Over three million still listening to the radio

The latest radio listening figures released by JNLR today show over three million people tuning into Irish radio on a daily basis.

RTÉ’s radio stations now reach two million listeners, with 2,004,000 or 53% of Adults 15+ tuning in every week, up 112,000 year on year and 8,000 since the last book. RTÉ Radio 1 remains the only station in Ireland with a weekly reach of over one million listeners, at 1,391,000, up 39,000 from last year.

Gabrielle Cummins, Chairperson of the Choose Radio group which represents all of Ireland’s radio stations to help promote radio said “There is nothing to compare to radio to reflect the mood of the nation. Whether it’s the whole island celebrating Ireland’s last gasp win against France in the Six Nations or the country pausing as one at 12 noon on January 23rd to listen to radio’s tribute to Dolores O’Riordan – radio unites its listeners in a way no other medium can.”

Talking about listening to radio on new technology, Gabrielle added: “The strength of radio listenership in Ireland will not go unnoticed by developers of new technologies but rather it will reinforce the power of radio and how it deserves pride of place on any new technology. It is the connection between our range of radio stations and their listeners that keep people choosing radio. People in Ireland want to remain part of a wider radio community which consistently reaches 83% of adults who listen daily.”

Choose Radio JNLR 2017-4 from Orangeye Media on Vimeo.

JNLR February 2018 – facts

• 83% of people in Ireland listened to the radio yesterday.
• On average, in excess of 4 hours is spent with radio every day.
• When it comes to any audio listening in Ireland, live radio rules with 87.6%. This compares to 8% of owned music and 3.3% to Spotify.
• Radio also dominates when compared with other media – 51% of all adults in Ireland used Social Media yesterday and just 40% read a national newspaper.
• 364,000 people in Ireland listened to radio via either a radio station App or the Irish Radioplayer in the last seven days.
•  Irish radio’s strong on-air performance is complemented across its digital platforms with over 9.2 million social connections.

Want to know who's listening to radio in Ireland? Are you one of the 83% who tune in every day? #JNLR @ChooseRadioIE pic.twitter.com/CTNlaJuqW5

— IBIreland (@IBIreland) February 8, 2018

The latest JNLR figures also confirm Irish radio’s stronghold on the hearts & ears of Irish audiences with more than 3 million people tuning into Irish radio on a daily basis. Gabrielle Cummins, Chairperson of the Choose Radio group which represents all of Ireland’s radio stations to help promote radio said “there is nothing to compare to radio to reflect the mood of the nation. Whether it’s the whole island celebrating Ireland’s last gasp win against France in the Six Nations or the country pausing as one at 12 noon on January 23rd to listen to radio’s tribute to Dolores O’Riordan – radio unites its listeners in a way no other medium can”.

Around the stations

INDEPENDENT RADIO

Today FM recorded a two year high of almost 880,000 weekly listeners, welcoming 58,000 new listeners to the station in the past year.

Ian Dempsey holds his top position as the biggest Breakfast Show on independent radio with an audience of 160,000 tuning in every morning, despite a decline of 7,000 year-on-year. Ian has just returned from a week of live broadcasting in Austria on the Topflight Today FM Ski Trip where he entertained 700 listeners. Ian will also lead the celebrations next month as Today FM marks 20 years on air.

Muireann O’Connell, who was announced as the new lunchtime presenter on Today FM last month, has a starting audience of almost 100,000. Muireann’s new show time of 12-2pm means Fergal D’Arcy gains a half hour in his afternoon slot of 2-4.30pm. Fergal’s audience is now at 102,000 having increased by 5,000 listeners in the past 3 months.

Louise Duffy has also seen an increase in her figures as she entertains 25,000 listeners each evening with 7-9pm show ‘Lost in Music’, up 2,000 year-on-year while Alison Curtis added 10,000 new listeners to her Weekend Breakfast Shows.

CEO of Today FM, Keith McCormack commented: “Today FM has one of the most-loved and strongest lineups in the country. Even with unplanned schedule changes, we still recruited almost 60,000 new listeners and that’s a huge positive for us, that’s what we set out to do 12 months ago and it’s working. Outside of the publicly funded RTE Radio 1, Today FM remains the biggest radio station in Ireland; we plan on keeping it that way”.

Radio NOVA has increased listenership in the three metrics of Weekly Listenership, Daily Listenership and Market Share.

