Melbourne Radio Ratings 2021
GfK Survey 4, Survey Period: Sunday April 18 to Saturday June 26
• Melbourne: No quakes here as 3AW and Gold maintain leadership
UP: Magic 1278 +0.3
DOWN: Nova 100 -1.1
3AW 15.5% (15.6%)
Cume: 783,000 (+33,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 20.6% (13.3%)
Best Breakfast 28.4% (15.9%)
While Nine Radio’s Sydney station 2GB is feeling the heat from some competitors, there seems little chance 3AW will be threatened soon. It maintains market leadership and after three steady surveys this year, ratings were again above 15%. Ross and Russ in breakfast have now put together an impressive seven consecutive surveys with share above 20%. Neil Mitchell climbed higher to 18.9% and evening with Denis Walter was up 0.9 to 16.9%. 3AW still has over 40% of all commercial listeners over 65% and, unlike 2GB, still is a clear fave with listeners 55-64. Numbers aren’t bad either 40-54 where 3AW trails only Gold 104.3.
Gold 104.3 10.4% (11.1%)
Cume 1,068,000 (-2,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 10.8% (8.7%)
Best Breakfast 9.4% (7.2%)
Gold and Nova shared FM breakfast leadership last survey, now Christian O’Connell is back as the clear favourite with share up 0.6 to 8.6%. That is O’Connell’s 9th consecutive survey as #1 and he has now contributed to 12 consecutive surveys where Gold has ranked #1 FM. The station’s Gavin Miller is also the host of the market’s #1 FM drive.
Nova 100 6.7% (7.8%)
Cume 1,017,000 (-39,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 8.3% (5.3%)
Best breakfast 8.3% (4.6%)
After sharing FM breakfast leadership with Gold in the previous survey, Chrissie, Sam and Browny backed off a little, down 1.1 to 6.9%. That is good enough to still rank #2 FM breakfast, just ahead of Fox. All at work listening dropped and drive shed 2.0 to 8.4%. Key demos took a hit with Nova still #1 18-24, but with the lead narrowed to just 0.1 ahead of Fox and Gold on equal #2. Share also fell 25-39, down 4.2 to 8.4%, with the ranking down from #2 to #4.
101.1 Fox FM 7.0% (7.8%)
Cume 1,072,000 (-62,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 8.4% (5.2%)
Best breakfast 8.3% (5.0%)
Fifi, Fev and Nick made a move last survey, but this time they slipped back, down 1.1 to 6.8%. All other dayparts drifted lower too. Share lifted 18-24 where Fox is a very competitive equal #2, while Fox still ranks #1 25-39 despite a small dip.
smoothfm 91.5 7.8% (7.6%)
Cume 995,000 (+66,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 9.7% (6.5%)
Best Breakfast 7.3% (5.0%)
The numbers here weren’t terrible this year, but the station seemed to be underperforming given the results of the brand in Sydney. After the station was trending lower across two previous surveys this year, smoothfm had a small rise. Cume is getting back close to the magic million. smoothfm ranks #2 40-54 and 55-64 (but along way behind leader Gold).
KIIS 101.1 FM 5.5% (6.4%)
Cume 969,000 (-80,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 6.4% (4.4%)
Best Breakfast 7.1% (4.4%)
There’s been plenty of emotion on the show recently. Apart from the impending departure of PJ, Jase has been concerned about his dad who has not been well. The last show before the survey break saw Jase online from a Brisbane hotel as he made it into the state beating lockdowns to spend some time with his parents. After a breakout ratings result in Survey 3, the momentum slowed with both the station and breakfast losing share. Cume dipped back a little just under 1m, but it’s still a solid number. The market awaits the official announcement of who will next co-host brekky with Jase.
105.1 Triple M 4.7% (5.2%)
Cume 644,000 (+41,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 6.2% (5.0%)
Best breakfast 6.8% (5.2%)
With less footy than the previous breakfast program, how the new Marty Sheargold breakfast show would perform in the middle of the footy season would test how the programming changes are being received. The news is not great with a breakfast share of 4.6% the lowest in at least six years. Morning and afternoon were down, but drive with Mick Molloy is now the station’s highest rating program with share up 0.3 to 5.2%. Another glimmer of good news was growth in cume.
SEN 2.8% (2.9%)
Cume 263,000 (+35,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 3.0% (1.6%)
Best Breakfast 3.2% (2.0%)
Not a lot of joy here with breakfast, morning and drive all down. Cume went in the right direction. Dwayne Russell now hosts the station’s highest rating daypart with his afternoon show up 0.2 to 3.2%.
Magic 1278 1.3% (1.0%)
Cume 135,000 (+30,000)
2020 results: Best/worst
Best 10+ 1.4% (0.2%)
Best Breakfast 0.8% (0.5%)
Welcome growth in share and cume, enough to make this the market’s biggest mover as all stations except Magic, smoothfm and 3MP lost share this survey. All dayparts and weekend improved. The lift in breakfast with Steve Jacobs mirrored the Sydney result, albeit off a lower base.
3MP 1377 1.0% (0.9%)
Cume 83,000 (+5,000)
The station has peaked at 1.0 after four surveys. Share is highest in the evening on 1.6% on a shift hosted by the ever-reliable Trevor Sinclair. Jon Vertigan and Julie Strini host breakfast where they will be wanting to build on their share of 0.4%.
RSN 927 0.3% (0.4%)
Cume: 40,000 (-3,000)
The station’s small shares shrunk even more this survey with breakfast share halving to 0.2%. The best performance is on weekends where share was up 0.1 to 0.7%.