Sydney radio wars rocked as 2GB and Fordham fall from grace
Sydney’s radio market has had a mammoth shake-up. 2GB has been dethroned as the overall leader, dropping to fourth place in market share. While Kyle and Jackie O’s struggle in Melbourne continues, the pair have maintained the top Breakfast slot in Sydney, according to the latest GfK Radio Ratings.
In this key period where brands attempt to maximise audience reach in audio, these numbers are critical for media buyers to consider as they executive their campaigns for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025.
SYDNEY
Dropping 3.1 percentage points to fourth place overall, 2GB’s reign as Sydney’s leader is over, now sitting at 10.2% market share behind KIISFM at 10.8%, WSFM at 10.7%, and smoothfm at 10.3%.
2GB Breakfast host Ben Fordham dropped a staggering 3.4 percentage points, now sitting in second place at 12.2% behind KIISFM’s Kyle and Jackie O at 13.7%. Their closest rivals – WSFM and ABC Sydney – sit at 10.6% and 9.1% market share, respectively.
ARN’s WSFM has had an overwhelming resurgence across the board, gaining 1.3 percentage points overall, reflecting its strong appeal – particularly with listeners aged 40-54 and 65+. In Breakfast, the station grew 1.3 percentage points, while in Drive it improved by 2.6 points.
The 2.6 point increase has given WSFM equal first place in the Drive slot, alongside smoothfm at 10.3% market share. KIISFM sits close behind at 10.0%, followed by Nova at 9.0%.
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MELBOURNE
Meanwhile, 3AW continues to dominate the Melbourne market at 14.9% market share overall, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous survey. Smoothfm sits in second at 11.0%, followed by Gold at 10.0%. Overall, Nova saw the biggest change, dropping 1.2 percentage points to 7.4% market share.
In Breakfast, the Nine-owned radio channel grew 1.2 percentage points to 22.5% market share, commanding the slot. FoxFM sits as the number one FM Breakfast show at 10.0%. Infamous Breakfast duo Kyle and Jackie O are nowhere to be seen, with KIISFM at just 4.0% market share – having dropped 0.9 points from the previous survey.
Gold has taken the crown in Drive by just 0.1% at 10.5% compared to FoxFM’s 10.4%. The latter fell 0.7 percentage points from last survey’s 11.1% share.
Alongside Gold, smoothfm has performed consistently well, showing growth among listeners aged 25-39 and 55-64.
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BRISBANE
SCA’s B105 continues to lead in Brisbane at 12.7% overall market share, despite a 0.6 percentage point drop from the previous survey. Triple M grew 1.1 points to sit in second at 11.8%, followed by classic hits contender 4BH in third at 11.2% share.
B105 has also maintained first place in Breakfast with 14.0% share, while the competition for second has heated up. Despite a 0.9 percentage point drop, Nova remains in second at 11.6%, followed by Triple M at 11.3% and 4BH at 11.2%. KIISFM sits close behind at 10.5% market share.
The SCA-owned station also won Drive despite a 2.5 percentage point drop. Now sitting at 15.0% share, it continues to lead above Triple M at 13.3%, Nova at 11.3% and 4BH at 10.0%.
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PERTH
96FM has regained the top spot in the overall Perth market, rising 0.9 percentage points to 15.2% market share – beating out former top dog Nova, which has dropped to 14.1%. Triple M has proved a challenger, increasing 1.5 percentage points to 10.7%, but still sits behind Mix at 11.7% share.
Nova’s Nathan, Nat & Shaun sit pretty in first at 16.4% Breakfast share, followed by 96FM at 12.4%, Mix at 11.7% and Triple M at 10.7%.
In Drive, Nova grew 0.7 percentage points to 18.3%, while a 1.4 point increase has boosted 96FM to second at 23.4%. Mix follows behind at 12.2%, after a 1.0 percentage point drop, then Triple M at 10.3%.
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ADELAIDE
Triple M has dropped the crown in Adelaide overall, now sitting in second behind Mix at 12.7% compared to 13.5% market share. Nova has a 1.2 percentage point growth but remains third at 11.2%.
However, Triple M remains first in Breakfast at 13.0% share, followed by ABC at 11.4%, FIVEaa at 11.2%, and Nova at 10.9%.
Now sitting at 12.9% after a 0.8 point increase, ARN-owned Mix has taken the Drive crown from Nova, beating it by just 0.3%. Nova sits at 12.6%, followed by Triple M at 11.8% share.
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Good to see Melbourne are rejecting Kyle and Jacki O – impressed that they have some class! Please keep it up! Sydney Morning radio is atrocious! Today FM Please launch something decent PLEASE! Be great to have a morning radio program which gives you a laugh and is engaging! OMG NOVA try too hard, WSFM come across as outdated, Triple M, not hitting the mark! Smooth nice although like some good banter to get us Sydney siders to work in the morning! A good alternative will shift the audience!
Ben Fordham is paying for spreading anti-vax fear mongering nonsense
I have been a continual day & night 2GB listener since the days of Mark Carlton. But enough- I’m sick of the extremely one sided political views – we should get a rounded view & then make up our own minds. I find I learn nothing anymore- Ray Hadley has gone to jelly -non-stop self aggrandisement “Trumpesque” nasty name calling if you don’t share his views. So much love for his grandchildren & not an inkling of empathy or humanity for innocent suffering children world over especially in Ghaza. Let alone having Country Music rammed down my throat – & often on repeat! I’d rather hear a French/italian pop song every now & then & broaden my horizons.
Possibly Michael McLaren is the only interesting one to listen to- maybe.
to many contests instead of local and overseas news . too much rubbish talk
The fact that the ad market only declined by 1.6% does not reflect the headline, there is no actual reason stated in this “article” that says why it’s never been a better time. This is a weak attempt at optimism. For those in this industry , there has quite possibly never been a worse time.
2GB needs to get back to news. It should be the “go to” place for all news – Sydney, national and international news. Political news, entertainment news, technology news, court news, medical news, ambulance-chasing news, good news and bad news. Not just news on the hour but news all hour. Not just news at midday, but news all day. The News Centre. Want to Know? 2GB News Now.
I actually think Jonesy & Amanda have improved during the last couple of years, likely due to having a somewhat fresher behind the scenes team than they did maybe around the 2019-20 timeframe.
Of Sydney’s two more adult-oriented FM music stations, it’s pretty clear to me that WSFM has the edge with something resembling a genuine on-air personality at breakfast and during daylight hours, while the (IMO anyway) overly syrupy Smooth 95.3 put more of an effort into their weeknight and weekend programs. If either Smooth or WS could get the vibe right during every timeslot, we very well could be talking about a station that has the potential to become an overall #1 rater.
2DayFM probably needs to be relaunched as a completely new station for Sydney, just as 95.3 and 106.5 were all those years ago. And consideration needs to be given towards repositioning Triple M in at least Sydney & Melbourne.