Radio Ratings: Smoothfm leads Mix 106.5

After just over one year on-air DMG Radio’s new station Smoothfm has overtaken Mix 106.5 in Sydney.

Smoothfm has been hot on Mix’s heels, in the previous survey Mix was only 0.2 percentage points ahead of its much younger competitor in the overall Monday to Sunday demographic.

Smooth now sits on an overall share of 5.5% ahead of Mix 106.5’s 5%.

In breakfast both stations are sitting on 3.7% and Smooth now claims a 6.2% share of drive ahead of Mix 106.5’s 5.4%.

Mix 106.5 dropped in both important time slots, by 0.6 points in breakfast and 0.7 in drive, while Smooth stayed steady in breakfast and grew slightly by 0.3 in drive.  

In Melbourne Smoothfm 91.5 did not catch Mix 101.1. Mix has a 0.3 point lead on Smooth overall, is 1.3 points ahead in breakfast and 1.5 points ahead in drive. Smoothfm 91.5 grew only in breakfast where it now claims a 5.4% share.

Paul Jackson, DMG Radio’s group program director, said Smooth has “carved out a brilliant niche”, describing Smooth as a “darling” for DMG.

The highlight of survey five for DMG is Nova, which was the only FM station to grow in the overall 10+ demo in Sydney and Melbourne.

“Year on year Nova in Sydney is up 8.6% 2DayFM is down 7.8%, it’s never been closer we are one share point behind overall,” Jackson said.

“Fitzy & Wippa’s breakfast show is the only one going up in Sydney, we have momentum and the sands are shifting in Sydney,

“We really do feel the same trajectory moving through this year and into next, we are going to be the dominant station.”

Nova 96.9 grew overall by 0.3 points and its breakfast duo increased their share of Sydney’s listeners to 6.3%. In drive Nova 96.9 added half a point to take 8.6%.

WSFM’s Jonesy & Amanda continue to stalk 2Day FM’s Kyle & Jackie O. The gap between the two breakfast shows has narrowed again and is now at just half a point.

The figures from Nielsen’s 5^th radio survey of 2013 show Jonesy & Amanda now claim 9% of Sydney’s breakfast listeners as Kyle & Jackie O continue to lead FM breakfast on 9.5%.

Duncan Campbell, Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) national content director, said it is “exciting to see Jonesy & Amanda inch closer to the number one FM spot in Sydney and their rise in cumulative listeners”.

Dominant station 2GB jumped by 1.2 points to take 17% of the breakfast slot.

The talk-station continues to lead Sydney’s drive, sitting 1.6 points ahead of runner up 2Day FM on 10.9%.

Southern Cross Austereo’s Triple M station was dealt the largest share loss in Sydney’s drive slot, losing 1.1 points to 5.7%.

The decline continued in Melbourne where the station shed 1.1 points overall, 0.6 in breakfast and 1.3 in drive.

SCA’s chief content officer Guy Dobson said he was happy with the consistency of the Triple M network.

“We used to go up a couple – bang bang bang – and then we’d get whacked and crash,” Dobson said.

“Now we have a way more consistent format with the footballing DNA and sporting DNA … when we go down its subtle variations as opposed to massive whacks.”

Dobson described the slight drops for its Triple M and Today Network stations in Melbourne and Sydney as “subtle gradient change” and said there was “nothing to worry about”.

He said both markets were “very very tight” and expects share to rise for the Today Network in survey six and seven on the back of some below-the-line marketing, Hamish & Andy’s Happy Hour and more music during the day.

In Melbourne Triple M has maintained its title as top FM breakfast station, behind 3AW which added one point to take 19.4%.

The only FM station to grow in breakfast in Melbourne was Nova 100, adding 1.4 points to take 8.3%.

ARN’s Gold 104.3 dropped the most in the slot, losing 1.1 points to take 5.3%.

In drive FoxFM and 3AW are now tied on 11.6% after Fox lost 0.6 points to 3AW.

In Adelaide ARN’s Cruise1323 was the market’s highlight, growing more than other station in 10+.

Cruise1323 added one point to its overall share to take 8.5% and is now ahead of SCA’s SAFM and Triple M.

Cruised grew by 1.4 points in breakfast to 8.1% and grew to take 6.2% of drive.

ARN’s Mix 102.3 also continues to lead the important slots, with 14.5% of breakfast and 16.5% of drive.

Nova 91.9 lost 1.5 points in breakfast but added 1.2 to take 11.4% of drive.

In Brisbane Nova 106.9 lost its title as the market’s top station to ARN’s 97.3FM.

In Monday to Sunday 10+ share Nova dropped slightly to 12.5% allowing 97.3FM to take the lead with 13%.

There was no change to the lineup in terms of rank in both breakfast and drive where Nova 106.9 continues to lead with 11.8% and 14.9% respectively.

Nova 106.9 did lost 1.1 points in breakfast and 97.3FM is now only 0.1 points behind.

Survey five of the year has seen Perth’s 96FM drop lose 2.5 points from its drive share. The large drop has the station now on 10.1% and it has been overtaken by 92.9 and Mix 94.5.

96FM also lost 1.3 points from its share of Perth’s breakfast listeners. The drops saw the station lose 1.4 points for its overall 10+ demographic share which is now at 12.1%.

The station is now tied as top FM station in Perth with Mix 94.5.