Ben Fordham wins Sydney breakfast radio ratings despite worrying fall

Ben Fordham and 2GB have taken a dive in the latest Sydney radio ratings with the ABC nipping on their heels. See the latest results.

Ben Fordham has taken another dive in the competitive breakfast radio ratings, with ABC Sydney narrowing its gap on the talkback station.

A year to the day since Fordham took over from industry veteran Alan Jones at 2GB, the station’s breakfast show registered a 13.5 per cent share of the overall market, representing a drop of two percentage points.

ABC Sydney came in with a share of 13.1 per cent, a decline of just 0.1 of a percentage point.

Fordham has recorded falls in the past two radio surveys. Picture: John Feder

Across all timeslots, 2GB dropped 1.7 percentage points to a leading share of 11.7 per cent, ahead of nearest rival smoothFM with its 10.8 per cent share, a jump of 1.5.

Radio ratings share is a calculated by combining the total audience with time spent listening.

One factor in Fordham’s decline in audience share is believed to be due to the fact his show is attracting a younger audience with listeners tuning in for shorter time periods.

It is Fordham’s fourth survey result since taking over from Jones. In December, he defied critics in delivering an impressive 17.1 per cent share, and the next survey period, in March, jumped again to 18.1 per cent.

In April, the 2GB breakfast show dropped to a 15.5 per cent share.

Prior to Fordham switching from the drive shift to breakfast last year, station executives said anything above a 12 per cent share would be a win.

Nipping at his heels …

The ABC’s Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck.

“Today’s ratings are a reminder of just how competitive the breakfast shift is,” Fordham told The Daily Telegraph. “We’re 12 months in after replacing the most successful broadcaster in Australian history and we’re still in that number one spot. There’s some tough competition out there and I’ve just got to do my best to stay in front of them all.”

At 9am, 2GB’s Ray Hadley also remains the market lead with a share of 14.2 per cent, down 1.3. His nearest rival is smoothFM at 12.3 per cent (up 2.5) with the ABC at 9.1 (down 3.4).

Speaking on air, Hadley attributed the decline at 2GB to listener fatigue with the global pandemic.

“It appears that Covid is wearing people down in terms of talking about it and we can’t help that because we are a talk station and we talk about such matters,” he said. “Music has won out in this particular survey but things will change no doubt as we progress through the year.”

Elsewhere in the breakfast slot, KIIS duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson were also nipping at Fordham’s heels with a 12.9 per cent share, up two percentage points. Their nearest rival came from Brendan Jonesy Jones and Amanda Keller on WSFM at 8.1 per cent (up 0.4).

It wasn’t good news for Southern Cross Austereo’s new breakfast team of Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan, who fell 0.5 of a percentage point to share of 3.3 per cent.

In the drive shift, KIIS registered a leading share of 10.2 per cent (up 0.2), ahead of smoothFM at 11.1 (up 1.3), and ABC Sydney at 9.8 per cent (down 2.4).