Here’s what you need to know about the latest JNLR results

OVERALL LISTENING TRENDS

Radio in Ireland is still a popular choice across all ages in Ireland. Listenership remains strong at 84% of the population. The amount of time spent listening remains consistent at just under 4 hours, a figure that hasn’t changed much over the last two years. In terms of demographics, the most significant change has been an increase in listenership across the 15 – 34 age category. In particular, those between 20 – 24 are spending an extra 11 minutes listening while those aged 45 – 54 have decreased their listening by 14 minutes. This is becoming an increasing trend in the year on year  book measurement. These figures are from the latest JNLR report  release last week  covering the April 2014 – March 2015 period. All data  is compared to previous period 12 month period, April 2013 –  March 2014.

NATIONAL RADIO

National listenership remains consistent overall at 46%. Newstalk are performing particularly well breaking the 400,000 mark increasing their daily listenership to 404,000 and weekday reach to equal 2FM at 11% . RTE Radio One is still dominating the category with 843,000 daily listeners however they were the only national station to see a decrease in listenership. TodayFM remain steady with an increase of 34,000 listeners. 2FM are seeing a consistent growth in numbers which can still be attributed to the new schedule overhaul. It will be interesting to see if this stays consistent across the next book. Overall a 2,000 drop in listeners for RTE may not be too concerning on the surface but with Newstalk recruiting listeners in droves of 70,000 year on year its something that needs to be considered. This is reflected in market share with RTE dropping 2% and Newstalk increasing by 1% - the battle between Communicorp and RTÉ rages on! Radio 1 are fighting battles on multiple fronts as IRS have closed the gap on market share to within 2 points  (19% vs 21%).  IRS performed well adding 26,000 listeners daily increasing their market share from 18.2% to 19.2%.

 

Station Weekday Reach 2105 Weekday Read 2014 Diff in 000's 7am to 7pm share 2015 7am - 7pm share 2014
RTE Radio 1 23% 24% -2 21.10% 23.10%
2FM 11% 10% 24 7.10% 7.10%
RTE LyricFM 4% 4% 10 2.00% 1.70%
Today FM 13% 12% 34 8.60% 9.00%
Newstalk 11% 9% 70 6.60% 5.60%
IRS+ 20.5% 19.8% 26 19.2% 18.2%

 

KEY SHOW MEASUREMENT

Key show measurement is reflective of the national statistics. Interestingly while Morning Ireland (although still the number one show) dropped 27,000 listeners, Newstalk Breakfast increased by 35,000 year on year. Liveline has dropped 23,000 year on year but remains strong with 367,000 adults tuning into Joe Duffy’s afternoon slot daily. O’Rourke is down 9,000 year on year to leave his daily listenership on 303,000 while Pat Kenny has grown 28,000 year on year and currently stands at 142,00 daily. We may be seeing Kenny’s growth figures washing out as book on book performance was flat. George Hook also grew his drivetime slot adding 17,000 listeners year on year. Taking a quick look book on book, Anton Savage’s new slot on TodayFM decreased by 6,000 while Ray D’arcy’s new RTE slot dropped by 32,000 and although the current measurement only captures 2 months of each presenter’s new show it will be interesting to see the results as we go forward.

DUBLIN

FM104 still remains top of the list in Dublin despite a 10,000 decrease in listeners resulting in a 1% drop in weekday reach year on year. 98FM and Spin 1038 saw strong growth in this book. Spin 1038 is the second most listened to station in Dublin growing their audience from 129,000 to 147,000. Dublin’s 98 are also seeing very healthy growth increasing from 88,000 to 109,000. 98 have had a long period of decline but it seems their increased marketing investment and new strategy is gaining traction with listeners. Q102 will be pleased with holding their 9% daily reach in light of a resurgent 98FM. In general Dublin remains quite fragmented as listeners continue to chop and change their listening habits switching between stations. When we take into account the nationals, Radio One is still very much at the forefront with a total 297,000 listeners. FM104 comes in second with 184,000 while Newstalk follows close behind with 174,000. Both Nova and Sunshine will be happy with the results steadily growing their listener base year on year resulting in an increase in weekday reach for both stations. on year resulting in an increase in weekday reach for both stations.

Station Weekday Reach 2105 Weekday Read 2014 Diff in 000's 7am to 7pm share 2015 7am - 7pm share 2014
FM104 18% 19% -10 10.70% 12.50%
9FM 11% 9% 21 6,70% 5.50%
Q102 9% 9% 3 5.90% 6.90%
SPIN1038 14% 13% 18 7.20% 6.60%
TXFM 2% 1% 7 1.20% 1.00%
SUNSHINE 106.8 4% 3% 11 3.40% 2.70%
Classic Hits 4% 3% 6 2.60% 2.30%
Nova 6% 5% 9 3.70% 3.80%

 

MAIN CITIES

If Dublin listenership is erratic, it’s nothing compared to Cork! Radio listenership across Cork in particular has had some very significant changes. Cork’s 96FM is still Cork’s number one station with 118,000 listeners but an overall 40,000 drop in listenership means they have seen market share drop. Red FM has jumped significantly, adding 43,000 listeners and increasing their share from 8.5% to 18.7%. Galway Bay has seen an increase in reach with an additional 4,000 listeners. Limerick’s 95FM dropped back on last year with regional stations, 2FM and Classic Hits growing in this area. WLR have seen a slight drop in their figures  losing  2,000 listeners from last year.

Station Weekday Reach 2105 Weekday Read 2014 Diff in 000's 7am to 7pm share 2015 7am - 7pm share 2014
Cork - 98FM 29% 38% -40 21.00% 35.20%
Cork - C103FM 16% 16% -2 14.30% 12.60%
Cork - RedFM 27% 17% 43 18.70% 8.50%
Galway - GBFM 34% 32% 4 27.10% 26.30%
Limerick - 95FM 38% 43% -9 29.40% 37.50%
Waterford - WLR 44% 46% -2 40.80% 41.40%