Tag: radio audience

Cynical politics reported on world stage damage our reputation

‘Flashpoint’ in a foreign news story usually brings to mind the Middle East or the border between North and South Korea. It is not a term usually associated with New Zealand but last week it was there in headline type.

News outlets around the world carried reports of the hikoi and protests against Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, with the overwhelming majority characterising the events as a serious deterioration in this country’s race relations.

The Associated Press report carried the headline “New Zealand’s founding treaty is at a flashpoint: Why are thousands protesting for Māori rights?”. That headline was replicated by press and broadcasting outlets across America, by Yahoo, by MSN, by X, by Voice of America, and by news organisations in Asia and Europe.

Reuters’ story on the hikoi carried the headline: “Tens of thousands rally at New Zealand parliament against bill to alter indigenous rights”. That report also went around the world. So, too, did the BBC, which reaches 300 million households worldwide: “Thousands flock to NZ capital in huge Māori protest”.

The Daily Mail’s website is given to headlines as long as one of Tolstoy’s novels and told the story in large type: “Tens of thousands of Māori protesters march in one of New Zealand’s biggest ever demonstrations over proposed bill that will strip them of ‘special rights’”. The Economist put it more succinctly: “Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand”.

In the majority of cases, the story itself made clear the Bill would not proceed into law but how many will recall more than the headline? Continue reading “Cynical politics reported on world stage damage our reputation” →

An audience in the hand versus one in Neverland

I have some friendly advice for Radio New Zealand: Stick to the radio audience you know you can get, rather than the one you think you would like to have.

That advice is based on the belief that RNZ National’s cumulative audience decline from more than 700,000 in 2020 to less than 500,000 today is due in no small measure to its strategy of seeking new listeners at the expense of its old ones.

‘Old’ in this sense has two meanings. First it denotes those who has since switched elsewhere or off. Secondly it means, yes, listeners aged over 60 who are as valuable as those below it.

In both its music and talk programming, RNZ National has sought to meet social and cultural targets that are both worthy and in line with movements within New Zealand society. It plays music that supports local musicians and music production. It has interspersed te reo into its dialogue and promoted culturally diverse programming. Its subject matter, and sometimes its approach, have shifted to reflect these new emphases.

In the process it has alienated older listeners used to certain formats that reflected their interests and tastes. Continue reading “An audience in the hand versus one in Neverland” →

Radio ratings: Finely chopped, stirred and spun

Radio audience figures can be sliced and diced. Last week’s release of the first quarter’s ratings was cut so many ways that even the bobby dazzler of the chopping board Jamie Oliver would have been impressed.

NewstalkZB could afford to play it straight (almost) with figures that showed breakfast host Mike Hosking has well-and-truly eclipsed RNZ’s Morning Report as the most-listened-to programme. It stated on its website that “already king of the airwaves” Hosking has “surged to a new record of more than half a million listeners”. His 511,700 listeners – compared to Morning Report’s 429,100 – was certainly worth crowing about.

So, too, was ZB’s place as the top commercial station in the GfK commercial survey with a cumulative weekly audience of 744,000 people. That, too, topped RNZ National’s weekly audience by 117,000 listeners, although ZB wouldn’t draw the parallel because the commercial broadcasters have assiduously avoided a single radio market survey where non-commercial audiences are included in the comparisons.

However, what ZB and its sister, the New Zealand Herald, didn’t tell us was that in its biggest market – Auckland – both Hosking and the station’s overall audience  have come off the boil. The breakfast host’s share of audience in that market has dropped 4.6 percentage points to 30.3 per cent and his weekly cumulative audience is down by almost 6000 to 217,800. The station’s overall share in Auckland is down from 24.3 per cent to 21.5 per cent. Continue reading “Radio ratings: Finely chopped, stirred and spun” →