Media Releases
RNZ continues to build trust in its 100th year
Released at 10:59 am on 27 May 2025
27 May 2025
RNZ has improved its trust result by 7 points in only six months.
The growth in trust was captured in RNZ’s latest audience survey by Verian Research, which featured a larger sample of 2000 New Zealanders. In the survey 56% agree RNZ is an organisation you can trust – up from 49% on the previous result.
RNZ Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief Paul Thompson said RNZ had a strategic focus on lifting trust levels, so it was a great to see the improvement. It is further supported by the recent AUT research report which identified RNZ is New Zealand's most trusted news brand.*
Other results from the survey show 78% believe it's important to have a public broadcaster (up two points and the highest results RNZ has achieved) and 64% believe RNZ provides a valuable service (up three points and again the highest result RNZ has achieved to date).**
Thompson said public recognition of the value of RNZ in its 100th year was pleasing and the organisation remained focused on how it could deliver more outstanding public media content.
Overall, 79% of all New Zealanders consume RNZ content each month through its channels and via its content sharing strategy with other media outlets. RNZ has had strong growth across its digital platforms with its website visits for April 2025 up 400,000 from a year ago and time spent increasing from 24 minutes to 42 minutes. However, it has experienced a decline in some of its live radio ratings.
Results in live radio, measured through the GfK Commercial Radio Survey show RNZ’s combined share (RNZ National and RNZ Concert) for Survey 1 2025 at 10.6% compared to 11.6% from the last survey,
RNZ National’s audience 10+ is 467,700 in a typical week (489,600 in the last survey),
RNZ Concert’s audience 10+ is 162,300 in a typical week (156,000 in the last survey).
Thompson said RNZ has a large and loyal audience and live radio remains important part of RNZ's stable.
"Over recent months we have worked hard to introduce improvements to RNZ National, and we will continue to do so, starting with Nights in June. We want to make sure we deliver highly quality, compelling, and informative content to our audiences.”
Thompson said while RNZ had a responsibility to provide regional, national and international news and current affairs under its Charter, the organisation is looking more at how it delivers this on live radio while growing connection with its audience.
“We are making some changes to our nightly schedule from next month that allow for more time in the early evening for live radio, for host interaction and discussion. Our research has shown that listening to live radio at nights is all about connection and we have a lot of talent to draw on to foster that sense of connection and community which is at the heart of live radio.”
Further Gfk radio survey results***
RNZ NATIONAL
| Audience | 2025 Survey 1 cumulative audience (000.0) | 2024 Survey 3 cumulative audience (000.0) | Change (000) |
| Total New Zealand | 467.7 | 489.6 | -21.9 |
| Auckland | 116.4 | 130.1 | -13.7 |
| Wellington | 74.6 | 75.1 | -0.5 |
| Christchurch | 56.4 | 51.3 | 5.1 |
| Audience/Programme | 2025 Survey 1 cumulative audience (000.0) | 2024 Survey 3 cumulative audience (000.0) | Change (000) |
| Morning Report | |||
| Total New Zealand | 333.2 | 355.3 | -22.1 |
| Auckland | 80 | 91.1 | -11.1 |
| Wellington | 55.4 | 58.4 | -3.0 |
| Christchurch | 43.1 | 37.2 | 5.9 |
| Nine to Noon | |||
| Total New Zealand | 238.8 | 258.2 | -19.4 |
| Auckland | 55.4 | 69 | -13.6 |
| Wellington | 33.9 | 34.6 | -0.7 |
| Christchurch | 29.6 | 26.4 | 3.2 |
| Checkpoint | |||
| Total New Zealand | 204.4 | 207.5 | -3.1 |
| Auckland | 48.6 | 51.8 | -3.2 |
| Wellington | 32.2 | 34.2 | -2.0 |
| Christchurch | 29.3 | 22.4 | 6.9 |
| Saturday Morning | |||
| Total New Zealand | 179.9 | 201.2 | -21.3 |
| Auckland | 44.4 | 53.3 | -8.9 |
| Wellington | 25.5 | 27.5 | -2.0 |
| Christchurch | 24.7 | 25.3 | -0.6 |
* Myllylahti, M. & Treadwell, G. (2025). Trust in news in Aotearoa New Zealand 2025. AUT research centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD). https://www.jmadresearch.com/trust-in-news-in-newzealand
**Verian (formerly Kantar Public) Value Indices survey was conducted between 24 April and 14 May 2025.
** Source: GfK Radio Audience Measurements, All Radio Stations, Total New Zealand - RNZ - Survey 1/2025, All 10+, Mon-Sun 12mn-12mn, Cume and Share %. Survey 1 2025 is conducted between 9 February -3 May 2025. https://www.rba.co.nz/surveys-research
