Radio ratings survey 2, 2026

Everyone is going to be obsessing about Kiis Syd & Mel for obvious reasons…. but the big story here looks to be ABC Local Radio for Sydney and Melbourne, that 774 Melbourne drive share must be the lowest ever figure for a metro ABC local station in a key time slot?

Survey 2 is a bloodbath that proves FIVEaa has completely stranded itself. They’re bleeding their core 65+ demo to AM music stations like Cruise and offering absolutely zero pipeline for anyone under 50.

Their strategy is just fatally safe. Mornings are pure vanilla and rely on a lazy rolodex of the same stooges ringing in to read the same tired political scripts. And that afternoon ABC poaching play failed predictably because ABC Adelaide listeners are loyal to the ad-free institution, not the talent. They won’t follow presenters across the dial just to hear live reads for funeral homes.

AM talkback only survives on friction and unpredictability. Until management guts this middle of the road format, and hires some disruptors willing to actually challenge the audience, FIVEaa is just managing its own slow decline.

A mixed bag of results for Sydney. The jury’s still out on the K&JO implosion’s full impact on this market for another survey or two, but in the meantime…

Smooth 95.3 will be happy that despite an across-the-board lift in ratings for 2GB (no doubt as a result of recent news events), they managed to remain an equal #1 rating station along with the Nine/Tapt talkbacker.

Bogart & Emma appear to be well on the way to becoming Sydney’s new #1 FM breakfast show (just 0.8% behind KIIS this survey), while Ty Frost has remained ahead of Mark Levy. One can’t help but wonder if the Laundys will review 2GB’s 9am to Midday timeslot if Smooth continues to hold #1 spot overall.

No major surprise that Christian O’Connell’s ratings continued to fall, particularly in Sydney. Jonesy & Amanda are performing well at Drive (Melbournians seem to be warming to them as well), so moving them back to breakfast probably isn’t an option. But what will ARN do about Gold Brekky if Sydneysiders don’t embrace COC while his Melbourne audience share continues to erode?

Wow at those 702 ABC Sydney ratings, 4.3% is surely an all-time low for them? Or at the very least, the lowest overall share that station has had in decades.

ACE Radio clearly still needs to work on Classic Hits 2UE, particularly during the breakfast shift. Cathy Jubb really could only get a ratings increase after Survey #1’s incredibly dismal result, however jumping up from 1.5% to 2.2% is hardly cause for celebration!