Commercial radio audiences hit new peak, 10.7 million tune in each week

Commercial radio audiences in Australia are higher than ever, having grown by 12% in the past five years, and 22% in the last decade.

Commercial Radio Australia‘s annual listening summary found that more than 10.7 million people tuned in each week in the five major metro markets in 2018.

That equates to a 2.6% increase on 2017, with 270K extra listeners.

Breakfast radio is the most popular shift, up 2.6% to over 7.7 million people tuning in. Meantime, almost 6.9 million listened to Drive.

“2018 was a strong year for commercial radio, with gains in the all-important breakfast radio shift as well as for morning and drive time shows,” said CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner.

“Breakfast radio continues to be a powerhouse, attracting 7.7 million listeners every week and has increased audiences every year for the past 10 years.

“That’s down to the quality of the on-air talent and being able to deliver the mix of entertainment and information that people are looking for at the start of the day.”

The figured released are pulled from the eight metro GfK surveys released throughout 2018, with 60K participants sampled.

The summary also found:

• 4.2 million Aussies listened via DAB+ Digital radio each week, up from 3.6 million the year prior.
• 42% of listening too place at home, with car listening the next highest (36%).
• 10-17 year-olds were reached the most with 87% tuning in to commercial radio.

The period for Survey #1 of 2019 started yesterday.