If ABC Sydney’s broadcasters were looking forward to a tranquil summer break, the latest radio ratings might be as inconvenient as another La Nina washout.
In Tuesday’s figures, the final ratings survey of the year, the public broadcaster suffered the survey’s biggest dent, losing audience share right across the day.
ABC Sydney presenter Josh Szeps.
Most notably, the station’s afternoon and drive slots felt the main impact.
In the 12pm to 4pm slot – which takes in Josh Szeps’ 12.30pm to 3.30pm Afternoons show – the broadcaster fell to a 4.7 per cent audience share (down 2.1 percentage points), significantly behind the 12.3 per cent share (down 0.7 percentage points) of the slot’s leader SmoothFM.
In the all-important 4pm to 7pm slot – which takes Richard Glover’s 3.30pm to 6.30pm Drive show – the station dropped to a 6.8 per cent audience share (down 2.5 percentage points) to fall further behind the slot’s leaders, KIIS’ Will & Woody (10.7 per cent share, up 0.1 percentage points).
To make things worse for the public broadcaster, its main news rival 2GB* bounced back from last survey’s losses with significant bumps across its daily programs.
2GB presenter Ben Fordham reclaimed his breakfast lead.Credit:Yianni Photography
Breakfast presenter Ben Fordham – who saw his perennial wins in the 5.30am to 9am slot surprisingly usurped by KIIS’ Kyle and Jackie O last survey – snatched back the overall breakfast lead with a 15.7 per cent audience share (up 0.9 percentage points), over Kyle and Jackie O’s 14.8 per cent audience share (down 0.1 percentage points).
In the 9am to 12pm morning slot, Ray Hadley also saw his audience share shoot back up to a hefty 15.9 per cent (up 2.6 percentage points).
Overall, 2GB maintained its lead as Sydney’s top radio station with a 12.5 per cent audience share (up 0.9 percentage points), ahead of KIIS (11.6 per cent audience share, up 0.3 percentage points) and SmoothFM (10.4 per cent audience share, up 0.1 percentage points).
Nine Radio’s head of content Greg Byrnes said, “These are stunning results and we thank our listeners for tuning in each day… There will be no let-up, with our on-air teams continuing to be a trusted source of live and local news and entertainment right through summer.”
Fordham called the result an “early Christmas present for the hard-working team at 2GB”.
“We go the extra mile for our listeners and appreciate the loyalty. For the breakfast show, we’re humbled to win the ratings year again, as we did last year. Don’t believe the spin from elsewhere, 2GB Breakfast is the number one show in Sydney.”
While downcast about ABC Sydney’s year-end dip, station manager Steve Ahern said the network’s on-demand listening figures were up and he remained confident in the station’s offerings for next year.
“While it’s disappointing to end the year a little down, we don’t believe this survey represents any longer-term trends,” Ahern said. “We’ve had some strong programming over the year and enter 2023 with a reinvigorated lineup, welcoming Sarah Macdonald into Mornings, Indira Naidoo into Evenings, and Suzanne Hill into Nightlife.”
There was minor movement among the other stations to close out the year, and a healthy boost for WSFM in fourth place which boosted its overall audience share up to 8.7 per cent (up 1 percentage point).
WSFM also saw lifts for Jonesy & Amanda in breakfast (8.8 per cent audience share, up 0.7 points), and in the 4pm to 7pm drive slot which takes in Steve Fitton’s 2pm to 6pm show. Fitton helped the station’s audience share in the drive slot rise to 9.2 per cent – up 2.4 percentage points, among the survey’s biggest gains.
Tuesday’s final ratings took in the period from September 25 to December 3.
*2GB is owned by Nine Entertainment, which also owns this masthead.
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