RADIO RATINGS ANALYSIS is a complex task, as we’ve been saying. For radio station promotion departments getting their quarterly analysis in Canada's five largest markets, it's about toying with the numbers — age, gender, time of day, relative growth — until your station becomes number one, or at least number one in categories advertisers like.
But what about longer-term trends? We took Numeris top-line ratings data over the past seven years to capture portraits of stations in those five major markets who made changes to their programming, and what happened to their audience as a result.
For the sake of a fair comparison, and because they're the only numbers published directly by Numeris, we're using their top-line PPM numbers, which count all listeners in a central market, regardless of age or gender. Some stations may be happy with a change that reduces their overall rating in exchange for a boost in a target demo. And some changes in ratings could be due to many factors not considered here. We're not necessarily proposing a cause-and-effect link, just showing what happened.
Last week we looked at Calgary and Edmonton – and before that, Vancouver. Today, Toronto.
93.5 The Move (CFXJ-FM)
In 2014, this station was sold by Bell to Newcap, and the early ratings were positive as it pulled away from its closest competitor, G98.7, with a 3.1 share in spring 2015. But over the past two years, since shortly after shifting from a rhythmic AC to a rhythmic CHR format, and with an increased focus on hip hop in the past year, it has lost two thirds of its audience, and now is neck and neck with G98.7. Check the chart here.
Boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM)
Newcap's other acquisition from Bell has done much better, however. From a 5.6 share before the transfer of ownership to an 8.1 share since. This summer, it was the second-highest-rated station overall in Toronto, just behind CHFI.
Zoomer Radio (CFZM)
This ZoomerMedia pop standards AM station got approval for a low-power FM retransmitter covering downtown Toronto. Since it launched in August 2015, the station's share has improved by about a point, from a 3.4 average before to a 4.4 average since.
Click here for our pop/AC chart.
Indie 88 (CIND-FM)
The independent indie rock station that took over the old CKLN frequency started with a 0.4 share shortly after launching in 2013, and worked its way up to a peak of 2.6 in spring 2016, but it has been sliding since and has settled around 1.0. While that's still last place among the music stations, its main music competitor, 102.1 The Edge, has also seen recent ratings declines, too, our chart shows.
Watch for our look at the Montreal market next.
