Rock and footy station Triple M is the new king of Adelaide radio, taking the overall lead and also hitting the heights in the closely-watched breakfast shift.

The second GfK ratings survey of the year will have warning sirens going off in several boardrooms, including at Collinswood, with the once-dominant ABC Radio Adelaide now entrenched at the bottom of the table.

Mix, the perennial leader, will also be concerned that its long era of dominance is coming to a close.

In breakfast, Triple M’s long-running program fronted by Mark Ricciuto, Chris Dittmar and Laura O’Callaghan, is the new leader – the first time in years that either FIVEaa or the ABC haven’t won breakfast.

There’s a new leader in town: Mark Ricciuto, Laura O’Callaghan and Chris Dittmar.

Triple M toppled previous leader FIVEaa, with David Penberthy and Will Goodings’ show falling to second, with 13.6 per cent of listener share, and Triple M increasing substantially from 12.9 to 14.2.

Long-term breakfast contender ABC Radio Adelaide, fronted by Stacey Lee and Nikolai Beilharz, continued to lose audience share and now sits in equal fourth place alongside Nova. Mix’s Ali Clarke breakfast show was the second biggest improver alongside Triple M, but still sits in sixth place, only ahead of Cruise.

GfK ratings for survey 2, 2023, taken between February 5 and April 1.

Overall, Triple M took the lead with 12 per cent of listener share, just ahead of previous leader Mix on 11.9.

Nova has come in third, a drop of one spot, followed by FIVEaa, SAFM, Cruise and the ABC.

The ABC’s ratings have fallen off a cliff since the middle of last year. In August 2022 it was the overall ratings leader, plummeting to last spot in the following survey. It was ranked last of the local stations in the first survey this year.

Today’s survey, though, is a new low, with the station sinking to 7.2 per cent of audience share – badly trailing its nearest rival, the AM classic hits station Cruise, with 8.6.

GfK Adelaide radio ratings, survey 2, 2023, by shift.

The problems for the ABC are across the roster. While breakfast lost the highest amount of listener share – 2.1 per cent – there were falls in every other shift. The station is now the lowest rating of the local stations in the morning, afternoon and drive shifts. In the evenings, where it once competed healthily with FIVEaa for top spot, the national broadcaster is now a distant fourth.

The morning shift leader is now Triple M, taking the mantle from Mix. In the afternoons, Mix is hanging on to top spot, while Nova retains the lead in drive.

FIVEaa has extended its lead in evenings, with new announcer Leith Forrest putting on a healthy increase. Weekends are led by Mix, but only just ahead of Nova and Cruise.

The demographic data demonstrates where this survey was won and lost.

Triple M put on big numbers in the 40-54 age group, where it has taken the lead from Mix. The ABC is performing poorly with nearly every age demographic. It’s non-competitive in all age groups up to the age of 55. However, even with people aged 55 to 64, it’s ranked fifth.

In the eldest demographic, people aged over 65, it performs strongest, but it is losing ground with this audience as well. It remains in third place behind FIVEaa and Cruise, but lost a significant 1.9 percentage points of audience share in this survey.