Media Releases

Radio New Zealand Tops Ratings for 2012

Released at 12:16 pm on 14 January 2013

Audience figures released today show that Radio New Zealand National was New Zealand’s top rating radio station in 2012.

It’s the second year running that Radio New Zealand National has finished the year as the country’s No.1 station.

The results of the All New Zealand Radio Survey conducted by the Nielsen research company show that Radio New Zealand National had a nationwide station share of 10.5% for calendar year 2012 – well ahead of its nearest commercial rival on 8.9%.

Radio New Zealand’s flagship news and current affairs programme, Morning Report, hosted by Geoff Robinson and Simon Mercep, maintained its position as the most popular radio programme in New Zealand in 2012 with a weekly audience averaging 342,000 listeners.

Most of Radio New Zealand’s other major programmes were also No.1 in their timeslot including Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan, The Panel with Jim Mora, Checkpoint with Mary Wilson, Saturday Morning with Kim Hill, Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw, and Nights with Bryan Crump.

Radio New Zealand Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief, Peter Cavanagh, said the audience results for 2012 showed the continuing strong appetite of New Zealanders for high quality public service broadcasting.

“Pound for pound New Zealand is the most competitive radio market anywhere in the world, with more radio stations per capita than any other country.

“For a national broadcaster like Radio New Zealand - with a strong focus on in-depth news and information programming - to be the country’s No.1 radio station is a truly remarkable achievement."

Cavanagh said the strong audience figures were in keeping with Radio New Zealand’s other key performance indicators which were also among the best ever recorded.

“Public support for Radio New Zealand is the highest we’ve ever recorded, Charter approval ratings are at near record levels and we’re the clear market leader in online broadcasting.”
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Sources:
All New Zealand Radio Survey, Qtr 4 2012, nationwide among all New Zealanders aged 15+, conducted by Nielsen
Radio New Zealand Listeners Surveys, 2012, Nielsen
Value Indices Research, Colmar Brunton, 2012
To view the latest Audience Research data available for Radio New Zealand networks visit the Radio New Zealand website