Triple J’s youth audience has fled. And no, it’s (mostly) not the internet’s fault – they’ve switched to commercial radio
Welcome to a Thursday morning edition of Unmade. Today we examine the way that over the last decade, Triple J’s target audience has drained away, and commercial radio has been the winner.
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When the Guardian published an in-depth feature on Monday morning exploring the question of whether the ABC’s youth station Triple J was losing its audience, the answer seemed obvious: Heard about a little thing called the internet? The kids are streaming everything these days.
Turns out, that’s not the problem. The kids are, in fact, giving up on the ABC and turning to commercial radio instead.
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Unmade Substack
Unmade Substack
What are the commercial stations doing differently that are attracting the young listeners?
That’s a great question. One thing I don’t know: Is the issue the content, or how it’s being promoted and marketed to that demographic?
Well they’re not employing presenters from their target demographic for one thing. Two biggest stations in Sydney for 18-24s are KIIS and Nova (in that order). Both with prime time shows hosted by people old enough to be the parents of your typical Triple J listener. Does the younger audience actually want a more mature view of the world. Not just a reflection of how they live their own lives?
(Interestingly the next two highest rated Sydney stations for the 18-24 demo are Smooth and WSFM. triple J comes in fifth. Given that audience are likely to be listening to what they want to, not what their parents want, that tells an interesting tale.)
One word “Spotify”. What ever the demographic of listening content All the good things about radio but better. Those left probably like Ads and Radio personalities rattling on. But Triple J still rocks. Just not as much as once.