THE LATEST JOINT National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures have revealed that 85 per cent of all adults listen to radio on a daily basis.
The figures, which cover the 12-month period from October 2011 to September 2012, show that this number drops slightly to 80 per cent for those between 15-34 years of age.
Of all the time that people devote to radio on a daily basis, national radio accounts for 47 per cent of their listening time with local/regional radio holding the majority share position with 53 per cent.
The large-scale survey, by Ipsos MRBI, involved the interviewing of nearly 16,000 people.
All adults (15+) – average weekday figures
No national stations have gained weekday listeners over the 12 months from July 2011 to June 2012.
Both RTÉ Radio One (24 per cent) and RTÉ Lyric FM (three per cent) have each dropped one per cent over this period.
In Dublin, FM104 are up one per cent to 22 over the same period. Spin 1038 are down one per cent to 15, along with Phantom 105.2, which is down one per cent to one.
Corks 96FM/C103 increased by one to 49 per cent, while Corks 96FM increased by two per cent to 37.
All adults (15+) – share of weekday listeners between 7am and 7 pm
During the period from July 2011 to June 2012, national listenership has dropped a total of 0.6 per cent during these hours.
The biggest drop has been RTÉ Lyric FM (1.7 per cent) and Today FM (9.7 per cent), which have both dropped by 0.2 per cent.
Of the Dublin stations, FM104 had the biggest increase, at 1.4 per cent, bringing it up to 13.6 per cent.
The biggest drop in Dublin was felt by 98FM, which dropped 0.8 per cent to 6.9 per cent.
Corks 96FM and Red FM both increased by one per cent, to 28.9 and 11.6 per cent respectively.
The biggest rise elsewhere was i105-107 in the Northeast and Midlands, which increased by 0.8 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
What the stations are saying
While the JNLR figures only detail losses and gains at a station-level, individual outlets have been responding with news of the figures for some of their own shows.
Newstalk said that they now have 303,000 daily listeners, up 16,000 in the last 12 months, with their number of female listeners increasing by 25 per cent over the same period.
The Right Hook now has 136,000 daily listeners, an increase of 15,000 in the last year.
Its breakfast show, NewsTalk Breakfast, has grown by 18,000 and is currently at 133,000 listeners.
A release from RTÉ said that RTÉ Radio One now reaches 1,327,000 people, an increase of 22,000.
RTÉ Lyric FM has gained 12,000 Sunday listeners over the last year.
2FM’s Breakfast with Hector has gained 8,000 listeners “book-on-book” (meaning since the last JNLR release), while Ryan Tubridy is unchanged, with 175,000 listeners.
In total, the station has gained 14,000 listeners over the last 12 months.
Classic Hits 4FM now has a weekly listenership of 165,000 people, a 14 per cent year-on-year increase, while Radio Nova has increased its listenership by five per cent to 133,000.
Independent Radio
The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) – which represents 34 stations including Phantom 105.2, Radio Nova, FM 104, Newstalk and Today FM – said that independent radio is totally dominant in the Irish market. Its chairman, John Purcell, said:
The real story of this and every JNLR is that independent radio is the clear leader in the Irish radio market. This fact has been relegated to a footnote of analysis for too long. Concentration on the marginal rise and fall in the audiences of a few presenters on the State Broadcaster RTÉ ignores the real story: the most listened to radio in Ireland is independent radio.
It’s time to “get with the programme” and reflect the fact that across all the key listenership indicators, the combined strength of independent radio versus RTÉ is unassailable.
Its member stations have a combined total of 2.51 million listeners.
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