ABC Radio takes a ratings hit in first survey of 2022
ABC Radio has taken a hit recording soft ratings in the key breakfast timeslots in Melbourne and Sydney.
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ABC Radio has taken a hit in the first radio audience survey of 2022, recording soft ratings in the key breakfast timeslots in Melbourne and Sydney.
In Melbourne, the ABC is now in fourth position overall across all timeslots — behind 3AW, GOLD104.3 and FOX FM — after finishing 2021 in second spot.
The ABC’s breakfast show in the Victorian capital, hosted by comedian Sammy J, fell 4.2 percentage points from 14.0 to 9.8, while the national broadcaster’s mornings program in Melbourne, helmed by Virginia Trioli, slipped 4.4 points to an audience share of 8.9.
The first GfK ratings survey of 2022 tracked radio audiences from January 16 to February 26.
At 3AW, breakfast duo Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft recorded an audience share of 22.5 (down 0.3) to claim top spot in their timeslot, while morning show stablemate Neil Mitchell also maintained his market dominance with 17.6 (also down 0.3 from the final survey of 2021).
In Sydney, ABC’s new breakfast host James Valentine, who took over the prestigious shift from Robbie Buck and Wendy Harmer upon their departure in December, registered a 1.6 percentage point drop in his first ratings survey in the breakfast timeslot.
Valentine previously hosted the afternoon show on ABC Sydney.
The survey threw up mixed results for veteran broadcaster Ray Hadley. While the 67-year-old’s Sydney audience on 2GB dropped by 3.5 points to 14.9, his show — which is syndicated into 4BC Brisbane — gained ground on his network’s main commercial rival in the city, 4KQ.
Ben Fordham, the host of 2GB’s breakfast show, enjoyed a jump of 0.5 points to 19.0 in this survey.
But Deb Knight, who hosts the station’s afternoon program, slipped from first to fifth position in her timeslot, dropping from 10.8 to 8.3 this ratings period.
The Kyle and Jackie ‘O’ breakfast show on KIIS1065 slipped slightly by 0.2 points in this survey, but the duo maintained their position as the number one FM program in Sydney.
Triple M’s new breakfast show featuring former NRL star Mark Geyer dropped to 3.6 (down from 4.6), following the controversial departure of comedian Lawrence Mooney at the end of last year.
In Brisbane, the ABC breakfast duo of Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan took out top spot in their timeslot in the first survey of 2022, with a 3.9-point audience surge to 13.2. The NOVA106.9 breakfast show hosted by Ash, Luttsy & Susie O’Neill was the most popular show in the city’s competitive FM market (steady on 10.7).
In Adelaide, the news ABC breakfast pairing of Nikolai Beilharz and Stacey Lee, who replaced longtime host Ali Clarke in January, claimed top spot with an 18.8 audience share of the market. But their main commercial rivals in the timeslot, David Penberthy (also a senior writer on The Australian) and Will Goodings on FIVEaa, narrowed the gap with a 15.1 audience share, up 2.5 points on the final survey of 2021.
In Perth, the most popular station across all timeslots was 96FM, which increased its audience share in all timeslots in this survey.
The city’s ABC breakfast show slipped to fourth spot in its timeslot, behind FM stations NOVA93.7, 96FM and MIX 94.5.
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Originally published as ABC Radio takes a ratings hit in first survey of 2022
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