The station has added thousands of listeners, bringing its total weekly listeners to 147,000 (+5,000), daily listeners to 76,000 (+4,000) and market share to 4.1% over the last 3 months.

CEO, Kevin Branigan, said, “We’ve worked very hard to grow our audience in recent years and it’s gratifying to see consistent audience growth across these key metrics. This is a great start to what is going to be a very busy year for Radio Nova”.

Sunshine 106.8 has recorded the best results in the station’s 17-year history for all of the key measures of daily reach, weekly reach, market share and average quarter hour. Sunshine 106.8 now has 144,000 listeners in Dublin City & County every week (and 213,000 every month!) and the market share has grown again, to the current figure of 6.6% for the period 7a-7p (Mon-Fri). Market Share (7a-7p) increases to 6.8% for adults aged 35+ and 7.4% for 45+ in the period 7a-7p (Mon-Fri).

• Sunshine 106.8 is ranked as the #1 music station in Dublin for 45+ listeners in the 7am to 7pm (Mon-Fri) time period (based on share of listening / Market Share data).
• Sunshine 106.8 is ranked as the #2 music station in Dublin for 35+ listeners in the 7am to 7pm (Mon-Fri) time period (based on share of listening / Market Share data).
• Sunshine 106.8 is ranked as the #3 music station in Dublin for all adults in the 7am to 7pm (Mon-Fri) time period (based on share of listening / Market Share data).

‘We’re delighted with the results and delighted that Dublin chooses to relax with Sunshine 106.8 right across the week and at weekends too’ said Andy Matthews, Programme Director of Sunshine 106.8. Joe Harrington, General Manager said ‘It’s a record performance for Sunshine 106.8 in 2017, with a few surprises up our sleeves for 2018 – watch this space!”

In Cork, RedFM is celebrating as Ray Foley has helped the station become the top breakfast show in Cork for the first time in its 16 year history.

Ray joined co-presenter Jason Coughlan last March to present ‘Breakfast with Ray & Jay’ on Cork’s RedFM and according to the latest figures 55,000 people are tuning into the duo each morning. The show has recorded an increase of 14,000 listeners compared to this time last year and are now 8,000 ahead of Morning Ireland on RTE Radio One which is the second most listened to show in Cork.

Cork’s RedFM gained a boost in figures across all weekday daytime shows – 144,000 people are now listening to RedFM every day.

Speaking about the results CEO of Cork’s Red FM Diarmuid O’Leary said “We are delighted with the latest JNLR results which are the highest in the station’s history and keep us at the top of radio listening in Cork. The fact that we now have the top breakfast show in Cork is a fantastic achievement and in particular the fact that Ray & Jay have grown the audience by 14,000 with a new show in the last year is phenomenal”.

Classic Hits 4FM has recorded an all-time high for AQH reaching 25,000. The station’s Breakfast Show with PJ & Jim increased its listenership by 10%. Andy Matthews, Programme Director said: “we’re so excited to see the station continue to grow and hit new highs. We’re continuing to grow the listenership in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway and great to see the hard work pay-off.”

Ocean FM has increased its average weekday listenership in the latest JNLR/MRBI radio survey. 47 per cent of everyone living in Sligo, North Leitrim and South Donegal now tune in to Ocean FM every single day. That compares to figures of 29% for RTE Radio One, 16% for Today FM and 2FM, and 10% for Newstalk, within this franchise area. Ocean FM is now the fourth most listened-to local radio station in Ireland.

RTE

RTÉ 2fm’s weekly reach figure is up, with 845,000 listeners or 23% of Adults 15+ (+114,000 YoY and +29,000 BoB) tuning in. RTÉ lyric fm retains its 2% national share for weekdays and has 299,000 listeners tuning in on a weekly basis, a gain of 12,000 year on year.

Speaking on the latest radio figures for RTÉ, Jim Jennings, Director of Content, says: “Today really is a great day, as RTÉ reaches over two million radio listeners. With strong gains at RTÉ 2fm among 15-to-34 year olds, RTÉ now delivers to 53 percent of the adult 15+ population right across the week. We saw very strong results for weekends on RTÉ Radio 1 from talk with Marian (Sunday broadcast), up 38,000 year on year, to Saturday and Sunday Sport, which boast gains of 49,000 and 51,000 year on year respectively.”

“I am really happy to see that RTÉ retains its position, holding the top twenty radio programmes in the country. Radio 1 leads with 22.2% of the market share, the only station with a weekly reach of over one million.”

