JNLR: latest listening round-up for April 2018

Written by Roy Martin

The latest JNLR results, covering the 12-month period from April 2017 to March 2018, show daily radio listening at 82% – more than 3.1 million listeners (15+), are listening to the radio every weekday.

More than half, 58% tune into their local or regional station and 44% listen to a national station. Among the younger, 15 to 34-year market, 77% (-1%) listen daily.

Irish radio audiences listen for almost 4 hours per day during the prime 7am to 7pm time. National Radio currently has 44.6% share (-0.6%) of all minutes while Local/Regional Radio holds the majority share position with 55.4% (+0.6%) in this reporting period.

Here are some of the headlines for this survey:

  • 82% of people in Ireland listened to the radio yesterday.
  • On average, they spend in excess of 4 hours with radio every day.
  • When it comes to any audio listening in Ireland, live radio rules with 87.7%. This compares to 8% of owned music and 3.2% to Spotify.
  • In comparison, 51% of all adults in Ireland used Social Media yesterday and 40% read a national newspaper.
  • 276,000 people in Ireland listened to radio via either a radio station App or the Irish Radioplayer in the last seven days.
  • Irish radio has 10.2 million social connections between them.

AROUND THE STATIONS AND GROUPS

First up, the independent stations, and Sunshine 106.8 has an all-time high for the station’s weekly listenership (in the station’s 17-year history). Weekly listenership is up 32% in the past year, rising from 113,000 to 149,000 per week. The Market Share shows growth from 4.3% to 7.7%.

Sean Ashmore CEO of Sunshine told RadioToday: “This is a great result for Sunshine 106.8. The station is so distinctive and unique, which is really helping it stand out and get cut-through in a very competitive and cluttered market such as Dublin. It’s is a station built with brilliant on-air talent, they relate to a Dublin audience, and they’ve carved out a strong niche in the marketplace. We’re very proud.”

Joe Harrington, General Manager, Sunshine 106.8 adds: “It’s another great result for Sunshine 106.8. We’re Dublin’s Easy Place to Relax and now more and more Dubliners are relaxing with us right across the week and at the weekend too.”

Radio Nova has grown its daily reach by 3000 to 79,000 per day in Dublin city, county and commuter belt. Kevin Branigan says: “We’re really pleased with this growth in such a competitive marketplace and wish to thank our listeners for their continued support! Growth is growth and we’e delighted to keep growing. Our weekly reach is now also up to 149,000. A great day for us here in Radio Nova!”

In the South East at Beat, KCLR, South East Radio, Tipp FM and WLR have come together to should about their combined total weekly reach of 424,000 people (+5,000 on last survey). The similar figures for the combined RTE national stations across the five counties are 262,000 weekly listeners (-6,000 on last survey).

A statement from the South East stations sent to RadioToday says: “The strength of local and regional radio rarely makes the headlines with the story usually focusing on national personalities but this is less than half the story of Irish radio listenership,”.

The statement goes on to say “we are proud of our consistent success and the fact that independent local and regional radio commands double the listening time compared with RTE national stations in the South East”.

Midwest Radio reports it is still the most listened to local radio station in the country. The station has a yesterday listened figure of 61%, the highest in the country. The station also has a market share of 55%, the second highest in the country.

Cork’s Red FM has 145,000 people tuning in every day making it the most listened to station in Cork every day. At Radio Kerry, 83,000 people are listening every week, whilst Highland Radio gets an increase of 2,000 people taking them to 85,000 weekly listeners and a market share of 62% daily.

Ocean FM is celebrating reaching 50% listenership within Sligo, North Leitrim and South Donegal. They’ve created a video letting people know half the local population are tuning in daily.

Kfm has added 4,000 listeners across the week for an all-time high 89,000 listeners (over the age of 15) and enjoys a near 13% lead in Market Share.

WIRELESS GROUP

The group is reporting a 4% increase in daily reach across Irish stations, as FM104 continues as Dublin’s number one local station. All six Wireless stations see rise in reach and share. Wireless stations are now reaching 636,000 people daily.

In Dublin FM104 increased its market leadership with 11.7% prime share. Q102 also increased its share rising to 6.3% – both stations combined now reach 426,000 unduplicated listeners each week.

