Set your 2026 radio survey calendars

Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) and market research organisation GfK have released the metro and provincial radio survey schedule for 2026 with the additional note that GfK Radio 360 Survey 8 2025 will be released at 9:30am on Tuesday January 20.

This will mean that newly launched shows for networks may see dramatic swings between Survey 8 and Survey 1, 2026 on Thursday March 19. It also means that those shows that have or will depart at the end of the year will not experience their final surveys until 2026.

Additionally Newcastle’s three surveys next year will conducted ‘blind’, that means that where markets generally have a fixed and known survey period, of the 12 weeks of placement only eight of them will be selected randomly and the networks, and participants will not know which they are.

The eight 2026 metro survey dates and measurement periods, plus those for Newcastle, Canberra and the Gold Coast can be found below.

This year has also seen a notable decrease of Xtra Insights regional surveys with 14 conducted in 2025 compared with 21 in 2024 and 20 in 2023. These are such a valuable resource for smaller stations and networks to be able to show their local clients and advertisers. It was announced at the start of 2024 that the markets surveyed would be expanded, with new locations like Deniliquin in NSW, Wangaratta in Victoria and Campbelltown on the outskirts of Sydney so far only surveyed the once.