Nationally, New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), New Zealand's largest multi-media company, has paid tribute to the radio hosts listeners are flocking to.
In the latest results of the GfK independent commercial radio survey, NZME's Newstalk ZB grew its dominance of the commercial radio networks. Its multi-award-winning hosts Mike Hosking and Marcus Lush are streets ahead of their competition.
While in music, ZM is another big NZME winner. ZM has won the fierce battle to be the No 1 station for Kiwi 18 to 34-year-olds. ZM's breakfast hosts Fletch, Vaughan and Megan also topped the charts to be the No 1 breakfast show with 18 to 34-year-olds#.
The fantastic ratings result complements the nine awards ZM picked up at the NZ Radio Awards last week, including Station of the Year and Best Music Breakfast Show.
"To deliver such amazing survey results after our on-air teams led the way at the New Zealand Radio Awards last week, is incredibly pleasing," said NZME's group director of entertainment Dean Buchanan.
"Not only do ZM's Fletch, Vaughan and Megan have the best Breakfast Show in New Zealand, they have won over more than 20,000# new listeners in three months, that's quite simply a brilliant result. NZME and our partner stations now dominate the Auckland radio market, and nationwide more than 2 million Kiwis tune in every week," Buchanan said.
NZME's head of commercial Matt Headland said: "There are so many more examples of results we're incredibly proud of today. This is a brilliant time to be a part of the NZME story, to showcase NZME's talent and share those stories with our clients.
"It's great to see some super-charged growth in our 25–54 audiences too, with every NZME network growing in popularity with these listeners. It's an incredible result for all of our people including those behind the scenes supporting our on-air teams to deliver shows our audiences are loving," said Headland.
"Combine these radio audiences with our digital capability and growing print readership you can see what a powerful proposition NZME is for our clients."
NZME managing editor Shayne Currie is pleased with the new Newstalk ZB listeners who've become loyal ones.
"Thousands of New Zealanders have turned to Newstalk ZB during recent big stories, they've stayed with the network and now they're being joined by even more listeners. ZB is now No 1 in its Early Edition, Breakfast, Drive, Nights, Overnights and Weekendsacross New Zealand. That's a sensational place to be."
NZME CEO Michael Boggs attributes the radio audience growth to a relentless focus on having the best hosts on the right brands building meaningful and lasting connections with listeners.
"We've put new shows in place with hosts like Kerre McIvor and Heather du Plessis-Allan soon to be joined by Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford on Newstalk ZB. Tracey Donaldson's joined Mix. Mike Puru and Anika Moa have teamed up with Stacey Morrison on Hits drive, Laura McGoldrick's joined Hits Breakfast, Mel Homer and Jason Tikao (JT) on Coast and Darryl-Mathew Suasua and Astley Nathan (Daz and Ast) on Flava.
"They've all joined an incredibly classy group of extremely talented and highly professional broadcasters, many who were recognised at the radio awards recently. It's no wonder their hard work is being recognised by our most important judges – our listeners," said Boggs.
"I'm also delighted with the growth of NZME's streaming service iHeart Radio. iHeart now boasts just over 878,000 registered users. In May it clocked up a massive 3.4 million listening hours," said Boggs.
"These commercial survey results also give the radio industry plenty to celebrate. Nearly 3.4 million^ New Zealanders, that's nearly 80 per cent of us, listen to commercial radio each week and they're listening on average for 17 hours a week. Radio is delivering incredibly engaged audiences for advertisers all around New Zealand," said Boggs.
Hawke's Bay highlights:
The Hits gained listeners across Hawke's Bay in 10+ demographic
The Hits gained listeners across Hawke's Bay key demo 25-44
The Hits gained listeners across Hawke's Bay key demo MGS
Coast increases listeners all 10+ across Hawke's Bay
Coast increases breakfast listeners across Hawke's Bay
ZM gained listeners in demo 18-34
Flava gained over 1000 additional listeners in the 18-34 demo
Flava breakfast gained 1500 listeners, making them No 1 hip hop/R&B in Hawke's Bay
ZB listeners 10+ gained 2400 listeners in Hawke's Bay
ZB Breakfast with Mike Hosking gained over 2000 listeners in Hawke's Bay*
Radio Sport gained listeners in all 10+, remaining the region's No 1 sport radio brand
Hauraki has gained listeners in 25-44 audience, making this the perfect radio partner for sport
NZME listener combo increased in audience 10+, with markable increases in demo 18-34, 25-44 & 25-54
Source:
GfK Radio Audience Measurement, Commercial Radio Stations, Hawke's Bay Survey 2 2019, Commercial Share (%), Mon-Sun 12mn-12mn, People 10+, unless otherwise stated. Any comparisons made are done with GfK Survey 1 2019, unless otherwise stated:
*Hawke's Bay 2 2019, Cumulative Audience (000s), Mon-Fri 6am-9am, People 10+, unless otherwise stated.
# Total NZ 2/2019, (NB: Waikato Survey 3 2017), AP 10+ Mon-Fri 6am-9am, Cumulative Audience
^ Total NZ 2/2019, (NB: Waikato Survey 3 2017), AP 10+ Sun-Sat 12mn-12mn, Cumulative Audience