Meanwhile in Limerick, Live 95 saw its share increase significantly to 31%. In Cork, both 96FM and C103 increased share and both stations combined now reach 62% of Corkonians each week. In the North East region LMFM increased both reach and share and now reaches 110,00 people each week.

Scott Williams, Group Content Director, Wireless Ireland, said: “We’re extremely proud that each of our Wireless stations have grown in reach and share. This is a testament to our ongoing investment in talent and content across the board”.

COMMUNICORP

Newstalk has reached an all-time Market Share high of 6.6% nationally. Plus and an all-time Market Share high of 10.5% in the Dublin area. All weekday primetime programmes on Newstalk have registered year-on-year and book-on-book growth in Reach and Average Quarter Hour. Pat Kenny is up 5,000 this book whilst Breakfast is up 7,000 book on book and 10,000 year on year.

Chris Doyle from Newstalk said: “We are very pleased with Newstalk’s performance in the JNLR. Today’s results show Newstalk has had audience growth consistently over the last 12 months with the station adding audience across the day from Newstalk Breakfast through to early evening.”

Today FM is celebrating a gain in daily listeners across every prime-time show on their schedule. The station recorded an increase of 10,000 listeners daily bringing to 401,000 the number of people tuning in to Today FM every day.

The national station has an increase in market share (7.3%) with a weekly reach of almost 880,000 listeners (878,000).

The Last Word with Matt Cooper now reaches an audience of 138,000 (+4,000 book on book) listeners daily. The show has seen an increase of 8,000 listeners year on year every day between 4-7PM.

163,000 (+3,000 book on book) listeners are waking up to Ian Dempsey, as his show 7-9am show remains the Number 1 Breakfast Show on commercial radio in Ireland.

Dermot & Dave have 162,000 (+1,000) people joining the duo each day in the mid-morning slot. The pair took over the slot in January 2017 and just last week performed in front of a sold out audience in Vicar Street as part of Today FMs ‘Live for Music’ alongside Coronas front man, Danny O’Reilly.

Newest presenter, Muireann O’Connell has welcomed 3,000 new listeners to her new lunchtime show (12-2pm) in just 3 months. Muireann now entertains an audience of 101,000 listeners every day. Afternoon presenter, Fergal D’Arcy also celebrated a bump in listeners with 104,000 people across Ireland tuning in to his show each day. Louise Duffy’s ‘Lost in Music’ show also increased in this book bringing her audience to 26,000 (+1,000)

CEO of Today FM, Keith McCormack commented: “This is a very strong performance for the station, an increase of 10,000 listeners daily and gains across every show from morning to night.”

RTE

RTÉ radio stations continue to reach over two million listeners, growing to 2,009,000 or 53% of Adults 15+ tuning in every week (+43,000 YoY and +5,000 BoB). RTÉ Radio 1 is still the only station in Ireland with a weekly reach of over one million listeners, at 1,396,000 (+11,000 YoY).

RTÉ 2FM’s weekly reach figure is up, with 853,000 listeners or 22% of Adults 15+ tuning in(+8,000 BoB and 79,000 YoY). RTÉ lyric fm has a national weekday share of 1.8% and 278,000 listeners tuning in on a weekly basis.

Jim Jennings, Director of Content, says: “RTÉ continues to reach over two million radio listeners, delivering to 53 percent of the Adult 15+ population right across the week. RTÉ News and Current Affairs continues to bring in large numbers, with the News at One moving up from the 5th most popular programme in the country to the 3rd (Book on Book/Adults 15+), while Morning Ireland maintains its position at the top of that. Strong news stories over the last three months, and exceptional coverage during major events like Storm Emma, are showing in the listenership figures.”

“I am really happy to see that RTÉ retains its position, holding the top twenty radio programmes in the country. RTÉ Radio 1 leads with 21.5% of the market share, the only station with a weekly reach of over one million.”

“Life continues to sound better on RTÉ lyric fm where 278,000 listeners are tuning in weekly, the station delivers consistently across the day from Marty in the Morning to driving home with Lorcan Murray, and into the night.”

