Newstalk ZB continues to dominate, ZM and The Hits celebrate strong results

Newstalk ZB continues to grow its audience share and dominate the nation’s airwaves and New Zealand Media and Entertainment’s two largest music radio stations, The Hits and ZM, also celebrated strong growth in the latest GfK Commercial Radio Survey.

The country’s number one commercial radio station for the past fifteen years*^, Newstalk ZB, grew its overall share of audience* to 15.3 percent. The Mike Hosking Breakfast holds the top spot once again, with 21.6 percent share of audience* and more than 464,000 Kiwis listening to the popular host’s hard-hitting interviews and compelling opinions on current events. Kerre Woodham’s morning show, Heather du Plessis-Allan’s drive show and Marcus Lush’s night show all took out top spots in their respective dayparts, showcasing the depth of talent that exists in the station’s line up.

Popular music stations The Hits and ZM had stellar results, with The Hits increasing its overall audience share as well as growing its listener base to now reach more than 443,000 Kiwis - its biggest ever audience^.  The station also grew listeners across its breakfast, workday^~ and afternoon shows. Led by Jono & Ben’s breakfast, more than 200,000 people tune into The Hits at breakfast, and more than 192,000 enjoy Brad Watson & Laura McGoldrick’s Drive show.

ZM has seen a boost in its overall audience share and number of listeners, with Fletch Vaughan & Hayley once again boasting the most listeners at breakfast in key demographics 18-34, 18-39, 18-49, 25-44 and 25-54. ZM’s Drive show with Bree Tomasel & Clint Roberts also celebrated strong growth in station share and listeners.

NZME’s Chief Radio Officer, Jason Winstanley says the latest results showcase how much New Zealanders enjoy the depth of talent and diversity of content that NZME’s radio stations offer.

“NZME is so proud of our broadcast radio network and we continue to deliver exceptional results, delivering on our strategic goals to grow audience market share as part of our 2023 Strategy. Winning six of the seven premier awards at the 2022 NZ Radio Awards was a highlight, and Newstalk ZB remaining untouched at number one for the past 15 years is a massive achievement.  As well as investing in our broadcast radio network, digital audio is also a huge focus for us with iHeartRadio, and we are proud to be the best in the country when it comes to digital audio and podcasting,” he says. 

NZME’s podcast network, which recently celebrated 19 nominations at the New Zealand Podcast Awards, has also hit the 50 million^# mark for annual podcast downloads, taking out the top podcast network spot for each of the last 13 months. In the latest results for October 2022, NZME celebrated 4.9 million^# monthly downloads and 822,000^# monthly listeners over the same period. NZME’s digital audio platform, iHeartRadio, saw revenue growth of 56 percent in the first half of 2022, compared to the same time last year.

NZME Chief Content Officer, Mike McClung, says the team has been working extremely hard to deliver the content that appeals to its stations’ audiences.

“Our radio stations and digital audio network are so diverse, with something for everyone of any age, and any interest.  We’re pleased that the significant effort we’ve put in over the past couple of years to improve our network has resulted in strong growth, with our audience share across NZME’s entire radio network increasing. We are looking forward to continuing this growth across our radio stations, our digital audio platform iHeartRadio, and our podcast network in 2023,” he says.

ENDS

Source: GfK Commercial RAM, S4/22, Total NZ, Cume, AP10+, M-S 12mn-12mn (unless otherwise stated). *Share. ^ historical information available on request. ~M-F 9am-3pm.  ^#NZ Triton Podranker October 2022.