Radio ratings Survey 2, 2021: Just who is the biggest and the best?

Posted on 16 April 2021

ARN’s Ciaran Davis, Nova’s Paul Jackson plus SCA & Nine Radio highlights

The radio ratings for GfK Survey 2, 2021 this week helped the four major networks consolidate their core offerings.

As announcers at most metro stations around Australia prepare to return to work Monday after their first survey break of the year, ARN is able to continue to call itself the #1 network. The fine print at the bottom of the boast explains the winning radio recipe is for their combined metro AM/FM shares.

Helping ARN to the top this survey was the stunning performance from 4KQ in Brisbane where Laurel, Gary and Mark (above) have toppled their FM competition to have the #1 breakfast show in the market. It is one of four #1 music/entertainment shows the station has in metro markets. The missing link is Perth, where 96FM is now without Fred Botica, but the new breakfast show was the biggest mover in the market.

“We can say we have made improvements across all markets. A lot of hard work has gone in since the start of the year and we are very happy with these results,” chief executive of ARN parent HT&E Ciaran Davis told Mediaweek.

ARN needed WSFM to recover in Sydney and it has done that big time. “I just thought Survey 1 was a bit odd in Sydney,” said Davis. “It didn’t feel like a period of time when talk radio should have dominated so much in the ratings. Jonesy and Amanda have been incredibly consistent, and they are great at what they do. [ARN programmers] Duncan Campbell and Mike Byrne spent a lot of time recently examining the station and making sure everything was OK.”

Brendan “Jonesy” Jones and Amanda Keller – Australian Radio Network (WSFM 101.7)

With regard to Melbourne, Davis said: “Knowing Christian O’Connell, he might be slightly disappointed because he wants to go up in every book.” He still managed to rank #1 FM for a seventh survey.

Of KIIS 101.1, Davis said: “We are sorry to see PJ leave breakfast, but understand why. The content of the show was really, really good and it has been frustrating it didn’t rate better. We see from iHeartRadio it has very strong streaming numbers and the podcast and social numbers are very good. We are well down the road of developing what we want [after PJ departs].

“We are very keen to be #1 and #2 in every market where we are so KIIS Melbourne continues to be a big focus.”

Davis wouldn’t comment on some of the possible replacements, nor would he confirm or deny if it might be an internal appointment.

Davis said Erin Phillips and Soda will be back on air from Monday in Adelaide after a break. “They have been in the Mix 102.3 studios this week planning the show.”

Mix 102.3’s Erin Phillips and Soda

In Perth, 96FM grew after the departure of Fred Botica who has been replaced by Mix’s Dean Clairs. “Clairsy is obviously well known in the market and they have had a very good transition. It was good to see all parts at 96FM going up.”

With regard to the Brisbane result, Davis said: “4KQ’s Laurel, Gary and Mark deserve enormous credit. To be #1 breakfast show is an outstanding achievement. I spoke to them after the result came in and said that in a mad world, consistency is the key. They have been doing great content consistently for so long. They are over the moon and deservedly so.”

Davis admitted AM music is a harder format to monetise. “But 4KQ is now a stronger brand than ever with very loyal listening and large TSL. If you are targeting that age group, that is the station you need to be on.”

Nova also claims to be Australia’s #1 metro network. As its measure Nova uses cume – listing an audience of 3,681,900 – 460,700 listeners ahead of its nearest competitor.

Metro winners for Nova are drive with Kate, Tim and Joel and the long-time #1 FM evening show Smallzy’s Surgery.

Nova’s Kate, Tim and Joel

Among the results were growth spurts in breakfast at Nova Melbourne and Adelaide.

“At Nova 100 just before Covid kicked-in Chrissy, Sam and Browny had a market-leading FM show,” Nova Entertainment chief programming and marketing officer Paul Jackson told Mediaweek. “It now feels for the first time since Covid that Melbourne is getting back to normal.

“In Adelaide, Ben and Liam are doing a rock-solid show and deserve about a 10% share.”

If there is a challenge for Jackson, it would be Sydney mornings, where he conceded a share under 4% “is not a good number”. Jackson noted the rest of the day the station is in good shape. “In this survey all around us there was a lot of 2Day FM marketing, but I expected them to go better than they have. There was also marketing from WSFM. To fully understand it we’d have to see it repeat at that level a few times, but I doubt it will. There could be sampling of other stations after Fitzy and Wippa and then a return to Nova for the afternoon.”

While Nova gets a TVC campaign kicking off this weekend, no marketing love, yet, for its two station older network.

“smoothfm is possibly the only station in the country that hasn’t had any marketing this year,” said Jackson. “It continues to do very well in both markets and is still #1 FM in Sydney with its highest cume ever.

“Marketing for smoothfm will come later this year as we don’t feel doing both brands at the same time would be particularly fruitful. It is best to keep out of each other’s way.”

Radio ratings

While ARN and Nova battle it out for metro bragging rights, SCA quietly reminds people each month it might be bigger than both. The company calculated a total of a reach of 5m+ weekly during Survey 2. The calculation includes the 10-station metro network plus 10 SCA-aligned DAB+ stations.

SCA claims a weekly audience of 3.37m for the Hit Network and 2.45m for the Triple M Network.

Among the highlights was a #1 for B105 where Stav, Abby & Matt are #1 FM breakfast.

At Nine Radio, the thirst for the latest news about Covid lockdowns and the vaccine rollout continue to drive big audiences to the stations.

Melbourne’s 3AW and Sydney’s 2GB remain #1 stations while Perth’s 6PR has posted a Survey 2 recovery with the audience up across the day.

Greg Byrnes, Nine Radio’s head of content, said: “It’s now been five surveys since ratings resumed after the Covid-pause and the trend is clear – the audience is sticking with talk radio and our live and local strategy.

Nine Radio’s Greg Byrnes

“Ben Fordham is #1 in 2GB breakfast, Ross and Russ are #1 on 3AW breakfast and in Perth, Gareth Parker has had a stunning result on 6PR leapfrogging the ABC to be #1 in Talk.”

Across the metro network, Byrnes noted Nine Radio’s total audience is up 6% (year-on-year) and 3.6% on Survey 1, 2021.