Radio surveys conducted for Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) by Xtra Insights will be expanded year on year and include more regional markets in 2024.
Ford Ennals, CRA’s chief executive officer, said the Regional Radio Audience Measurement Survey schedule will increase to 22 markets this year, up from 20 in 2023, and will provide listening and listener insights on 64 commercial regional radio stations and over 26 ABC stations.
“We know commercial radio stations are vital to regional and remote communities and we want to get a deeper understanding of regional listeners and their listening habits,” he said.
“We have been conducting regional radio surveys for a decade now, and we are always keen to keep expanding our research and improve the research methodology.”
The 2024 survey schedule includes NSW (Port Macquarie, Dubbo, Central Coast, Wollongong), Queensland (Roma, Ipswich, Mackay, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Toowoomba and Cairns), Western Australia (Geraldton, Albany, Wheatbelt, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury), Victoria (Ballarat), South Australia (Mt Gambier), Northern Territory (Darwin), and Tasmania (Hobart, Launceston).
Paul Amos, Xtra Insights’ managing director, said new survey methods will be introduced in 2024, to work in tandem with the existing methodology.
“Xtra Insights uses Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing to conduct surveys. This year, we will launch online survey sampling in eight markets,” he said.
“In 2023, 20 surveys were completed in regional Australia, representing 52 commercial stations. With 16,800 successful interviews the listening habits of 2.9 million Australians aged 10 and over were revealed.”
The expansion of regional radio surveys comes as the MEAA and CRA have both made submissions to the Senate inquiry into the Private Member’s Bill Fair Pay for Radio Play ahead of public hearings this month.
If the Bill passes, it would result in the removal of the cap on fees radio stations pay to the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) to play music.
See also: MEAA and CRA: Proposed Bill would “harm” radio in regional and remote communities