Day of the Networks

AUCKLAND, Thursday: The days of indie radio stations are truly over – every winner in the latest S4 2020 GfK commercial radio survey is a network station – 12 networks in total.

The nets to stand out were Breeze, NewstalkZB, The Edge, More FM, The Rock, and ZM. The station that started it all back in 1966 – Radio Hauraki – now languishes near the bottom.

The survey (of 14,000 respondents) shows that over 3.6 million Kiwis were listening to radio every week and almost 3.4 million of those listen to commercial radio stations.

Radio Broadcasters Association ceo Jana Rangooni said: “The industry is seeing a return to normal listening patterns after the spike in talk listening due to Covid-19. The last survey for 2020 demonstrates the important role radio played in the lives of New Zealanders at a time people want news and information they can trust.”

“I leave the industry happy in the knowledge that the traditional platform remains ingrained in the daily lives of Kiwis.”

NZME ceo Michael Boggs said: “The growing popularity of digital audio platforms provides yet another opportunity for the NZ radio industry to continue to innovate for our audiences and our commercial partners.”

Outgoing Mediaworks ceo (and RBA chair) Michael Anderson said: “Although it’s been a challenging year, this latest survey demonstrates radio continuing to deliver for its audiences and advertisers.

“I leave the industry happy in the knowledge that the traditional platform remains ingrained in the daily lives of Kiwis, and through innovation there are increasing opportunities to engage audience in ways that will revolutionise the industry for future growth.”

The non commercial radio audience figures will be released later today.

More here:

• gfk.com/insights/radio-audience-measurement
• www.trb.co.nz
• mediaworks.co.nz/radio
• nzme.co.nz/news/new-radio-audiences…