Sydney radio ratings: Nova FM edges towards Kiis FM
Nova 96.9 has edged towards rival Kiis FM in the last survey of the year, finishing on a 8.6% share compared to Kiis’ 8.8%.
The two stations, which both have legacy breakfast shows in Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli and Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald, and Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson respectively, both saw growth in the final survey of the year, with Nova up 0.7 points and Kiis FM up 0.2 points.
Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa contributed to the 0.7 point gain for the station
While Macquarie Sports latest number is still low, Zoe’s reporting on this station is very poor and continues the trend of bashing an all sports station…….
“Macquarie Sports Radio, saw modest growth, up 0.5 points to a 1.1% share”
It didn’t see modest growth at all, it saw massive growth and it’s numbers went up 83.33%, ie, it almost doubled its ratings since the last survey. Any program director would love to see an percentage increase like that.
This station was always going to be a slow burner and mistakes were going to be / have been made (eg Beau Ryan, Tiffany Cherry, Mieke Buchan) but they are slowly and thankfully fixing those mistakes by either sacking or diminishing the amount of airtime they are getting.
Let’s see how the numbers go over the next few surveys and now that word is getting out about this station (there was very limited advertising done to promote it), my prediction is more ratings gains.
Danny, reporting an 83% jump in Macquarie Sports Radio’s share would have been dishonest given its low, almost derisory, base while describing a 0.5 percentage point improvement to a share of 1.1% as ‘modest’ seems to be far from ‘bashing’ the station.
As far as there being a trend in ‘bashing’ all sports stations we’re yet to see it however, like you, we’re intrigued to see how the station goes next year. Maybe your prediction will be right.
Regards,
Paul Wallbank
News Editor
Macquarie was smart. They changed 2UE to all sport thus removing talkback competition, forcing most 2UE listeners who don’t like sport to switch to 2GB. They want 2UE to have low ratings as this boosts 2GB.
It is not Smart to destroy a radio licence that you bought for cold hard cash. Imagine the questions at the interview for 2UE’s General manager if this was the plan?
“Can you program 2UE to rate less than 1% in Sydney and an asterisk in Melbourne?”
No wonder they sacked the Talking Lifestyle staff – their ratings were too high.
At least Macquarie can only own two stations in Sydney. Imagine if they bought six more and shut them all down?