Survey Results: NZME hits over two million listeners

NZME continues to grow and now has more than two million listeners, according to the latest 2017 GfK independent radio survey.

NZME’s Chief Commercial Officer, Laura Maxwell (pictured) says that NZME’s radio is ‘on a roll’ with 54,500 new listeners and now reaching 60% of all radio listeners. In addition, iHeartRadio registered users have increased by 33% year-on-year to over 631,000.

“This is an overall market share increase of 1.8 percentage points for NZME and Partners whilst Mediaworks went backwards for the second survey in a row, this time by 0.7 percentage points. I’m particularly excited that alongside our radio partners, we are better reflecting the new diversity of New Zealand’s population,” Maxwell said.

This result means NZME continues to close the overall listening gap, with its share of listeners up 3.7 percentage points across the first two surveys of this year.

In specific station results, NZME Managing Editor Shayne Currie says Newstalk ZB continues its dominance having been number one since 2003. Newstalk ZB has grown its share in Auckland to 11% and nationally to 10.3%.

“This means we’ve again retained the number one crown, while the Mike Hosking Breakfast is the biggest breakfast show in the country,” he said.

“Marcus Lush has also had a phenomenal result, being number one in all markets across the country.”

Currie believes that the Newstalk ZB results, along with Radio Sport enjoying the biggest growth of any station, with an additional 21,200 listeners, is testament to the stations’ talent and NZME’s integrated newsroom.

“This absolutely shows the power of NZME. Our broadcasters, producers and reporters are across everything – delivering high-quality exclusive news and sport content and interviews that people want to listen to,” he added.

Currie says Newstalk ZB’s digital audience is also growing significantly.

“The Newstalk ZB Facebook page now reaches almost one million people each month and almost two million people are reached on the Mike Hosking Breakfast Facebook page each month”.

According to NZME’s Group Director Entertainment Dean Buchanan, ZM Breakfast has had another great result.

“Fletch, Vaughan and Megan have retained their number one breakfast title for 18-34-year-olds. Jase and PJ claimed the number one Drive show in this demographic, showing that both shows are producing content that this demographic love to hear. The ZM Facebook page reach exceeds a staggering 2.4 million people each month”.

“Coast retains top music station for those of us that are 40 years and older,” he added. “The re-branding and modernising of this station and the line-up is working. I’m thrilled with how Coast is performing.”

Buchanan confirmed that The Hits’ ‘Sarah, Sam and Toni’ breakfast show continues its upward trend in Auckland for the second survey in a row.

Maxwell says radio is a strong medium for advertisers, with the number of listeners continuing to grow.

“These results show that in 2017, radio is more relevant than ever as an effective channel to inform, entertain and connect.  The power of NZME’s content generators has the proposition right, proven by the growth in listeners. In addition, we have the benefit of iHeartRadio and its growing influence. As a company, NZME now reaches over 3.3 million people in New Zealand.

“Plus, as Shayne Currie has mentioned, the impact of having one newsroom across Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport, is proven in the audience growth. It’s been an exciting 2017 for NZME as a company, with our success at the Canon Media Awards, the Radio Awards, the Nielsen newspaper readership growth and these ongoing GfK Radio Survey results. Commercially, NZME has the audience reach and the targeting capability to answer any objective you challenge us with delivering.”