Day: 28 April 2015

The latest edition of the JNLR for 2015 Q1 reveals, yet again, that radio is in a healthy position. Every day just over 3m people tune in to one or more radio station or 84% of the population. This is up some 1% on the previous year (2014 Q1) by some 37,000 listeners over the year but it’s up only marginally (3,000 listeners) on the previous book (2014Q4)

While the underlying fortunes of individual stations have varied, the overall radion listenership has remained fairly static, deviating only between a reach of 85% and 83% since 2010. 

	Year On Year							Book on Book
Station	15Q1		14Q1		+/-	+/-		14Q4		+/-	+/-
Any Radio	3009	84%	2969	83%	40	1%		3006	84%	3	0%
Any National	1670	46%	1618	45%	52	3%		1642	46%	28	2%
Any RTE Radio	1241	35%	1217	34%	24	2%		1214	34%	27	2%
Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric	1217	34%	1199	33%	18	2%		1193	33%	24	2%
RTE Radio 1	843	23%	845	24%	-2	0%		836	23%	7	1%
RTE 2FM	400	11%	376	10%	24	6%		375	10%	25	7%
RTE Lyric FM	138	4%	128	4%	10	8%		137	4%	1	1%
Today FM	476	13%	442	12%	34	8%		460	13%	16	3%
Newstalk	404	11%	334	9%	70	21%		392	11%	12	3%
Region/Local/M-City	2078	58%	2034	57%	44	2%		2102	58%	-24	-1%
Home Local Station	1515	42%	1491	42%	24	2%		1534	43%	-19	-1%
Regional/Local	272	8%	261	7%	11	4%		278	8%	-6	-2%

The survey is interesting this time out in that all the national stations enjoyed varying levels of success. By far the biggest recipient of the ‘joy’ was Newstalk recording a 21% increase in listener’s year on year bringing them finally over the 400 mark to 404,000 listeners every day. All programme slots did well year on year which is a great indication for the station that all cylinders are firing!  

Stablemate Today FM enjoyed success as well by adding a fairly decent 34,000 listeners or 8% to their daily reach (half of which came in book on book) over the year. Like with all these surveys, it will be some time before we begin to see how the departure of Ray and elevation of Anton shows in the numbers.    

2FM shared in the spoils adding a much needed 24,000 to bring it too over the 400k mark, a rise of 6% (+24,000). There was a point where the knives seemed to be out for the station (#shuffles) with their indecision and lengthy process of deciding the new station format.

But maybe the tide has really changed for 2FM because 23,000 listeners were added book on book – their biggest book on book increase since 2009. The concern would be, not unlike other stations, the advances are around one or two individuals and that’s hardly sustainable or wise. Some succession planning (and training) might be required. 

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Just so as to smooth out the speed bumps that appear in the year on year analysis, below is a table of the last seven books by quarter. Between the numerical data and the graphical data here you’ll get a fairly good picture of the underlying trend for any station.     

	15Q1		14Q4		14Q3		14Q2		14Q1		13Q4		13Q3
Any Radio	3009	83%	3006	84%	2986	83%	2982	83%	2969	83%	2972	83%	2995	83%
Any RTE Radio	1241	34%	1214	46%	1212	34%	1216	34%	1217	34%	1232	34%	1231	34%
Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric	1217	33%	1193	43%	1191	33%	1195	33%	1199	33%	1214	34%	1211	34%
RTE Radio 1	843	24%	836	34%	837	23%	849	24%	845	24%	849	24%	861	24%
RTE Lyric FM	138	4%	137	23%	142	4%	138	4%	128	4%	127	4%	120	3%
Today FM	476	13%	460	13%	463	13%	458	13%	442	12%	461	13%	457	13%
Newstalk	404	10%	392	11%	376	10%	365	10%	334	9%	315	9%	294	8%
Region/Local/M-City	2078	57%	2102	10%	2066	58%	2054	57%	2034	57%	2023	56%	2061	57%
Home Local Station	1515	42%	1534	8%	1501	42%	1497	42%	1491	42%	1488	41%	1523	42%
Regional/Local	272	7%	278	4%	272	8%	266	7%	261	7%	264	7%	269	7%

