Sydney radio ratings: How 2GB‘s Ben Fordham ate his sceptics for breakfast
Ben Fordham’s bosses appeared to brace for a ratings backlash as he stepped into veteran broadcaster Alan Jones’ shoes for 2GB breakfast. But they got it wrong, seriously wrong, with the 43-year-old not only shoring up his legendary predecessor’s No 1 spot but drawing a whole new generation of listeners to the show.
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There are plenty of surprises in Ben Fordham’s triumphant radio ratings result – his first in the all important breakfast shift.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is how the 43-year-old has brought in a new generation of listeners to 2GBs more traditional mature audience.
It seems even Fordham’s bosses at 2GB were preparing for the worst after the fresh-faced breakfast host stepped into veteran broadcaster Alan Jones’ shoes so to speak.
Spin reigned in the weeks leading up to the GfK ratings results with conservative estimates playing down Fordham’s chances and predicting a figure of between 10 and 12 per cent.
Well, they got that estimate terribly wrong with Fordham registering a phenomenal 17.3 per cent of the breakfast market and making him a clear leader.
Jones himself left 2GB on a high when he signed off, enjoying his best survey result ever at 17.9 per cent, which was an increase of 3.1 per cent that some attributed to changing listening habits around COVID-19, being a thirst for breaking news and updates, as well as increased interest in his departure and farewell.
As coronavirus has impacted many industries, radio ratings have been on hold for the past few months, which meant today’s figures are a complete restart. No data from the previous survey released in April has been rolled in to this one.
Because of this it is important to note this a real win for Fordham and his team.
Clearly stalwart listeners have kept the dial on 2GB but breaking down the figures, what Fordham has done is deliver a seismic generational shift to 2GB executives.
Incredibly, in the 10 to 17 year old age bracket, 2GB as a station has increased its audience by 5.1 percentage points while in listeners aged over 65, it has decreased 5.3 percentage points.
There has also been a surprising 2.6 percentage point rise in 18 to 24 year old listeners and a jump of 1.5 percentage points in 40 to 54 year olds.
Given this survey has been conducted in a similar way to the first survey of each calendar year, a hard reset, it will take at least another one to two surveys to get a full picture of how Fordham and 2GB are tracking.
Whatever way you look at it though, this is a phenomenal result, so much so I could picture the champagne corks popping as the figures dropped at 9.04am.