NZME’s Newstalk ZB and Mike Hosking remain firmly atop the latest radio ratings, while MediaWorks will be celebrating the performance of its music stations.

While ZB has come off the peak of its last survey numbers, it is still a clear number-one across New Zealand and in many individual markets, including Auckland.

ZB has a cumulative audience of 677,600, down from 696,000 in the last survey. Its share is 14.5, down 1.2 points, but still 5.1 points ahead of second-placed The Breeze.

The Breeze has a national share of 9.4 (down 0.1 points). As well as The Breeze, MediaWorks music stations take the next five spots – More FM, The Rock, The Sound, Mai and Edge. Mai had a particularly strong performance.

The Breeze breakfast host Robert Rakete. Photo / NZ Herald

NZME said it was celebrating its results, with Newstalk ZB remaining a “firm favourite” at number one, and significant growth in audience share and listeners for The Hits and Coast.

Overall, the industry had seen growth in listenership, with more than 3.41 million Kiwis tuning in every week.

“Today’s data shows that radio continues to provide Kiwis with the information, entertainment and content they want, and as a result, we connect with 75 per cent of New Zealand each week,” said Radio Broadcasters Association (RBA) CEO Alistair Jamison.

Coast Breakfast hosts Jason Reeves, Toni Street and Sam Wallace. Photo / NZME

“Continued commercial radio listenership is not only strong in New Zealand, but globally, too,” said MediaWorks CEO Wendy Palmer.

“The UK recently reported its highest-ever commercial audience – up 8 per cent year on year, with Australia in a similar position, up 3.6 per cent year on year. It’s great to see New Zealand echoing this trend and that our audience numbers remain consistently robust, with a 1 per cent reach increase.”

“In addition to total audience numbers being so strong across commercial radio, it’s great to see Kiwis’ consumption of radio is also evolving,” said NZME CEO Michael Boggs.

“The latest data shows that almost 850,000 people are listening to digitally streamed radio at some point across a week. It’s also really positive to see growth in listening amongst 10-24 year olds.”

NZME chief radio officer Jason Winstanley said The Mike Hosking Breakfast held the top spot once again, with close to half a million listeners and a 21.1 share of the breakfast audience.

Heather du Plessis Allan is also number one in the Drive slot, nationally, as are others in their respective dayparts – Kate Hawkesby (Early Edition), Kerre Woodham (mornings) and Marcus Lush (evenings).

Despite a quieter news period and a slight softening of his ratings (down 2.2 points), Hosking’s lead is still one of the biggest he’s ever enjoyed. The closest breakfast shows nationally are The Breeze and More, each on a 7.9 share, also slightly down.

The Hits, 11th overall nationally, has continued its recent momentum, with 448,000 listeners nationwide and growing share for its sixth consecutive survey, says Winstanley. Coast also grew its listener base by more than 2 per cent to 313,000 and saw a lift in share of audience to 5.5.

The Hits breakfast hosts Jono and Ben.

Winstanley said the overall survey results showed radio continued to be an extremely strong platform – “great for the industry and advertisers, as well as audiences”.

“With digital audio listening growing exponentially and further complementing traditional radio listening, the future of the industry is bright. NZME continues to reach more than 2.0 million people across our radio and digital audio platforms, with our digital audio platform, iHeartRadio, averaging more than 6.3 million hours of listening monthly.

“We’re also really proud to have the country’s top podcast network, with one million monthly listeners and more than 52 million downloads already this year. We continue to focus on podcasting as one of the fastest-growing media platforms globally.”

• FOR MORE ANALYSIS AND MEDIA INDUSTRY STORIES, SEE TOMORROW’S MEDIA INSIDER COLUMN