2GB Solidifies Lead in Sydney with Best Survey Ever.
2GB continued its dominance of the Sydney market, gaining 1.2 percentage points to secure 16.4% of all people 10+ across all day parts. This not only reflects the continuing popularity of 2GB – this is their 136th consecutive survey in the lead position – but is the station’s highest ever survey result.
Ben Fordham held on to the top spot in breakfast for 2GB for the second survey in a row after breaking the station’s 18-year run in this day part earlier this year, this time gaining two percentage points to 18.8%.
2GB’s Ray Hadley also performed well in the mornings slot, with a 0.1% gain to secure 20.0% of the market, while a 0.5 percentage point increase saw 2GB become the second-highest rating commercial station in drive with 7.2%
Other key takeaways from the survey, broken down by market, are:
Sydney
2GB surged far ahead of their commercial competitors, with the closest for the overall Sydney market being KIIS 1065 and SmoothFM, both on 8.0%, less than half of 2GB’s 16.4%. SmoothFM was the best performing commercial station for drive, with a 0.2 point gain to 9.2%.
DAB channels continued to grow in Sydney, with the total cumulative audience for DAB and internet surging 115,000 from the previous survey to nearly 1.1 million in survey 6. KIIS 90s continued to be the top DAB station in Sydney, gaining a cumulative audience of 19,000 to 118,000 across survey 6.
Melbourne
In Melbourne 3AW went from strength to strength, in another win for Nine Radio. 3AW gained an impressive 3.1% to secure a 18.2% share on the market, with the station’s breakfast team Russel Howcroft and Ross Stevenson adding 3 percentage points to report a 23.8% share in that day part.
On the FM band, the top station for the market was Gold, with 10.9% after an increase of 0.9 points. Gold was also 3AW’s closest commercial competitor for breakfast, gaining 0.5 points to 9.4%.
DAB stations saw a slight decrease in audience, with cumulative audience across all digital and internet listening falling by 43,000. However, Gold 80s say significant growth, gaining a cumulative audience of 22,000 to secure the top digital spot across all day parts for people 10+.
Brisbane
In the tightly-contested Brisbane market which saw a three-way tie in the last survey, Nova surged ahead of the pack with 11.7% after gaining 1.5 percentage points. ARN’s 4KQ gained 0.7 points to come in second to Nova with 10.9% of the overall market.
Nova’s drive team Kate, Tim and Joel had a strong 2.2-point gain to secure 15.2% off this day part, well ahead of their closest competitor for drive B105 with 9.6%. The second spot for breakfast as well as the market overall went to 4KQ, gaining 0.7 points to 12.0% for breakfast and 0.7 points to 10.9% across all day parts.
Adelaide
MIX 102.3 held on to the top spot in Adelaide with 13.8% for people 10+ across all day parts, despite a 0.1 percentage point drop. MIX was also the top-rating FM station for breakfast with 10.7%, just behind FIVEAA on 11.2%.
Unlike Sydney and Melbourne, talk back took a hit in Adelaide, with Five AA saw a significant drop for the second survey in a row, dropping another two percentage points to show just 8.3% of the overall market in survey 6.
Perth
After taking a hit in survey 5, Nova regained the lead in Perth, holding steady on 13.1% of the total market. The station took the top spot back from Mix 94.5 which lost 0.8 points to settle on 12.6%. Nova was also the highest rating in the breakfast day part, increasing by 0.3 percentage points to secure 14.6% of the market.
The unprecedentedly-strong performances of 2GB in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne in survey 6 2021 show the continued importance of talkback radio in the Australian market, probably influenced by on-going lockdowns in Australia’s two biggest cities. Other strong performers were Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and Nova in Perth.
The unprecedentedly-strong performances of 2GB in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne in survey 6 2021 show the continued importance of talkback radio in the Australian market, probably influenced by on-going lockdowns in Australia’s two biggest cities. Other strong performers were Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and Nova in Perth.
Keep an eye on our blog for more updates and insights!
Source: GFK Survey 6, 2021
