ABC Radio Melbourne falls further in the ratings, as 4BC struggles in Brisbane

ABC Melbourne is shedding listeners in morning, afternoon and drive timeslots, hosted by Virginia Trioli, Jacinta Parsons and Rafael Epstein – but one timeslot will alarm management.

ABC Melbourne's mornings radio host Virginia Trioli.

The ratings woes of ABC Radio Melbourne have deepened, with the latest audience survey showing listeners continue to desert the station across key timeslots.

Ratings data by research company GfK, released on Tuesday, shows ABC Melbourne now sits in seventh position overall across all timeslots — a far cry from 18 months ago, when it was in fourth spot and a close competitor to main rival 3AW.

The ABC’s total radio audience share in the Victorian capital slipped by 0.2 percentage points in this survey to 6.0, with the station shedding listeners in the key morning, afternoon and drive timeslots, hosted by Virginia Trioli, Jacinta Parsons and Rafael Epstein respectively.

Jacinta Parsons. Picture: Alex Coppel

Rafael Epstein. Picture: ABC

In December 2021, ABC Melbourne had a 10.1 per cent share of all radio listeners in the city.

Trioli’s continuing ratings slide will be of particular concern to ABC management; the veteran broadcaster dropped a further 0.3 points to 7.7 per cent audience share in this survey, meaning she has lost almost half of her listeners in the past year-and-a-half.

ABC Radio Melbourne also shed an average of 26,000 listeners — or 4 per cent of its total audience — across the survey, which stretched from February 26 to May 20.

The one bright spot for ABC Radio Melbourne in the third survey of the year was the improved performance of the breakfast program, hosted by Sammy J. The comedian grew his audience share by 0.5 points to 7.2.

ABC Radio Sydney fared better, lifting its audience share across key timeslots including a significant bounce for the breakfast show program hosted by James Valentine. He grew his audience share by 1.3 points to 8.3 to move into third for the timeslot, behind the Kyle and Jackie ‘O’ show on KIIS1065 (up 2.8 points to 17.9) and 2GB’s Ben Fordham (up 0.3 to 15.0).

Kyle and Jackie O’s audience share was the duo’s highest ever ratings result.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O being welcomed into the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame. Picture: Supplied

ABC Sydney’s overall cumulative weekly listenership actually dipped by 28,000, or 4 per cent. The public broadcaster’s main Sydney rival, 2GB, saw its cumulative audience fall by 8000, or 1 per cent, over the same period.

ABC Radio clawed back listeners in Adelaide and Perth, but its audience dipped in the Brisbane market across all timeslots.

Last month, The Australian revealed that all on-air presenters at ABC Radio’s metropolitan stations ­nationwide are “on notice” ahead of the tabling of an internal report into the troubled network.

One factor being considered by the nine-person advisory group, which is spearheaded by the broadcaster’s head of corporate strategy, Jeremy Millar, is the failure to recruit fresh talent from outside the taxpayer-funded giant, which has left its airwaves dominated by “ABC lifers”, according to a well-placed source.

It is expected that the findings of that review could be released before the end of the month.

The Nine-owned 3AW continues to dominate the Melbourne market, despite a 1.0 drop in its overall audience share. Breakfast duo Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft slipped 1.6 points, from 21.1 to 19.5, maintaining a comfortable lead over GOLD104.3’s Christian O’Connell, who is second in the lucrative timeslot with an audience share of 10.8 (down from 11.1 per cent in the previous survey.

Ratings for Neil Mitchell’s morning show on 3AW fell by 1.0 points to 18.2, but he retains a large lead over his rivals.

In Brisbane, Nine-owned 4BC had a disastrous survey — its breakfast show, hosted by Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine, dropped 1.6 points from 9.0 to 7.4, relegating the program to sixth spot in its timeslot.

4KQ's Breakfast Team (left to right) Mark Hine, Laurel Edwards and Gary Clare. Picture: Richard Walker

The 4BC morning program, hosted by Nine’s Sydney-based star Ray Hadley, saw its ratings plummet by 3.6 points, down from 10.9 to 7.3, slipping from third to sixth in the timeslot.

Last month, The Australian reported that Nine management is considering pulling Hadley’s show from 4BC in 2024, despite having just extended his contract with the company until the end of 2026.

Ray Hadley. Picture: Supplied

While his numbers dramatically dropped in Brisbane this survey, Hadley maintains his dominance in Sydney — his morning show on 2GB improved by 1.2 points to an audience share of 15.5, marking his 149th consecutive survey win in the city’s competitive market.

The third survey of the year also includes listeners’ streaming ‘Radio 360’ data for the first time.

The streaming market is dominated by Nine-owned talkback stations in the capital city markets. In Sydney, for example, 2GB’s breakfast show hosted by Ben Fordham has a 30.4 per cent share of the streaming market, well ahead of Kyle and Jackie ‘O’ on 13.0 per cent, despite the KIIS1065 duo winning the ‘total radio’ race.