Australians continue to tune into Commercial Radio in increasing numbers with more than 12.1 million listeners, while both Breakfast (up 2.6% year on year) and Drive grew their audiences (up 1.2% year on year), as revealed by the GfK Radio Survey 6.

Survey 6 also shows commercial radio continuing to attract younger audiences, with those aged 18-24 adding 2 hours 25 minutes listening year on year, tuning in for more than 12 hours a week.

“Commercial radio continues to show outstanding growth and remains an important part of the daily lives and routines of Australians, with more than 12.1 million people tuning in,” said Ford Ennals, CEO of Commercial Radio & Audio.

“The evidence of that is in the fantastic results for Breakfast, with an increase of 220,000 listeners to 8.6 million, as well as Drive, which grew 88,000 to 7.3 million.” 

As more Australians return to the office post-pandemic, Survey 6 shows healthy growth for in-car listening – up 1.6% this survey to 9.7 million – which accounts for a third of radio listening. Time spent listening in-car also increased 9 minutes.

Overall, Survey 6 has been another growth survey for commercial radio, with a 0.5% increase to more than 12.1 million across the five major metro markets – a record for Survey 6 figures. 66,000 more people tuned in this year than the same survey last year.

Streaming radio remains a popular choice and accounts for 26.3% of commercial radio listeners, while Time Spent Listening grew by 8 minutes.

The figures indicate more people are listening to their favourite commercial Breakfast shows via streaming, with 10.9% lift in listeners to more than 1.2 million.

“Commercial radio and audio continuously evolve to suit the needs of listeners – from listening on-the-go through apps, digital streaming or podcast content,” Mr Ennals said.  

“Younger audiences are continuing to listen to commercial radio in big numbers, and are leading the charge to streaming, with 35.1 % of those aged 10-24 listening that way.”

Commercial DAB+ continues to add listeners via streaming, up 5.9% (52,000) compared to the same time last year.

The ongoing success of Australian commercial radio and audio will be celebrated at the ACRAs in just over a week’s time, with a gala event at the ICC in Sydney on 14 October. The event will be the biggest ACRAs yet, as commercial radio celebrates 100 years in Australia.