Month: November 2024

Audiences across the ABC’s podcast slate grew by 51,000 listeners in October according to the Triton Podcast ranker release today.

The ABC had more titles featured than any other publisher and was the third most listened to publisher in Australia last month.

October was a strong month for news titles and the ABC had the number 1 and number 2 most listened to news titles (ABC News Top Stories and News Top Stories). These titles also performed strongly in the overall list with ABC News Top Stories at number 3 position and ABC News Daily recording its biggest audience of the year landing at number 10.

The ABC’s most recent true crime series Unravel: Mr Big landed at number 39 on the October list after the full series was released.

Hosted by ABC reporter Alicia Bridges, Unravel: Mr Big investigates a secretive crime boss caught on tape touting his corrupt connections to police and the courts. But like the recording which sparked the investigation, nothing is what it seems.

ABC Director Audio Ben Latimer said: “The results from October once again demonstrate the ABC’s trusted role in delivering news and information to Australian audiences”.

“The ABC is now turning our focus to our summer broadcast plans to ensure audiences have enough first run and favourite content to see them through the break.”

The full Triton Australian Podcast Ranker can be found here.

Audiences can enjoy all the ABC’s podcasts for free and ad free on ABC listen.

The Australian Podcast Ranker is a regular monthly snapshot of Australia’s most popular podcasts. The Ranker has been reporting podcast listening in Australia since 2019 and includes a wide cross section of Australian podcast publishers, from both radio and non-radio backgrounds.

BUT WERE THEY TOO ENTERTAINING FOR AUSTRALIA’S TAX ACCOUNTANTS?

21 November 2024

For the penultimate Hamish & Andy episode of 2024, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, plus 300 conference delegates (aka listeners), descended on the RACV Royal Pines Resort Gold Coast for a unique conference event called ConCon.

Run over two days, ConCon was planned to be packed with ‘insightful’ business education sessions, delegate networking opportunities, premium biscuits, and expert-led discussions. But did Hamish and Andy’s audacious plan to host a business conference prove too entertaining for Australia’s tax accountants?

The latest episode from Hamish & Andy reveals all from ConCon and answers some burning questions:

Were there enough biscuits for the Biscuit Hour at ConCon?

Hamish: “Biscuit hour, absolutely rocking out there.”

Andy: “There’s a lot of biscuits.”

Andy: “Man, they’ve got a replenishment team. They’re like ball boys.”

Hamish: “Once I saw all the biscuits in the flesh or in the crumb, I went, it’s possible, and I’m not saying it is true, but it’s possible we have too many biscuits!”

Did the presentations successfully educate the delegates of more than 100 industries?

Hamish: “Pretty powerful stuff.”

Hamish to Jack: “Have you just printed out ChatGPT?”

Did Conrad Sewell’s ‘re-worked’ song go off without a hitch?

Conrad: “I am in no way here to entertain, um, I have a message to deliver, and it’s purely educational.”

To listen to exactly what happened at ConCon on the penultimate Hamish & Andy episode for 2024, click here. Download the LiSTNR app and sign-up to listen for free. To access pictures from Hamish & Andy’s ConCon conference click here.

 

About LiSTNR:

LiSTNR is a curated and personalised, free app offering radio, podcasts, music, and sport, creating a new audio destination for all Australians. Featuring a fun and intuitive onboarding process, LiSTNR delivers an audio destination that is built for individual listeners’ routines and preferences. Highly personalised, it provides listeners a new world of audio entertainment, with their own daily feed of audio and easy discovery of new content through curated recommendations. Available across a large array of devices including both iOS and Android, CarPlay and Android Auto, Google Assistant and Alexa and Android TV, LiSTNR enables a fantastic listening experience, anytime and anywhere. Open your Ears to a new world of audio – download the free app today. LiSTNR.com

“I can play Spotify but I can’t find my local radio station”

Digital Listening Habits Transform Radio Landscape

AM, FM and DAB+ radio transmission are not going anywhere, at least in the short term. But the same can’t necessarily be said for radio audiences.

So where are they going?

They’re not leaving altogether – community radio audiences are staying strong. In 2024 community radio reaches almost 5.2 million weekly listeners – up almost 10 per cent on 2023. (note: this is not necessarily a trend).

But the way audiences are tuning in to radio is evolving, and fast.

People are increasingly listening to online streams, podcasting and on-demand catch-up audio.

