The latest radio figures have shown an increase of listeners for Triple J in their key demographic of 18-24 year olds. In the first survey of the year for the period of 28th October to 1st December, 2012 and 20th January to 23rd February, 2013 (which includes the time frame of the Hottest 100), the youth radio station has had an increase in listeners in the 18-24 year old bracket in both Perth and Sydney as well as increases in other states.
While the station has experienced record breaking results with an average of 1.784 million total listeners tuning in to Triple J across Australia weekly, which according to Triple J Manager Chris Scaddan, means “there are more people listening to Triple J now than at any point in the station’s history.”
The pleasing results from the survey conducted by Nielsen (as The Music points out) show that in Sydney the Triple J listenership for their target demographic increased by 7.8% making them the leader for the 18-24 age group with a total market share of 19.7%. The station also recorded the highest listeners for the 25-39 age group. Perth, which was another of their strongest states, gained a huge 8.4% with a total share of 28.2% of the age bracket.
In both Adelaide and Brisbane, Triple J had an increase in weekend listeners growing 3.5% to a 8.5% market share and 1.9% to a 9.2% share respectively. Other wins included a number two position with 25-39 year olds in Sydney and Melbourne and a number one position across the 18-39 year old age bracket.
The positive results for Triple J are much needed after a disappointing 2012 with the second radio survey of last year showing disappointing decreases for the youth broadcaster. In May last year they suffered drops in almost all categories with Perth being the only state or territory gaining an increase in listeners.
“That’s a Triple J record. There are more people listening to Triple J now than at any point in the station’s history.” – Chris ScaddanSpeaking in an interview with Radio Today Triple J manager Chris Scaddan noted the landmark cumulative effective of the new radio figures. “All up this survey, we’ve achieved a 5 city average weekly reach of 1.784 million listeners. That’s a triple j record. There are more people listening to triple j now than at any point in the station’s history,” says Scaddan.
While he was pleased about the rising trends among the 25-39 age group, the younger audience was still the broadcaster’s main focus group.
“We love that we’ve got a strong audience older than that and they’re very important to our overall figures. We know that older fans come back to us over summer and for the Hottest 100. But every decision we make is based around what works for 18-24,” said Scaddan.
While it may be natural to view the trend in rising listeners as coinciding with the airing of the Hottest 100, Scaddan emphasised that listeners not forget that the time period of the survey included November results and that it is “it’s also a testament to our regular programming.” November is home to Triple J’s ‘Ausmusic Month’ and the results show an audience appreciation for the homegrown music focus heard across this month.
While it is easy to get swept up in the hype of positive ratings, Scaddan told Radio Today that the station does not solely use the ratings as a measure of audience satisfaction, commenting that: “we treat the ratings as just one way we judge our audience.”
“We’ve got just under 600,000 Facebook fans – no other network comes close to that. Our Youtube videos clock up hundreds of thousands of views. We get thousands of text messages every day. We piece it all together to get a realistic view of how our audience is going,” noted Scaddan on how the station assess audience feedback.
“We pay more attention to the way the audience engages with us daily online, on the air through SMS and talkback and through our live events like the upcoming One Night Stand,” referring to Triple J’s free all-ages concert that yesterday locked in a location for 2013, with music fans invited to Dubbo, New South Wales to hear the all-Australian lineup of The Rubens, Flume, Ball Park Music and Seth Sentry.
