Australian commercial radio continues to grow

Figures released by Australia’s latest GfK radio ratings show that the number of Australians tuning into commercial radio at breakfast across the five major metros — Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth — increased by 20% to more than 8.4 million people, compared to 7 million a year ago. 

The number of commercial drive-time listeners increased by 14% to more than 7.2 million people, while weekend listening surged nearly 16% to 9.8 million people. 

Overall, GfK Survey 6 showed nearly 12.1 million people listened to commercial radio each week, beating the high of 12 million recorded in GfK Survey 5 released in August and up from 11.2 million in GfK Survey 6 in 2021. 

“We’re thrilled that commercial radio is continuing to break audience records with each survey and is growing listeners across all parts of the day,” said Commercial Radio & Audio chief executive officer Ford Ennals. 

“Listening in the car and at work have both shown healthy increases, and breakfast radio has also roared back as Australians adapt to hybrid working arrangements.” 

Eighty-one percent of Australians aged 10+ listened to commercial radio weekly during the survey period. Commercial DAB+ stations again performed strongly with nearly 2.8 million weekly listeners, up 35% from 2.04 million a year ago. Almost 4.2 million people listened to commercial radio via a DAB+ radio, and nearly 3.6 million live streamed using mobile phones, smart speakers and PC/tablets — a 15% increase over the past year.