“It’s a good news story for RTÉ lyric fm too, which recently made noticeable changes to its schedule, to which listeners have been responding really well.”

RTÉ RADIO 1:

Morning Ireland remains the most listened to radio programme in Ireland with 423,000 listeners.

Liveline’s Joe Duffy is being listened to by 373,000 listeners each day holding its place as the 2nd most listened to radio programme in Ireland (+3,000 BoB)

359,000 people across the country are listening to The Marian Finucane Show on Saturday mornings (+9,000 BoB), with 346,000 (+30,000 BoB) on Sunday mornings.

News at One remains in the top five programmes in the country with 327,000 listeners, gaining 2,000 (BoB).

Countrywide with Damien O’Reilly sees a growth of 24,000 listeners to 213,000 (BoB).

The Business with Richard Curran sees massive gains of 25,000 (BoB) with 314,000 listeners tuning in each Saturday morning.

Saturday with Claire Byrne grew by 22,000 listeners to 238,000 (BoB).

Saturday Sport continues to see substantial gains with 212,000 listeners turning in (+11,000 BoB and +49,000 YoY) and Sunday Sport has 224,000 listeners (+18,000 BoB and +51,000 YoY).

Sunday with Miriam gains 21,000 listeners with 259,000 switching on on Sunday mornings (BoB).

The Rolling Wave gains 5,000 listeners (YoY) to 16,000.

The John Creedon Show grows by 3,000 listeners (YoY) to 44,000.

Drama on One (Sunday) increases its listenership by 5,000 (YoY) to 17,000.

Weekend on One presented by Lillian Smith has seen gains of 18,000 (YoY) on Saturday mornings and 19,000 (YoY) on Sunday mornings to 88,000 and 67,000 respectively.

Commenting on the figures today, Head of RTÉ Radio 1, Tom McGuire said: “I am delighted to welcome the extra 39,000 listeners who have joined us on RTÉ Radio 1 in the last year. It is also a tribute to our teams that over a third of listening in Dublin is to RTÉ Radio 1.”

“The major gains for weekend programmes reflect the commitment we have made in sport, current affairs, features, documentaries, music and the arts to provide a broad, informative and entertaining schedule for our audience every Saturday and Sunday.”

RTÉ 2FM:

RTÉ 2FM has a weekly reach figure of 845,000/23% of Adults 15+ (+29,000 BoB and +114,000 YoY) and a weekday share of 6.8%.

RTÉ 2FM has gained 59,000 listeners year on year.

Breakfast Republic retains its spot as number 20 in the country with 186,000 listeners with an increase of 32,000 (YoY).

The Nicky Byrne Show with Jenny Greene has gained 19,000 (YoY) to150,000.

The Tracy Clifford Show has grown to 133,000 an increase of 20,000 listeners(YoY).

The Eoghan McDermott Show gains a massive 24,000 listeners to 134,000 (YoY).

Game on grows 6,000 listeners to 27,000 (YoY).

The Louise McSharry Show increases 5,000 listeners to 25,000 (YoY).

Dan Healy, Head of Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM has said: “We’re seeing continuous steady growth for RTÉ 2FM and it is extremely satisfying. There’s a significant jump in 15-34 year olds from 10.9% to 13.3% (year on year), which is a strategic objective we set in 2014. This is the fifth consecutive book in a row that 2FM has seen increases. Stations take two years to recover and we’ve beaten our nearest rival Today fm for the second book in a row, increasing the margin by 13,000 (weekday Reach of 391,000 versus 404,000) in three months. We’ve changed our weekend schedule to align with our core 15-34 year old strategy and early evidence would show that alignment with our weekday schedule is working.”

RTÉ lyric fm

RTÉ lyric fm continues to offer its loyal listeners an oasis of music where life really does sound better. The station reaches 299,000 listeners on a weekly basis and has grown by 12,000 adults 15+ year on year. The weekday station reach is steady at 4%.

Speaking earlier today, Head of RTÉ Lyric fm, Aodán O’Dubhghaill said: “299,000 people choose RTÉ lyric fm every week and it’s so rewarding to see that even with recent tweaks to the schedule we are maintaining our loyal listener base across the station. Whilst we cannot make direct comparisons to programmes over successive books we are confident that the lyric listener is enjoying the new programme formats and continuing to choose the station ‘Where Life Sounds Better’.”

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