Sydney radio wars rocked as 2GB and Fordham fall from grace
Sydney’s radio market has had a mammoth shake-up. 2GB has been dethroned as the overall leader, dropping to fourth place in market share. While Kyle and Jackie O’s struggle in Melbourne continues, the pair have maintained the top Breakfast slot in Sydney, according to the latest GfK Radio Ratings.
In this key period where brands attempt to maximise audience reach in audio, these numbers are critical for media buyers to consider as they executive their campaigns for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025.
SYDNEY
Dropping 3.1 percentage points to fourth place overall, 2GB’s reign as Sydney’s leader is over, now sitting at 10.2% market share behind KIISFM at 10.8%, WSFM at 10.7%, and smoothfm at 10.3%.
2GB Breakfast host Ben Fordham dropped a staggering 3.4 percentage points, now sitting in second place at 12.2% behind KIISFM’s Kyle and Jackie O at 13.7%. Their closest rivals – WSFM and ABC Sydney – sit at 10.6% and 9.1% market share, respectively.
Good to see Melbourne are rejecting Kyle and Jacki O – impressed that they have some class! Please keep it up! Sydney Morning radio is atrocious! Today FM Please launch something decent PLEASE! Be great to have a morning radio program which gives you a laugh and is engaging! OMG NOVA try too hard, WSFM come across as outdated, Triple M, not hitting the mark! Smooth nice although like some good banter to get us Sydney siders to work in the morning! A good alternative will shift the audience!
Ben Fordham is paying for spreading anti-vax fear mongering nonsense
I have been a continual day & night 2GB listener since the days of Mark Carlton. But enough- I’m sick of the extremely one sided political views – we should get a rounded view & then make up our own minds. I find I learn nothing anymore- Ray Hadley has gone to jelly -non-stop self aggrandisement “Trumpesque” nasty name calling if you don’t share his views. So much love for his grandchildren & not an inkling of empathy or humanity for innocent suffering children world over especially in Ghaza. Let alone having Country Music rammed down my throat – & often on repeat! I’d rather hear a French/italian pop song every now & then & broaden my horizons.
Possibly Michael McLaren is the only interesting one to listen to- maybe.
to many contests instead of local and overseas news . too much rubbish talk
The fact that the ad market only declined by 1.6% does not reflect the headline, there is no actual reason stated in this “article” that says why it’s never been a better time. This is a weak attempt at optimism. For those in this industry , there has quite possibly never been a worse time.
2GB needs to get back to news. It should be the “go to” place for all news – Sydney, national and international news. Political news, entertainment news, technology news, court news, medical news, ambulance-chasing news, good news and bad news. Not just news on the hour but news all hour. Not just news at midday, but news all day. The News Centre. Want to Know? 2GB News Now.
I actually think Jonesy & Amanda have improved during the last couple of years, likely due to having a somewhat fresher behind the scenes team than they did maybe around the 2019-20 timeframe.
Of Sydney’s two more adult-oriented FM music stations, it’s pretty clear to me that WSFM has the edge with something resembling a genuine on-air personality at breakfast and during daylight hours, while the (IMO anyway) overly syrupy Smooth 95.3 put more of an effort into their weeknight and weekend programs. If either Smooth or WS could get the vibe right during every timeslot, we very well could be talking about a station that has the potential to become an overall #1 rater.
2DayFM probably needs to be relaunched as a completely new station for Sydney, just as 95.3 and 106.5 were all those years ago. And consideration needs to be given towards repositioning Triple M in at least Sydney & Melbourne.