Radio Ratings: Five takeaways from Survey 6 you might have missed

The return of the GfK radio ratings has dominated talk around radio this week.

The pandemic-forced pause of surveys meant this book was one of the most highly-anticipated surveys the industry has ever seen, and was likely to reveal some big changes and shake-ups.

There were plenty of headlines, with the results of new-look lineups in several markets getting plenty of media attention, and the Radio Today Tonight podcast discussed all the big hitters.

Now we dive into some of the talking points that you might have missed.

The Hot Breakfast surges on Triple M

Melbourne undoubtedly experienced a weird survey, with many pointing to the lack of paper diaries as a reason behind some of the shock results.

Among them a resurgence of Eddie Maguire’s Hot Breakfast on Triple M Melbourne, which rose to claim a 6.7%  share (up 1.5 points) among People 10+.

That put the show ahead of Fox FM’s Fifi, Fev & Byron on 4.8% (down 3.0 points) for the first time in recent memory.

Smooth bucks the FM downward trend

Many FM stations took hits this book, with Sydney being no exception, but smoothfm continued its strong performance in the city where it retained its position as the #1 FM station.

Smooth finished the book with a 9.9% share of listening (+0.9) overall, making it the only FM station to gain share. The story was the same on Breakfast, with Bogart Torelli and Glenn Daniel the only FM Breakfast show to rise, up to 7.2% (+0.6).

Byron Webb claimed the #1 FM Drive position, up 2.0 points to a sizeable 10.4% share. Notably, a lot of smooth’s audience came from the 10-17 and 18-24 demos, which isn’t exactly their bullseye.

Coles Radio takes a hit

Coles Radio has dominated the DAB+ digital radio ratings for over two years now, but this survey saw the NOVA-run station surrender its position as the #1 station nationally.

ARN’s suite of market-branded 80’s stations claimed the throne.

The change wasn’t a complete shock, with exposure to the station in supermarkets and recall for later home and car listening likely to have dropped amid social distancing restrictions.

FIVEaa leading Breakfast in Adelaide

While the performance of Nova 91.9’s Breakfast show Ben & Liam dominated the headlines on ratings day with their #1 FM Breakfast result, NOVA Entertainment’s other station FIVEaa continued to show its strength.

The station wrestled back the #1 AM position overall in Adelaide, while David & Will won back the title of #1 Breakfast show in the market from ABC Adelaide.

Hit Network losing touch in Perth

Perth was one market where the overall status quo was largely maintained, with big hitters Mix94.5 and Nova continuing to battle for the #1 spot with the revamped 96FM.

Hit92.9 lost ground on its competition, however, dropping to an 8.7% share (down 1.4 points) overall and dipping to 7.4% on Breakfast (down 2.7 points).

Despite losing the overall top spot to Nova, SCA will be pleased to see Mix gain share overall, on Breakfast and Drive, but Hit92.9’s performance continues to underwhelm.