Radio ratings results
Posted March 5th, 2009 by debritz
612ABC Brisbane, which has added audience numbers in every shift across the day and every age demographic, has been the big winner in the first 2009 radio ratings survey. And it seems Aunty's gain has been at 4BC's expense, with the much-heralded return of Jamie Dunn (above,left) proving a bit of a fizzer. Dunn lost 3.8 percentage points in the all-important breakfast shift (albeit compared to an extraordinarily good performance by Peter Dick in the last survey of last year), and the commercial talk station also lost audience in the drive and evening shifts. 612's Spencer Howson (above, right) - with whom I converse on air every Friday morning - is now equal No.1 in the breakfast shift with Nova 106.9's Meshel, Kip, Ash and Luttsy. In No.3 spot in breakfast is Triple M's The Cage with Ian Skippen, followed by B105, 97.3 and 4BH, with 4BC and 4KQ in equal last spot among the main local contenders. Overall (Monday to Friday, 5.30am to midnight, people 10+), the order was: Nova, B105, Triple M, 612ABC, 97.3, 4BC and then a tie for last between 4KQ and 4BH.
Some initial conclusions:
+ Dunn has lost some of 4BC's core audience to 612ABC and BC's sister station 4BH (which has a two-point lift in its audience numbers). It seems that he has also failed to bring in new, younger listeners. It's early days yet, but I doubt any turnaround will come in the next survey, which will include data for the build-up to the Queensland election. That could well polarise audiences between the ABC and music stations, and Dunn will be left out in the cold unless he can prove some serious political credentials.
+ The addition of Emily-Jade O'Keeffe to The Cage line-up seems not to have harmed Triple M, which has put in another solid result, and is especially favoured by grocery buyers (after the ABC, which is of course non-commercial). I expect Ian Skippen is also smirking, having beaten his former B105 colleague Dunn.
+ The networked Hamish and Andy drive show has retained its lead for B105, but dropped from a 22.7pc to a 17.5 share. No one other station has benefitted from this fall, which may reflect inflated results last time.
Brett Debritz's disclaimers are here
Over the last 12 months I have gone from a devoted B105 listener to a huge flicker. I often start off with Spencer but do switch to Nova once 'AM' starts... I am sure that ABC could keep Spencer on for a bit longer and just play 'AM' on Radio National...
On a side note... does anybody else find that the traffic updates seem to be about half an hour behind what is actually happening...
Brett, Channel 7 just started a cash giveaway promotion with Dunn. It just proves that 7 rushed their idea (possibly competing with 9's which only runs during the 6pm news) thinking Dunn would naturally win breakfast during the year's first survey.
Epic fail on 7's part, lumping itself with Dunn.
This has to be something he should be proud of Brett, Going into the rest of 2009 as #1 is a tough title, and some ex-BC listeners disatisified with Dunn may have flopped him over the line.
Remember, survey 2, includes the state election and will be a major selling point. If 612 can get a few wins over Nova, I am talking 6/8 surveys, they could walk out of 2009, with a title no AM station has claimed in a decent length of time.
Brisbane breakfast radio is an all-round let down this year. My household now opts for Sunrise (now with gorgeous Fifi Box). Jamie is not right for 4BC, and FM breakfast radio has become too dumbed down.