Radio ratings: ABC plummets in wild survey
ABC Radio Adelaide has lost its ratings lead in spectacular fashion, with talk rival FIVEaa benefiting from some huge shifts in some age groups.
ABC Radio Adelaide has plummeted in the latest radio ratings.
The ABC’s local station has enjoyed a stellar year, leading the overall ratings and dominating the key breakfast shift, but that has ended with wild swings in listener behaviour in the latest GfK ratings released today.
The ABC has fallen from first place to last, with rarely seen drops of four and five percentage points in two key shifts.
The national broadcaster’s breakfast team of Nikolai Beilharz and Stacey Lee lost their lead to FIVEaa’s Will Goodings and David Penberthy, shedding 4.1 percentage points of listener share.
The FIVEaa breakfast team now have a clear lead over the ABC in listener share (14.6 to 12.5) after trailing significantly (13.8 to 16.6) in the previous survey.
ABC mornings presenter David Bevan also lost his strong lead in the shift, dropping 5.1 percentage points.
These sorts of fluctuations are rare in radio ratings. The ABC’s poor performance can be pegged to massive drops in the oldest demographic groups: it lost 7.1 percentage points among its most loyal demographic – listeners aged over 65 – and 4.9 percentage points in the 55-64 age group.
FIVEaa did slightly better with the oldest demographic but, unusually for the older skewed station, it put on a solid spread of increases in younger age groups, particularly with 40-54-year-olds and those aged 18 to 24.
The shifts mean the leader board for local stations has been almost turned on its head.
Nova now leads the pack, followed by Mix, then FIVEaa (previously in last place), Cruise, SAFM, Triple M (which had the second largest fall after the ABC) and ABC Radio Adelaide (previously first).
Three of the ABC’s national stations increased listener share which may account for a portion of ABC Radio Adelaide’s losses.
Adelaide’s radio ratings have shifted significantly. Source: GfK radio ratings, survey period: Sun Jul 10 to Sat Sept 17
Mix, once the perennial leader, has stabilised its position. Its breakfast team, led by Ali Clarke, improved slightly, but is still near the bottom of the pack.
In mornings, though, Mix has regained the lead, and still holds top position in the afternoons despite losing share.
In Drive, Nova is the clear leader, while evenings belong to FIVEaa with a huge increase of 5.2 percentage points.
Weekday and individual shift results. Source: GfK ratings, survey period: Sun Jul 10 to Sat Sept 17.