Smart Speakers Replacing Traditional Radios

Sales and ownership of “regular radios” is in decline. This Christmas the tree is much, much more likely to have a smart speaker wrapped underneath these holidays. Smart speaker ownership has doubled in four years to 34%. Online streaming of radio services is increasingly popular. Radio streaming among 25-54-year-olds has doubled in three years.

CBAA’s Fight for Digital Prominence

CBAA is working to support stations to reach their audiences through the maze of modern media devices. We are doing this through advocacy to influence policy settings that make sure radio is readily available in the future and by providing easy and affordable tools to help your station be competitive in the modern audio marketplace.

New legislation is being proposed by the Federal Government to secure the prominence of local radio services on smart speakers. This is really important to make sure listeners can easily access local radio services for free on audio devices. It is a vital safeguard to ensure these devices don’t unfairly prioritise streaming services or other sources of audio over local, licenced broadcasters.

CBAA is working closely with Amazon’s Australian staff to increase the audio command skills of Amazon Alexa to provide consumers with easy access to diverse community radio station services from the source. At the moment however, Apple and Google devices take listeners to a stream provided by third party app TuneIn – which add their own ads to your stream.

We don’t think smart speaker provides should be able to add their own, or a third party’s broadcasting, advertising or other content to your station’s stream, not without the consent of the station anyway.

Protecting Local Radio in Cars

We are also working with ABC, SBS and commercial radio to include devices in cars. In-car radio listening is really significant and streaming radio listening in cars rose by 75% in two years to 28%.

Read CBAA’s Submission: Radio Prominence on Smart Speakers

AM,FM and DAB+ remain the dominant form of listening in 2024. But technology is changing fast and we want to make sure stations relationship with listeners is future-proof.

Four Steps to Future-Proof Your Station

CBAA is keen to help you navigate these changes at the station level too.

So, what can you do to make sure your service is best practice on internet connected audio devices?

• Have a secure stream. Smart speakers require secure streams. If your station needs help to establish a secure stream, contact CBAA and we can provide one for you as we already do for 96 stations.
• Having a modern, always up-to-date and user-friendly website to help listeners access your online stream and on-demand content.
• Make sure your radio meta-data is up to date. This is the digital information that helps audiences find your station on digital devices and provides your station name, now playing information and other information audiences want to see on visual displays. CBAA can assist you to do this for Community Radio Plus, Alexa and Sonos smart speakers. Update your info here.
• Promote the Community Radio Plus App – it is free, exclusively for community radio and you can access the listener data via our dashboards. We have a new competition running with everything you need to promote listening on your station here.

Learn more about how to Grow your Listener Audience Online by viewing our recent webinar.

The Australian Podcast Ranker has been released by Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) and Triton Digital. Below are the top five charts for October. The complete charts can be viewed here.

Australian Podcast Ranker top five podcasts October 2024
Podcast		Producer	Monthly Listeners
1	Hamish & Andy	LiSTNR (SCA)	934,394
2	Casefile True Crime	Audioboom	771,026
3	ABC News Top Stories	Australian Broadcasting Corporation	747,728
4	Shameless	Shameless Media	593,270
5	Mamamia Out Loud	Mamamia	564,874

 

Australian Podcast Ranker top five genres October 2024
Genre		Monthly Listeners
1	Society & Culture	4,763,761
2	True Crime	4,301,686
3	News	3,935,066
4	Comedy	3,529,201
5	Sports	3,220,169

 

Australian Podcast Ranker top five podcast publishers October 2024
Publisher		Monthly Listeners
1	ARN/iHeart	4,565,128
2	LiSTNR (SCA)	3,218,488
3	Australian Broadcasting Corporation	2,766,661
4	SiriusXM Podcast Network	2,346,084
5	Audioboom	2,142,632

 

Top five sales representatives by monthly listeners October 2024
Sales representatives		Publishers represented	Listeners
1	LiSTNR (SCA)	LiSTNR (SCA), Schwartz Media, SiriusXM Podcast Network, audiochuck, Wondery, DM Podcasts, NBC Universal News Group	7,297,145
2	ARN / iHeart	ARN, iHeartMedia, Audioboom, AdLarge Media, Sport Social Podcast Network, The Athletic, The Investors Podcast Network, All Ears English, Sony Music, Clubby Sports, NZME, TED, Johns Media	6,819,070
3	NOVA Entertainment	NOVA Entertainment, News Corp Australia, Podshape	2,667,123
4	News Corp Australia	News Corp Australia	1,770,195
5	Nine	Nine Radio, Nine Publishing	1,373,444

LiSTNR has teamed up with Cold Chisel to document the explosive history of Australia’s most loved rock band. In a LiSTNR exclusive, the band tell their remarkable story in their own words in a five-part audio docuseries titled Cold Chisel, hosted by The Superjesus’ Sarah McLeod.

