Nova’s Sydney station is facing a clear challenge in the latest radio ratings: what happens when one of your most recognisable names disappears from the airwaves?
According to the latest radio ratings, the 4th survey for the year, Nova 96.9’s cumulative audience has dropped, and its Breakfast show, Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie, has slipped into third place among FM competitors.
While Nova executives aren’t sounding the alarm just yet, the absence of Ritchie, who has been off-air since February, hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Nova Network Group Programming Director Brendan Taylor says the network is closely monitoring the shift. “There’s no doubt it always plays on my mind, naturally,” he told Mediaweek. “But if you look at it overall… we’re on a 7.0% share. This time last year we were a 5.9%.”
Sydney: Navigating absence and audience shifts
Nova 96.9 now has a cumulative audience of 1.039 million and a 7.0% share. Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie, though still in the top tier, has seen a dip, drawing 534,000 listeners. Taylor attributes this to the unavoidable reality of absence: “We’re a human medium and the audience is obviously reacting in some way.”
Still, he’s optimistic. “Chrissie (Swan) has done an outstanding job coming in and working with Wippa and Fitzy. So, all in all, I actually think today is a really solid day for the Sydney team.”
Swan has been pulling a double shift since Ritchie’s departure by stepping in for her in the Breakfast slot, while still doing her own Afternoons show, The Chrissy Swan Show.
Despite hearing her in the mornings, it seems listeners can’t get enough, with the program nabbing the title of the most popular show in its timeslot (2pm-4pm) with cume of 1.207 million listeners.
For Taylor, Swan’s work ethic is something to celebrate: “She’s achieved a lot in her career to date, and to be at this point, having worked really hard with Jack on The Chrissie Swan Show, the audience has, again, consistently remained with them. It’s a competitive time slot now, that early afternoon drive. But she’s great. She’s so great to work with, and it’s so pleasing to see the results again for her.
Other dayparts across the network show more stability. Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel remains the third most listened-to Drive show in Sydney, with a cume of 333,000. While, in Evenings, Smallzy’s Surgery leads the timeslot with a 6.7% share and ranks second in total listeners with a cume of 90,000.
Chrissy Swan
Melbourne: Momentum and market leadership
While Sydney works through its Breakfast disruption, Nova 100 in Melbourne is surging.
It’s now the most listened-to station in Australia with a cume of 1.326 million. Jase & Lauren leads the FM Breakfast pack with a 10.8% share, up 0.6 points, and a national-leading cume of 764,000, up by 23,000. “It just shows we’ve got consistency with our audience and consistency in that engagement,” Taylor said.
Nova 100 also ranks first on weekends with 697,000 listeners and dominates the key 10–54 demo with a 12.9% share, 2.2 points ahead of its nearest rival.
The long game: Fine-tuning and feedback
Despite the Sydney speed bump, Taylor says Nova remains focused on consistency. “Naturally, we want people to spend more time with us to drive that share… but from a base point and an audience point of view, I couldn’t be happier.”
He also credits Nova’s behind-the-scenes work: “Over the last two years Sarah McGilvray, our national show PD, has worked so closely with the teams. We believe in that constant feedback, because it’s the only way for the teams to get better.”
With more than 6.4 million listeners across the Nova Network, a streak that’s held for 14 consecutive surveys, Taylor’s attention is firmly on long-term strategy. “It could be a standout year for us,” he said. “There’s always work to do, but I do that with a smile on my face.”