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ABC Melbourne continues to struggle in the radio ratings battle, as nearly all timeslots recorded a loss of listeners in the third survey of the year. These losses come amid rising concern within the broadcaster, which is currently undertaking a review of all capital city and regional stations.
However, radio rankings overall have remained relatively steady since the previous ratings survey.
3AW* retains the lead in Melbourne despite bearing the greatest decrease in its average share of listeners compared to all other stations. It lost a full percentage point, bringing its audience share down to 15.3 per cent. But this number still places it comfortably ahead of the runner-up and FM leader Gold, which claimed an average of 11.1 per cent of listeners (down from 11.6 per cent).
ABC Melbourne continues to struggle, as nearly all of its slots lose listeners, including Virginia Trioli’s morning slot.Credit: Justin McManus
This survey – which covers February 26 to May 20 – adopted a new measurement model, Radio 360. It takes into consideration modern radio listening habits (including traditional AM and FM broadcasts, the DAB+ digital platform, and streaming via devices such as phones and internet-enabled smart speakers), based on regular survey results and information from a 2,000-person panel of respondents wearing a meter-watch that captures information about radio listening.
Despite the changes, the number of people recorded listening to radio in Melbourne did not significantly increase. An average of 515,000 people listened to radio during this survey period, which is virtually unchanged from the previous survey which recorded an average audience of 514,000 people.
After recovering slightly from the record-low in the first survey of the year, ABC Melbourne’s overall average share of listening has again fallen – this time by 0.2 percentage points, down from 6.2 per cent in the previous survey. However, its breakfast slot (5.30am-9am) – which is now helmed by comedians Sammy J from Monday to Thursday and Charlie Pickering on Friday – managed to buck the trend by gaining 0.5 percentage points to claim a share of 7.2 per cent, while every other slot shed listeners.
Its morning slot (9am to midday) fell from 8 per cent to 7.7 per cent and drive (4pm to 7pm) fell from 6.1 per cent to 5.5 per cent, despite the return of Virginia Trioli to mornings and Rafael Epstein to drive.
This is a reversal for ABC Melbourne, which saw gains in every slot except breakfast during the last survey.
However, it should be noted that one survey result does not necessarily indicate a trend, especially considering Trioli and Epstein have only just begun re-adjusting to their regular positions. Further, survey timeslots do not always correlate precisely with program timeslots.
That said, these losses could point to a larger issue facing the public broadcaster. In March, the ABC hired commercial executive Dr Cherie Romaro to provide external advice on how to improve local and regional stations around the country, including ABC Melbourne, which has endured a dramatic fall in audiences since the national bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commenting on 3AW’s* ongoing dominance, station manager Stephen Beers said it was a team effort and thanked key players including Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft from the breakfast team who nearly doubled their nearest competitor, Gold, in terms of overall breakfast audience share.
Notably, both KIIS and Nova enjoyed an identical boost, which also happened to be the largest increase across the board. Both lifted by 0.8 percentage points to an average share of 7.3 per cent.
Though overall rankings remain unchanged since the previous survey period, Fox’s drive slot managed to leapfrog Gold’s. Though both slots technically lost listeners, Gold’s drive slot – which contains programs helmed by Dave “Higgo” Higgins and the Jonesy and Amanda show – lost a substantial 1.5 percentage points, bringing it down to a still-impressive 9.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Fox’s drive slot – which contains shows including Hughesy, Ed and Erin – decreased by only 0.1 percentage point, recording an audience share of 10 per cent.
However, Gold still leads the FM band overall, followed by Smooth and Fox.
Triple M suffered the greatest loss in average share of listeners after 3AW, though it also remains steady in the ranks at eighth place. Comedian Marty Sheargold’s breakfast program fell from an average of 5.2 per cent of listeners to 4.7 per cent – but this follows the station’s overall downward trend, which saw every slot fall other than weekends.
*3AW is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead.
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