Made in partnership with Cold Chisel, the docuseries features brand-new, in-depth interviews with original band members Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss, Phil Small and Don Walker and drummer Charley Drayton, who took over from the late Steve Prestwich. Covering pivotal moments of the band’s history, the series explores the highs and lows of their extraordinary story including their reflections on the legendary The Last Wave of Summer comeback tour in 1998, which Jimmy Barnes struggled through. “I was pretty out of it and wild and had a death wish,” Barnes said. “But I’d get into the middle of Cold Chisel singing and that was the only time I felt comfortable. It must have been painful for the guys to be around. I was like a Tasmanian devil, I just never stopped.”

Cold Chisel has sold over seven million albums and are currently thrilling audiences of all ages on their The Big Five-O national tour. The tour has sold over 120,000 tickets and follows their recent no.1 compilation album 50 Years – The Best Of.

“This podcast is OUR story, from late 1973 through to today,” says Cold Chisel frontman, Jimmy Barnes. “It’s warts and all, highs and lows, as told by us and by some of our friends and colleagues who joined us on the ride. 50 friggin years! Who would have thought it? We certainly didn’t.

“And it’s brilliantly hosted by our good friend, Sarah McLeod. Strap yourself in.”

Sarah McLeod fronts the ARIA-winning band The Superjesus, which is opening for Cold Chisel on their current tour as they play sold-out shows across Australia. “I’ve always felt a connection with Cold Chisel,” McLeod said. “Not just because their songs speak to me, as they do most Australians, but also because we’re also from Adelaide and The Superjesus were signed to WEA, the same label as Chisel.

“We were signed by Chisel’s tour manager Mark Pope, who would tell us colourful stories about life on the road with them. We admired the band, their grit, rock n’ roll stamina and fortitude to do it their own way. They are the real deal, a proper rock band. To watch them re-emerge all these years later has been inspiring to witness, it’s such a killer story, so of course I want to tell it!”

LiSTNR Music Features Journalist, Cameron Adams, said: “Doing extensive interviews with the band and people in their orbit has been eye-opening. This is a wild story – incredible highs and devastating lows. They also made some incredible business moves, including owning all their own music and setting a career blueprint for other artists to follow. It is also a testament to a band who knew they had something special and always played by their own rules.”

Executive Head of LiSTNR Audience and Growth, Grant Tothill, said: “There are not many Australians who haven’t listened to Cold Chisel’s music. To be able to work so closely with the band and management – John O’Donnell and John Watson – to create this audio docuseries is a real honour.

“Cold Chisel tells the story of the band from the early days in Adelaide through to the moment everything changed. From constant rejection, and not being able to afford to eat, to becoming one of Australia’s most loved and successful bands that are still together after 50 years. Even if you think you know the story, I can assure you, you don’t know it until you’ve listened to all five episodes and discover what’s special about Cold Chisel and why they keep coming back together to create live performances that are intoxicating.”

Episodes one and two of Cold Chisel are available now exclusively on LiSTNR. Download the LiSTNR app and sign-up to listen for free. Three subsequent episodes will be released over the following weeks.

 

Cold Chisel, LiSTNR’s exclusive audio docuseries, explores:

