Newstalk ZB continues its upward trajectory as New Zealand’s number one network in the latest GfK Commercial Radio audience survey released today.

In the battle for breakfast radio audiences, NZME wins across key audience groups with either the Newstalk ZB Mike Hosking Breakfast Show or ZM’s Fletch, Vaughan and Megan.

“ZM’s Fletch, Vaughan and Megan have further increased their lead as the number one music breakfast show across New Zealand. This is testament to the talent and hard work of the entire team” said NZME Chief Content Officer Mike McClung.

“It’s also a great result for ZM’s Bree & Clint who are now number one in their Drive show slot for the all-important 18 – 39 and 25 – 54 year-old age groups.”

“Today’s result is made even more remarkable with the news that this is the commercial radio industry’s largest ever audience at 3.5 million listeners. This is a huge achievement we can share across all of our radio brands and the industry as a whole” said NZME Chief Radio and Commercial Officer Wendy Palmer.

“The commitment of our NZME teams to creating NZ’s best local audio content is sensational and I’m confident this will continue to deliver quality and engaged audiences for our customers.”

Newstalk ZB has also delivered a record 651,200 listeners – this is the biggest audience in the history of the station.

“We feel humbled by today’s results, with ZB growing its lead as the number one network in the country” said NZME Head of Talk Jason Winstanley.

“The ZB team have worked relentlessly to deliver news, talk, information and opinion that continues to resonate with not only existing audience, but brand-new listeners too because of its broad appeal.”

NZME has again delivered strong growth with digital listening on iHeartRadio, total listening hours now over 32 million for the first half of the year, an increase of nearly 9%.

“With people listening across over 2 million devices^~, digital’s impact on radio is creating new opportunities for audiences to connect with our brands, our talent and our shows. iHeartRadio is providing more access, in more moments than ever before and is sitting at the heart of the audio renaissance we are seeing” said James Butcher, NZME Head of Digital Audio.

“Podcasting is another area of significant growth in the digital audio eco-system with downloads seeing 14% growth against the same time in 2020^{^^}. Lockdowns created new consumption habits and it’s pleasing to see those new habits not only holding but growing,” said Butcher. 

CEO Michael Boggs said NZME integrates the capability of all its platforms across audio, publishing and digital, to deliver commercial partners with increasing opportunities to connect with engaged audiences at scale.

“By leveraging NZME’s market-leading audio brands, NZ’s number one news brand in the New Zealand Herald and the OneRoof digital platform, the reach is undeniably formidable.”