Shares 

In terms of the station shares there are really only two agenda items: RTE1 lost two points over the twelve months and Newstalk added one point over the same period:

Station	15Q1	14Q1	+/-
Any Radio	100.00%	100.00%	0.00%
Any National	46.20%	47.20%	-1.00%
Any RTE Radio	31.00%	32.50%	-1.50%
Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric	30.30%	31.90%	-1.60%
RTE Radio 1	21.10%	23.10%	-2.00%
RTE 2FM	7.10%	7.10%	0.00%
RTE Lyric FM	2.00%	1.70%	0.30%
Today FM	8.60%	9.00%	-0.40%
Newstalk	6.60%	5.60%	1.00%
Any Region/Local/M-City	53.80%	52.80%	1.00%
Home Local Station	38.90%	39.00%	-0.10%
Other Regional/Local Station	4.70%	4.60%	0.10%

You can see graphically below the shares over time and how fairly consistent they are – the only one making any change in trajectory seem to be Newstalk.  

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Finally, the day parts for each National station. The programme make-up of these day-parts are looked at in detail elsewhere so there’s no need to say too much at this point.   

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Radio in Dublin is up by 8% or 22,000 listeners on the previous twelve months and radio listenership now stands at 829,000 or a reach of 81% of its citizens. Book on book the increases are marginal growing only 3,000 in the twelve months.

You will see from the graphic below that Dublin radio listenership has declined over the past few books, as has the national figure. At one point, between 2010 and 2011, the national and Dublin listenership were roughly at the same level, hovering around 86%. Since then the National listenership has slowly declined to 83%, whereas the fall in Dublin listenership has been more pronounced, dropping to 79% in 2014 but tracking back to 81% in this survey. When the dust settles I might return to that differential between the National picture and the Dublin one. 

	Year On Year							Book on Book
	15Q1		14Q1		+/-	+/-	Ch	14Q1		+/-	+/-	Ch
RTE Radio 1	297	29%	275	27%	22	2%	8%	285	28%	12	1%	4%
FM 104	184	18%	194	19%	-10	-1%	-5%	187	18%	-3	0%	-2%
Newstalk	174	17%	137	14%	37	3%	27%	170	17%	4	0%	2%
Spin 1038	147	14%	129	13%	18	1%	14%	142	14%	5	0%	4%
98FM	109	11%	88	9%	21	2%	24%	110	9%	-1	2%	-1%
Today FM	99	10%	74	7%	25	3%	34%	88	9%	11	1%	13%
Q102	92	9%	89	9%	3	0%	3%	97	10%	-5	-1%	-5%
RTE 2FM	77	8%	71	7%	6	1%	8%	75	7%	2	1%	3%
RTE Lyric FM	60	6%	54	5%	6	1%	11%	56	6%	4	0%	7%
Radio Nova 100FM*	58	6%	49	5%	9	1%	18%	55	5%	3	1%	5%
Sunshine 106.8	45	4%	34	3%	11	1%	32%	43	4%	2	0%	5%
Classic Hits 4FM	38	4%	32	3%	6	1%	19%	38	4%	0	0%	0%
Phantom 105.2FM	22	2%	15	1%	7	1%	47%	20	2%	2	0%	10%

* Yesterday this table went a little “t*ts up”, as they say in the tech trade. I had the completely wrong figure for Radio Nova making them look a lot less stellar that they actually are. I’m happy to amend and apologise for tarnishing their results in this book! Up 18% year on year and 5% book on book is the reality.

Turning to the individual stations and much like the National picture all stations felt the love and, bar two, all stations got a lift year on year. Again, that lift ranged from mild to a ‘hello boys!’.

The latter should be reserved for Today FM who over the year as they managed a spectacular 34% increase on their Dublin listenership. They now stand at 99,000 listeners (I’d be going for the “Ninety Nine Red Balloons” – its not one hundred but..) and 10% reach and just shy of half the new arrivals were in the last quarter alone.