• Cold Chisel being rejected by every record label in Australia for having “no commercial potential” before being signed for $700.
• The Australian classic song Khe Sanh being banned from radio due to offensive lyrics and the song’s producer revealing whether Chisel recorded a ‘clean’ version.
• Chisel imploding on their first American tour in 1981 after having to start from scratch and battle indifference and homesickness.  “When you’re in business class in your home country and you have to go back to the back of the bus it’s undignified…maybe ego plays part of it,’ says tour manager Mark Pope.
• The tensions that led to Cold Chisel splitting in 1983, after the fractured recording of the No.1 album Twentieth Century and the legendary Last Stand farewell tour. “It was a relief for me because the band was an unhappy place,” Don Walker says. “I was angry about a lot of things. I thought we should have been the biggest band in the world. I thought that had been sabotaged. It was an overwhelming relief for me to get away from it.”
• Cold Chisel’s surprise reformation for The Last Wave of Summer comeback tour and album – which Jimmy Barnes struggled through. “I was pretty out of it and wild and had a death wish. But I’d get into the middle of Cold Chisel singing and that was the only time I felt comfortable. It must have been painful for the guys to be around. I was like a Tasmanian devil, I just never stopped.”
• The tragic passing of the band’s original drummer Steve Prestwich – and Chisel’s decision to carry on “As time went on,” bassist Phil Small says, “everyone just sort of felt that if Steve was here, he’d probably would want us to continue.”
• The band recruiting powerhouse drummer Charley Drayton, whose wife – the late Divinyls frontwoman Chrissy Amphlett – would make an emotional appearance on stage with Cold Chisel. “When she walked out on stage, I’d never heard an applause like it. The place went apeshit, it was incredible, and she felt it and that was exactly what she needed. I was there with her guidance to look out for Chisel, and they were there for me to look out for me for us all having to let Chrissy go.”
• The modern era of Cold Chisel, releasing more chart-topping albums and undertaking huge tours while finding a new way to work together. “These days we’re very careful of each other, to the best of our capacity,” Don Walker says. With each of us our top skill is not social. I don’t think we could be a full-time band again. That wouldn’t go well at all.”
• The future of Cold Chisel after their 50^th anniversary. “I don’t see this as the last tour at all,” Jimmy Barnes says. “I see it as a gateway to what we’re going to do until we hit eighty.”

About LiSTNR:

LiSTNR is a curated and personalised, free app offering radio, podcasts, music, and sport, creating a new audio destination for all Australians. Featuring a fun and intuitive onboarding process, LiSTNR delivers an audio destination that is built for individual listeners’ routines and preferences. Highly personalised, it provides listeners a new world of audio entertainment, with their own daily feed of audio and easy discovery of new content through curated recommendations. Available across a large array of devices including both iOS and Android, CarPlay and Android Auto, Google Assistant and Alexa and Android TV, LiSTNR enables a fantastic listening experience, anytime and anywhere. Open your Ears to a new world of audio – download the free app today. LiSTNR.com

As he calls time on an incredible 26 years, ABC Radio Sydney Drive host Richard Glover is the number 1 talk program in the Sydney Drive market according to GfK survey 7 released today.

His strong result helped boost ABC Radio Sydney to their highest share result in 2 years adding +2.3 share points for an audience share of 7.4%.

ABC Director Audio Ben Latimer said: “After giving his heart and soul to ABC Radio Sydney and his faithful drive audience for 26 years, it is fitting and greatly deserved that one of our most cherished broadcasters will finish his run at the top.”

Richard’s final program will be on Friday 29 November.

ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast host Sammy J also announced this week he would depart his program at the end of the year after 5 years.

This morning, Sammy welcomed journalist Sharnelle Vella and former AFL captain Bob Murphy onto the program to announce them as the new program hosts for 2025.

“It is a community of listeners that listen every single day and I just want you to know we’re going to take care of them,” Sharnelle told Sammy.

“It’s a privilege to join the ABC and to be able to have a conversation with the city that’s been my home my entire life.”

Bob referred to the role as that of “custodians”, adding their “patch to the great quilt of Brekky on ABC”.

Sharnelle and Bob will start on the program in January.

 

B105 Brisbane: #1 STATION and #1 BREAKFAST SHOW

Triple M is Adelaide’s #1 BREAKFAST SHOW

THE FOX is Melbourne’s #1 DRIVE SHOW

SCA continues to win the ‘audience that matters’, having secured a record-breaking 27^th consecutive win^ of the key 25-54 buying demographic to maintain its position as Australia’s no.1 25-54 radio network* in today’s GfK Radio360 Metro Survey #7 2024 results. In addition, SCA’s Hit Network was again no.1 for women 25-54, while the Triple M network was no.1 for men 25-54.

SCA’s Hit and Triple M metro station wins for Survey 7 include:

#1 Brisbane Station and #1Breakfast show – B105 and Stav, Abby & Matt

#1 and #2 Brisbane radio stations – B105 and Triple M Brisbane

#1 Melbourne Drive show – The Fox’s Carrie & Tommy

#1 Adelaide Breakfast show – Triple M Adelaide’s Roo, Ditts & Loz

SCA Chief Content Officer, Dave Cameron, said: “Today sees more stunning results for SCA Brisbane, with both B105 and Triple M remaining the city’s number one and two stations and Stav, Abby & Matt achieving seven out of seven number one Breakfast results in 2024.

