Newstalk ZB crowned most popular Auckland commercial radio station

Rachel Smalley from Newstalk ZB. Photo / Supplied

Newstalk ZB has retained its crown as the most popular commercial radio station in Auckland, according to the latest TNS New Zealand independent survey.

TNS today released its independent radio survey results, prepared for NZME. and several other broadcasters. MediaWorks did not participate in the survey but its stations' audiences were measured.

Newstalk has increased its share of commercial radio listening in Auckland to 13.7 per cent, according to the survey conducted between February 21 and April 4 this year.

The flagship NZME. station now has 176,200 different Auckland listeners every week, compared to the Edge's 157,300, Coast's 130,000, Hits' 99,800, RadioLive's 74,700 and Radio Hauraki's 41,700.

A TNS survey last year found that Newstalk had the most Auckland listeners, with 178,000, or 13. 4 per cent of the market, tuning in every week.

Coast has increased its share of listeners from 7.8 per cent last year to 10.4 per cent.
ZM has consolidated its 4.5 per cent share of the Auckland market, while the Edge has dropped from 7.7 per cent market share to 6.1 per cent.

In Wellington, the latest results show MediaWorks' The Breeze has the most unique listeners every week, with 45,800, compared to ZM's 39,100, Edge's 37,600 and Newstalk's 34,500.

The Breeze claims 16.1 per cent of listeners in Wellington, compared to Newstalk ZB's 15.2 per cent.

Radio Sport has more than doubled its Auckland audience, from a 1.4 per cent market share last year, to 2.9 per cent.

In Christchurch, Newstalk has 14.8 per cent of listeners, ahead of More FM's 14.5 per cent.

Figures for total national audiences have been provided to the subscriber networks but not been released publicly.

PwC New Zealand has performed procedures to establish the robustness and independence of the methodology and process applied to produce the survey results.

Radio survey result (app users tap here)