Nova 93.7 retains top position in GFK 2023 Survey 2: Mix 94.5 edges ahead of 96FM

Nova 93.7 flying high staying in the #1 position with the battle of Mix 94.5 and 96FM continuing for the #2 position. Stela Media’s Marianne Stelmach, who has over two decades of radio industry experience, takes a closer look at the results of the last ratings period.

#1 Overall – Nova
#1 Breakfast – Nova’s Nathan, Nat & Shaun
#1 Drive – Nova’s Kate, Tim & Joel

Nova has continued their dominance in the #1 position and continue to be #1 for all people 10 to 54 years old. Interestingly they had 3.6% and 3.5% increases for the 10 to 17 and 40 to 54 year olds consecutively. It shows the variety of their listeners. Even after a slight dip in Breakfast they are still a clear #1 and continue to lead in Afternoons, Drive, Evenings and Weekends.

Mix 94.5 will be happy to be back in the #2 position overall. They’ve had a really strong increase in all demographics and interestingly a 6.6% increase with 10 to 17 year olds. The Breakfast Show with Pete, Matt & Kymba has also moved into the #2 position just tipping 96FM. Big increases also across Mornings, Afternoon, Drive and Evenings.

Even after an overall increase of 0.8%, 96FM have slipped back to #3 position overall and are only 0.2% behind Mix 94.5. They’ve also had a strong increase with 10 to 17 year olds and 25 to 39 year olds, taking them to #2 position in this demographic. Breakfast with Clairsy and Lisa had a good 1.2% increase and are now sitting back in #3 position after Mix 94.5’s bigger increase. There’s still a big gap overall from the top 3 stations to the next 3.

6PR will be happy moving back to #4 position overall. They are #3 with 55 to 64 year olds after a 1.2% increase and overall #1 for People 65+. Breakfast with Millsy & Karl are still the #4 station after a 0.9% increase. They’ve moved to double figures and closing in on the pack. Their Afternoon program finally had their new Presenter Julie-ann Sprague commence this week.

92.9 Triple M have moved back to #5 position overall. They’ve had increases with 10 to 17 and 25 to 39 year olds. There were no increases across the sessions. Even though their cume went down slightly, they will be happy with their 365,000 weekly listeners. They have the 4th biggest weekly audience.

6IX had a slight overall decrease and have stayed in the #6 position. They had an increase with 25 to 39 year olds and a slight increase in overall cume.

People 10+
Nova – 17.2% (0.2% Increase)
Mix 94.5 – 13.1% (1.9% Increase)
96FM – 12.9% (0.8% Increase)
6PR – 6.7% (0.2% Increase)
92.9 Triple M – 6.1% (0.6% Decrease)
6IX – 3.7% (0.3% Decrease)

Breakfast
Nova’s Nathan, Nat & Shaun – 17.5% (1.1% Decrease)
Mix 94.5’s Pete, Matt & Kymba – 12.2% (1.8% Increase)
96FM’s The Bunch with Clairsy & Lisa – 12.1% (1.2% Increase)
6PR’s Millsy & Karl – 10.6% (0.9% Increase)
92.9 Triple M with Xav & Michelle – 6.8% (0.1% Decrease)
6IX’s Classic Breakfast with Rob & Nat – 3.1% (0.4% Increase)

Cume Audience
Nova is still dominating with the most amount of listeners. 702,000 is really impressive for weekly listeners. Mix 94.5 had a fantastic increase of 36,000 listeners which obviously helped them lift to #2 position overall with 96FM having a Cume increase of 7,000 listeners.

Nova – 702,000 (2,000 Decrease)
Mix 94.5 – 593,000 (36,000 Increase)
96FM – 514,000 (7,000 Increase)
92.9 Triple M – 365,000 (25,000 Decrease)
6PR – 195,,000 (4,000 Increase)
6IX – 140,000 (3,000 Increase)

Perth DAB+ Stations
Smooth FM Perth has stayed strong in the #1 position with a big gap to the rest of the stations. Oldskool 90’s Hits have moved to #2 position after 96FM 80’s had a 12,000 decrease. ABC Sport had the biggest increase of 9,000 listeners.

Smooth FM Perth (Nova) 101,000 (No Change)
Oldskool 90’s Hits (SCA) 61,000 (1,000 Decrease)
96FM 80’s (ARN) 57,000 (12,000 Decrease)
Double J 48,000 (2,000 Decrease)
Easy 80’s Hits (SCA) 46,000 (2,000 Decrease)
RnB Fridays (SCA) 43,000 (No Movement)
ABC Sport 43,000 (9,000 Increase)
Coles Radio (Nova) 37,000 (4,000 Increase)
MMM 90’s 34,000 (5,000 Increase)
Triple J Unearthed 33,000 (7,000 Decrease)
My Perth DAB Radio 30,000 (4,000 Decrease)
MMM Classic Rock (SCA) 29,000 (13,000 Decrease)
MMM 80’s 23,000 (1,000 Decrease)
ABC Jazz 21,000 (No Change)
Blender Beats 19,000 (2,000 Decrease)
MMM Country 11,000 (1,000 Increase)
KIX Digital 16,000 (6,000 Increase)

Interesting fact from the East … KIIS FM in Sydney has moved back to #2 position overall after beating 2GB last survey after dominating for 18 years. 2GB are back to #1.

This is the first GFK survey including Media Watches collecting survey data in addition to diaries.

Survey 2, 2023 was conducted by GFK for Commercial Radio Australia from 5th February to 25th February and 26th February to 1st April. No school holidays were included.

Following a 25 year career at SCA, Fairfax, Macquarie Media, ARN and Nine, Marianne Stelmach (pictured below) has launched media representation company Stela Media.