Media’s other station, Macquarie Sports Radio, saw modest growth, up 0.5 points to a 1.1% share.
Nova 96.9’s growth can be attributed to strong gains in both breakfast and drive. Wipfli and Fitzgerald grew their breakfast share 1.3 ratings points to an 8.4% share, which saw them place third among the FM radio stations.
But most listened to FM breakfast show is still Sandilands and Henderson on Kiis FM, who slid 0.2 points to a 10.5% share. WSFM’s Brendan ‘Jonesy’ Jones and Amanda Keller came in behind Kiis FM on a 9% share, up 1.2 points from last survey.
Smooth FM breakfast with Bogart Torelli and Glenn Daniel gained 1.1 ratings points to reach a 7.1% share, while Triple M’s The Grill Team had a 6.2% share of listening, an 0.4 point drop. It was the last survey for The Grill Team and its anchor, Matty Johns. Last survey, Triple M’s head of content, Mike Fitzpatrick, said all talent were being re-assessed.
Meanwhile, 2DayFM’s breakfast show with Grant Denyer, Ed Kavalee and Ash London held a 4.6% share. The survey, which ran from September 30 to December 8, was the first full survey with London, who replaced Em Rusciano on the program.
Overall, 2GB’s Alan Jones topped the breakfast slot, with a 16.5% share – a one point drop from last survey – while ABC Sydney delivered a 10.3% and Macquarie Sports Radio breakfast, with Mark Levy and Mark Riddell, climbed 0.4 points to a 1.2% share.
Nova 96.9’s Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold topped the drive time slot overall, with a 12.6% share, up 0.8 points from last survey. On the FM dial, the trio’s closest competitor was Smooth FM’s Byron Webb, with a 9.2% share.
Kiis FM’s Will McMahon and Woody Whitelaw had an 8.4% share of audience while WSFM’s Jason Staveley had a share of 8.1%. All four shows were well ahead of Triple M’s Jane Kennedy and Mick Molloy, who climbed 0.9 points to a 6.6% share, and Carrie Bickmore, Tommy Little, Kate Langbroek and Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes extended drive time format, which had a share of 5.9% between 4pm and 7pm.
Bickmore finished up on radio with Little on November 21. From November 28, Keith Urban joined Little on air.
2GB’s Ben Fordham, who runs his show from 3pm to 6pm, achieved an 8.2% share in the 4pm and 7pm ratings slot. ABC 702 had a 9.8% share for drive, while Macquarie Sports Radio climbed 0.7 points to a 1% share.
While Macquarie Sports latest number is still low, Zoe’s reporting on this station is very poor and continues the trend of bashing an all sports station…….
“Macquarie Sports Radio, saw modest growth, up 0.5 points to a 1.1% share”
It didn’t see modest growth at all, it saw massive growth and it’s numbers went up 83.33%, ie, it almost doubled its ratings since the last survey. Any program director would love to see an percentage increase like that.
This station was always going to be a slow burner and mistakes were going to be / have been made (eg Beau Ryan, Tiffany Cherry, Mieke Buchan) but they are slowly and thankfully fixing those mistakes by either sacking or diminishing the amount of airtime they are getting.
Let’s see how the numbers go over the next few surveys and now that word is getting out about this station (there was very limited advertising done to promote it), my prediction is more ratings gains.
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Danny, reporting an 83% jump in Macquarie Sports Radio’s share would have been dishonest given its low, almost derisory, base while describing a 0.5 percentage point improvement to a share of 1.1% as ‘modest’ seems to be far from ‘bashing’ the station.
As far as there being a trend in ‘bashing’ all sports stations we’re yet to see it however, like you, we’re intrigued to see how the station goes next year. Maybe your prediction will be right.
Regards,
Paul Wallbank
News Editor
Macquarie was smart. They changed 2UE to all sport thus removing talkback competition, forcing most 2UE listeners who don’t like sport to switch to 2GB. They want 2UE to have low ratings as this boosts 2GB.
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It is not Smart to destroy a radio licence that you bought for cold hard cash. Imagine the questions at the interview for 2UE’s General manager if this was the plan?
“Can you program 2UE to rate less than 1% in Sydney and an asterisk in Melbourne?”
No wonder they sacked the Talking Lifestyle staff – their ratings were too high.
At least Macquarie can only own two stations in Sydney. Imagine if they bought six more and shut them all down?
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