Radio station 3AW* maintains its dominance in the second ratings survey for 2023 with 16.3% of available listeners, with Gold in second place with 11.6%. ABC Melbourne rose slightly to 6.2 per cent from a record low of 5.8 per cent in the previous survey.
ABC Melbourne’s biggest improvement came in the morning hours (9am to noon), with its average audience increasing from 51,000 to 59,000.
ABC Drive host Raf Epstein temporarily replaced Virginia Trioli on ABC Mornings.Credit: abc
Overall, slightly fewer people listened to the radio in this survey (from 5 February to 1 April) than in the previous survey, with an average of 514,000 people listening (down from 522,000) in any given quarter of an hour during the survey period .
While that’s a welcome boost for ABC, it comes in the absence of morning show host Virginia Trioli. Trioli was on leave over the summer and was due to return in March, but the leave was extended for personal reasons. Throughout the investigation, she was chaired by Ali Moore and driver Raphael Epstein.
Trioli is back in her seat for the first time this year (she returns on Monday), and all eyes will be on how audience numbers fluctuate from one poll to the next.
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During Epstein’s morning session, various hosts have been driving (4pm to 7pm) and the average viewership has also increased (from 30,000 to 35,000), which may indicate the benefit of the impromptu reshuffling of the live stream . However, it should be noted that an instance does not necessarily represent a trend.
The only ABC time slot that lost listeners was the breakfast time slot (5.30am to 9am), with an average drop of 5,000 listeners compared to the previous average audience of 55,000. The numbers coincide with the only permanent change to the ABC radio program this year, with comedian Charlie Pickering taking over the Friday breakfast slot. Comedian and satirist Sammie J remains host Monday through Thursday.
Average listener share fell in every time slot, including the morning show, hosted by Gold’s unsung hero Craig “Huggy” Huggins. The average audience for his slot fell by 14,000 to 88,000.
