Day: 17 February 2011

The JNLR figures thump in the desks today and, on the surface it would seem that there is a small shift away from radio.

The figure for ‘any radio’ for 2009 was 87% whereas the same figure for 2010 is 85%which is a drop of 88,000 listeners over the year. The figures above are the full year figures from 2006 to 2010. It plots both the reach and share of each station year on year.

Looking at ‘10 to ‘09 all the national stations are either down or, at best, stationary. The big faller in the survey is Today FM which has lost 2% points nationally over the year equating to 56,000 sets of ears. At best, surveys like these move at a glacial pace. Sometimes the year on year yields a ‘spectacular’  increase or decrease – but rarely.

Given the slow pace or change in these surveys you can only really draw any meaningful data by looking at the longer term. To that end the table below shows the comparison between ‘10 and ‘06. The outstanding figure is that of 2FM which has lost 5% points in both reach and share.

Its nationwide reach has fallen by 165,000 listeners since 2006. It has lost listeners ever year since 2006 – this survey being the biggest fall. Perhaps its a change in format (a forced one), perhaps its a migration towards other stations, a fact not borne out in these results. One thing is certain, something has to be done.

In terms of the overall health of the listening market within the local franchises, that figure varies considerably across the counties. In the OceanFM franchise – Donegal South/Sligo/Nth Leit – the listened to any radio yesterday figure is 95% whereas in the East Coast FM area, Wicklow, that figure plummets to 79%.

Many a thesis could be forwarded as to the difference in the listening base – but none to be found here. Of the 16 local stations, eleven saw a fall in their numbers. Tipp FM, Ocean FM, Midlands 103 all saw a 5% decline in numbers. Radio Kerry and KFM were the only real winners gaining 4% and 3% respectively. Maintaining its massive reach is still Highland Radio in Donegal.

But the ‘best in show’ this year goes to Radio Kerry who moved from #7 in the Local Radio League in 2009 to #2. I’d say the shareholders are delighted.

Cork’s story is that it saw some of the biggest swings in the major franchises.

The listened to yesterday for Cork was 81% down from 85% the previous 12 months (21,000 listeners). 2Fm, again, lost out as did 96FM which dropped a fairly substantial 4% points.

The C103  gain in share helped the combined figure not look as stark a drop as it could have been. Having said that it’s still the station in Cork reaching 35% of the franchise on a daily basis followed by Radio 1 at 26%,  9% points ahead.

Cork – Yesterday	2010		2009		+/-	+/-
	R%	S%	R%	S%	R%	S%
RTÉ Radio 1	26	22.3	27	21.4	-1.0	0.9
RTÉ 2FM	9	5.4	12	6.2	-3.0	-0.8
RTÉ Lyric FM	4	2.0	3	1.5	1.0	0.5
Today FM	15	9.7	17	10.4	-2.0	-0.7
Newstalk	9	4.7	8	3.5	1.0	1.2
Corks 96FM/C103	46	41.6	50	45.0	-4.0	-3.4
Corks 96FM	35	30.3	39	34.9	-4.0	-4.6
C103 (Corks 103FM)	14	11.4	14	10.1	0.0	1.3
Corks Red FM	19	10.6	20	11.6	-1.0	-1.0

The five-year retrospective look in this case look very erratic and a little spartan as three of the stations were not operational in 2006 in Cork. One interesting fact is that in 2006 the ‘listened to yesterday’ figure was 79% or 291,000 listeners, today that figures stands at its 81% or 318,000 people. So the increase in stations has not simply divided the listenership, its grown it.

Cork – Yesterday	2010		2009		2008		2007		2006		+/-	+/-
	R%	S%	R%	S%	R%	S%	R%	S%	R%	S%	R%	S%
RTÉ Radio 1	26	22.3	27	21.4	23	18.0	19	18.5	20	19.3	6.0	3.0
RTÉ 2FM	9	5.4	12	6.2	9	5.9	8	5.0	8	5.4	1.0	0.0
RTÉ Lyric FM	4	2.0	3	1.5	4	1.6	3	1.5	3	1.9	1.0	0.1
Today FM	15	9.7	17	10.4	18	12.1	13	9.3	14	11.0	1.0	-1.3
Newstalk	9	4.7	8	3.5	6	2.1	4	1.6
Corks 96FM/C103	46	41.6	50	45.0	50	47.8	45	52.2	48	51.7	-2.0	-10.1
Corks 96FM	35	30.3	39	34.9	38	34.8	33	37.2
C103 (Corks 103FM)	14	11.4	14	10.1	15	13.0	14	15.0
Corks Red FM	19	10.6	20	11.6	19	11.6	18	10.6	18	9.4	1.0	1.2

Turning the attentions to the Dublin area, the runners and riders are listed below, as is there form to date.

The classic screen line “move along now, there’s nothing to see here’ jumps out in all but a few cases. Over the year the figure of “listened yesterday” in Dublin has dropped from 87% to 85% which equates to roughly 20,000 listeners – about a 2% drop in the Capital, so nothing extremely worrying. Of the 11 stations in Dublin, seven recorded a decline in reach and five in share. Determined to repeat its national performance, 2FM was the biggest reach faller declining by 2% points.

The other fallers in all showed a 1% point decline. Radio 1 was the biggest faller in share, back by 2.3% points followed by stable mate 2FM at 1.3%. Q102 would seem to have picked up some of that share and put in a impressive performance by adding 2.5% in share over the year. The station had been on a land grab over that past few surveys and, it could be argued, if it continues on this path will eventually become Dublin’s #3 station in terms of share and maybe even reach.

The challengers  98FM and Spin increased their share this survey. Phantom’s reach is at a low and its share has all but surrendered, its really can’t sustain too many more results like this. Taking the longer term view and comparing 2006 to 2010 below; 2FM, again, loosing out in reach and share. 98FM is the next biggest faller in the 5 years. It dropped 3% points in reach and 2.5% in share. Its close rival FM104 also dropped share and reach. The shining light has, again, been Q102 gaining an impressive 5% points in share, most of that coming in the past two years. Spin added 2% in reach and 1.8% in share shipping away at 98Fm and FM104.