RTÉ RADIO 1:

Morning Ireland is the most listened to radio programme in Ireland, with 431,000 listeners (+8,000 BoB). Liveline holds its place as the 2nd most listened to radio programme in Ireland, with 370,000 people tuning in to Joe Duffy on weekdays (-3,000 BoB).

News at One moves from being the 5th most listened to programme in the country to 3rd with 332,000 listeners, gaining 5,000 (BoB). Drivetime with Mary Wilson has 226,000 listeners, down 1,000 BoB.

Late Debate, alongside feature programmes on Monday and Friday, makes gains of 1,000 up to 23,000 BoB and up +4,000 YoY. Saturday Sport has made further gains this book, now boasting 214,000 listeners turning in (+2,000 BoB and +30,000 YoY). Countrywide presented by Damien O’Reilly maintains a steady figure with 213,000;, no change BoB and up 26,000 YoY. The Business with Richard Curran sees a YoY gain of +9,000, with 305,000 listeners tuning in each Saturday morning.

The Marian Finucane Show continues to deliver for RTÉ Radio 1, with 324,000 listeners on Saturday and 308,000 on Sunday mornings. The Rolling Wave gains 5,000 more listeners (BoB) to 21,000. The History Show has grown 3,000 listeners BoB to 38,000. Sunday Doc on One makes gains of 2,000 BoB to 19,000, with Drama on One keeping a steady pace with 18,000 listeners up 1,000 BoB.

Head of RTÉ Radio 1, Tom McGuire said this morning: “With almost 1.4 million listeners every week, RTÉ Radio 1 remains the ‘go to’ station for news, sport, arts, music and entertainment. It is great that the appeal of such a broad schedule remains the top choice for listeners. Throughout the year we hope to introduce more new voices to our audience in a schedule that will again bring home the sounds of the summer.”

RTÉ 2FM:

RTÉ 2FM has a weekly reach figure of 853,000/22% of Adults 15+ (+8,000 BoB and 79,000 YoY). It has gained 41,000 listeners year on year (weekdays).

Breakfast Republic retains its spot as number 20 in the country with 185,000 listeners with an increase of 18,000 (YoY). The Nicky Byrne Show with Jenny Greene has gained 9,000 (YoY) to 148,000. The Tracy Clifford Show has grown to 129,000 an increase of 10,000 listeners (YoY).

The Eoghan McDermott Show gains a massive 23,000 listeners to 136,000 (YoY). Game On grows 3,000 listeners to 25,000 (YoY). The Louise McSharry Show increases 3,000 listeners to 23,000 (YoY).

Commenting on the figures earlier today, Dan Healy, Head of Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM said: “2FM continues to grow year on year, particularly within 15 to 34 year olds, gaining 41,000 listeners (Adults 15+). Our share of this age group has grown from 11.2% to 13.6% (YoY). This latest survey shows that we are consolidating that position and that our key weekday programmes are the most listened to for this hard fought and hard to win age group. It is also worth noting that 2FM has 11 out of 20 of the top programmes in the country for Adults 15-34 and the top 4 are all 2FM shows.”

RTÉ lyric fm

RTÉ lyric fm reaches 278,000 Adults weekly and 130,000 Adults 15+ every weekday and has a market share of 1.8% for adults 15+.

Marty in the Morning programme reaches 39,000 adults 15+. Niall Carroll’s Classical Daytime reaches 30,000 adults 15+. The Full Score with Liz Nolan reaches 39,000 adults 15+. Lorcan Murray’s Classic Drive reaches 48,000 adults 15+.

The Hamilton Scores reaches 30,000 adults 15+ on Saturday and 29,000 on Sunday. Movies and Musicals reaches 38,000 adults 15+ (Saturday).

Speaking earlier today, Head of RTÉ Lyric fm, Aodán O’Dubhghaill said: “In RTÉ lyric fm we say “Where Life Sounds Better”, it’s a consistent message and a consistent position for the station, and is proving popular in a world where we’re expected to keep pace with frenetic technological advances, media fragmentation,and what can seem like endless bad news. RTÉ lyric fm offers a music choice and programming schedule that serves our audience with a unique oasis of calm. It’s our privilege as a public service media to be the broadcast home and curator of the best classical music from home and abroad.”

Please send your figures and comments to news@radiotoday.ie to be included in this and future RadioToday articles.

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