“In Melbourne, Australia’s most competitive radio market has seen The Fox and Triple M both increase their share, with another extraordinary growth result for Fifi, Fev & Nick up once again in Breakfast as Melbourne listeners continue to insist on family-friendly fun and intensely local and loved personalities to wake up to. And now with the local laughs being dialled up even more with Mick Molloy’s return to Breakfast radio on Triple M with Nick Riewoldt, Titus O’Reily and Rosie Walton, 2025 in Melbourne is going to be an unbelievably exciting year for local shows to fire.

“In coming weeks, we will announce our exciting Sydney approach that will see SCA delivering Sydney-based Breakfast shows that are super focused on our local listeners, as SCA proudly leads the charge of driving new voices for the industry. With so little change in two decades, Sydney is a market that is simply screaming for a fresh approach to Breakfast entertainment.

“Triple M’s Roo, Ditts & Loz continue to dominate Adelaide with their 17^th consecutive win as Adelaide’s number one FM Breakfast show, and we are excited to now deliver a fun and fresh approach to SAFM Breakfast in 2025 with Bernie & Emma G.

“We are well advanced with our plans for 2025 on both Triple M and the Hit network. Many changes are already announced and on-the-air, and we will have other key announcements over coming weeks to maintain our domination in the 25-54 audience that matters right across the country.”

SCA Chief Commercial Officer, Seb Rennie, said: “Today’s results once again prove that SCA remains Australia’s no. 1 radio network as the home of the audience that matters – 25-to-54-year-olds.

“SCA’s extensive understanding of this commercially critical buying demographic is further evidenced by our recent market update, which showed that both our metro radio and digital audio have delivered three consecutive quarters of share growth. Furthermore, SCA’s Total Audio revenue for Q1 FY25 of $100.4 million was up 4.8% compared to Q1 FY24, driven by growth of 48.2% in Digital and 1.1% in Broadcast Radio.”

Sources:

* GfK Radio 360 Metro Survey #7 2024.  P10+/P25-54/M25-54/F25-54, Mon-Sun ROS/Mon-Fri 05.30-09.00/Mon-Fri 06.00-09.00/Mon-Fri 15.00-18.00/Mon-Fri 16.00-19.00. Total Radio. Market Share/Commercial Share/Cume Reach.

^ 27 surveys since Survey #5, 2021, FM & DAB+.

** GfK Radio Ratings. Metro Survey 7, 2024. Melbourne – Friday 1800-2230, Saturday 1200-2230, Sunday 1300-1930. Adelaide – Friday 1730-2200, Saturday 1130-2200, Sunday 1230-1900. Perth – Friday 1745-2030, Saturday 1000-2030, Sunday 1100-1730. P10+.  Cume / Market Share %

^^ GfK Radio Ratings. Metro Survey 7, 2024. Sydney / Brisbane. – Thursday 1900-2200, Friday 1800-2000, Saturday 1200-1700, Sunday 1200-1600. P10+ / People 25-54. Cume Reach / Market Share %

 

About SCA (Southern Cross Austereo)   Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) is one of Australia’s leading media companies reaching more than 95% of the Australian population through its radio, television, and digital assets. Under the Triple M and Hit network brands, SCA owns 154 stations across FM, AM, and DAB+ radio.  SCA also provides national sales representation for 56 regional radio stations. SCA broadcasts 96 free to air TV signals across regional Australia, reaching 3.6 million people a week, with Network 10 programming and advertising representation across Australia’s East Coast, Seven Network programming in Tasmania and Darwin, and Seven, Nine and Ten programming in Spencer Gulf. SCA also features Sky News Regional in 17 markets across regional Queensland, southern NSW, and Victoria. SCA has an exclusive national sales representation agreement with WIN in northern NSW (including the Gold Coast) and TDT (Tasmanian Digital Television). SCA operates LiSTNR, Australia’s free, personalised digital audio destination for consumers featuring radio, podcasts, music, news, and sport. SCA provides Australian sales representation for global open audio platform SoundCloud and Sonos Radio. SCA’s premium brands are supported by social media, live events and digital platforms that deliver national and local entertainment, news, and sport content. www.southerncrossaustereo.com.au