Regional radio research reaches across Australia in 2024

Radio surveys conducted for Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) by Xtra Insights will be expanded year on year and include more regional markets in 2024, delivering greater insight into regional Australia’s listening habits.

Ford Ennals, CRA’s Chief Executive Officer, says the Regional Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RRAMS) schedule will increase to 22 markets this year, up from 20 in 2023, and will provide listening and listener insights on 64 commercial regional radio stations and over 26 ABC stations.

“We know commercial radio stations are vital to regional and remote communities and we want to get a deeper understanding of regional listeners and their listening habits.”

“We have been conducting regional radio surveys for a decade now, and we are always keen to keep expanding our research and improve the research methodology.”

In the ten years since the Regional Radio Audience Measurement Surveys were introduced, 177 surveys have been completed, representing the listening habits of 6.6 million Australians aged 10 and over.

Paul Amos, Xtra Insights Managing Director, says new survey methods will be introduced in 2024, to work in tandem with the existing methodology.

“Xtra Insights uses Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing to conduct surveys. This year, we will launch online survey sampling in eight markets.”

“In 2023, 20 surveys were completed in regional Australia, representing 52 commercial stations. With 16,800 successful interviews the listening habits of 2.9 million Australians aged 10 and over were revealed.”

Inaugural surveys in 2023 included the markets of Deniliquin, Wangaratta and Campbelltown.

The 2024 Survey Schedule includes: NSW (Port Macquarie, Dubbo, Central Coast, Wollongong), Queensland (Roma, Ipswich, Mackay, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Toowoomba and Cairns) Western Australia (Geraldton, Albany, Wheatbelt, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury) Victoria (Ballarat), South Australia (Mt Gambier), Northern Territory (Darwin) and Tasmania (Hobart, Launceston). More information can be found here.

The markets of the Gold Coast, Canberra and Newcastle are carried out by GfK Metropolitan Radio Measurement, which also oversees the eight surveys of the five major metro markets annually.