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Ratings across the Sydney network are yet to recover despite a momentary bump in the seventh survey, including for Macdonald and Glover’s shows. All shows across the Sydney station lost market share.

ABC Melbourne finished the year in seventh place, with Sydney in sixth.

After three years, Radio National is also changing its Breakfast line-up, replacing Patricia Karvelas with Sally Sara and a team of three on-air reporting staff. Across the two major markets, Karvelas finished the year on 2.5 per cent in Melbourne, up slightly on the previous survey, and 1.9 per cent in Sydney, down 0.6 percentage points.

The Kyle and Jackie O Show has endured a controversial launch into Melbourne. At the close of 2023, the station’s breakfast show, then hosted by Jase and Lauren, was ranked the third-biggest program in the market. Since their departure, and the arrival of the Sydney duo, the show has been in freefall, ending the year in eighth spot.

Meanwhile, the Nova pair has steadily risen and grown its audience, finishing the year only behind the dominant 3AW pair Russel Howcroft and Ross Stevenson. 3AW is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead.

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With its market share down and the show hitting headlines for its controversial content, KIIS owner ARN’s advertising dollars have declined. For the year until October 30, ARN’s advertising revenue was down 6 per cent, $5 million in total. While the market has suffered overall, rivals Nova (4 per cent) and Southern Cross (1.6 per cent) did not experience losses to the same extent.

The market was down 4.1 per cent overall between January to October, compared to 2023. The agency figures were shared with this masthead confidentially.

In a major upset, Smooth FM ended the year as the top station in Sydney, after Nine-owned 2GB suffered two unusually low survey periods in a row. Nova-owned Smooth finished with a 12.3 per cent share, while 2GB rose 2 percentage points to an 11.8 per cent share.

In Melbourne, 3AW was the unsurprising winner of 2024 with a 13.6 per cent share. Following 3AW was Smooth, while Gold FM finished third, marginally ahead of Nova.

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