RTE1 still dominates Dublin listenership with 297,000 listeners every day or a 29% reach. It’s up 8% on the twelve months and a modest 4% book on book and the station is still a massive 184,000 listeners ahead of its nearest rival FM104 and no sign of it being caught.

Mirroring its national increase, Newstalk also made gains in Dublin adding 37,000 listeners or 27% year on year. It brings them to a reach of 17% up from 14% on the previous year. It has the bragging rights of second place well in its sights having practically caught FM104 for that accolade. Its only 10,000 listeners behind FM104 and given that it was 57,000 listeners behind in the 14Q1 survey, that’s not a bad twelve months for them.

98FM made progress throughout the year adding 21,000 listeners and for the optics, moving into double figures with a reach at 11%. FM104 was one of the only stations to see a decline over the year dropping 10,000 listeners to 184,000.

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Again, it’s best to look at the reach over the last six surveys.

	15Q1		14Q4		14Q3		14Q2		14Q1		13Q4
RTE Radio 1	297	29%	285	28%	280	28%	278	27%	275	27%	286	28%
FM 104	184	18%	187	18%	182	18%	185	18%	194	19%	196	19%
Newstalk	174	17%	170	17%	162	16%	150	15%	137	14%	128	13%
Spin 1038	147	14%	142	14%	138	14%	136	13%	129	13%	127	13%
98FM	109	11%	110	9%	103	9%	101	9%	88	9%	85	8%
Today FM	99	10%	88	9%	87	9%	81	8%	74	7%	81	8%
Q102	92	9%	97	10%	82	8%	91	9%	89	9%	87	9%
RTE 2FM	77	8%	75	7%	73	7%	70	7%	71	7%	72	7%
RTE Lyric FM	60	6%	56	6%	61	6%	57	6%	54	5%	55	5%
Radio Nova 100FM	58	6%	55	5%	52	5%	55	5%	49	5%	50	5%
Sunshine 106.8	45	4%	43	4%	38	4%	35	4%	34	3%	33	3%
Classic Hits 4FM	38	4%	38	4%	37	4%	36	3%	32	3%	31	3%
Phantom 105.2FM	22	2%	20	2%	20	2%	18	2%	15	1%	15	1%

The shares show that the RTE1 and FM104 dropped nearly two points each while Q102 and 2FM lost a point each. 98FM added 1.2% to their share and Newstalk added 0.8% – anyway, all the numbers are below!

Station	15Q1	14Q1	+/-
RTE Radio 1	32.3%	34.1%	-1.8%
FM104	10.7%	12.5%	-1.8%
Newstalk	10.5%	9.7%	0.8%
Spin 1038	7.2%	6.6%	0.6%
98FM	6.7%	5.5%	1.2%
Today FM	6.3%	5.8%	0.5%
Q102	5.9%	6.9%	-1.0%
RTE 2FM	4.7%	5.7%	-1.0%
Nova 100FM	3.7%	3.8%	-0.1%
RTE Lyric FM	3.6%	2.8%	0.8%
Sunshine 106.8	3.4%	2.7%	0.7%
Classic Hits 4FM	2.6%	2.3%	0.3%
TXFM	1.2%	1.0%	0.2%

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And finally a quick look at the quarters for the individual stations – split into two for ease of viewing. 

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The top thirty is a much loved part of the survey in many circles. This year is shows some interesting movements. Below are the tables and they are self explanatory. One interesting note: all of the top five falls all came from RTE1 whereas three of the top five to gain all came from Newstalk.

Biggest fall for The Business dropping 16% on the year. Next is the slot that Ray D’Arcy now holds, however it has to be pointed out his name wasn’t on the seat for the majority of the twelve months. That lost 15%     

Programme	Station	Day	15Q1	14Q1	+/-000	+/- %
The Business	RTE1	Sat	269	319	-50	-16%
Mooney/Ray D’Arcy*	RTE1	W/D	183	215	-32	-15%
Sunday Miscellany	RTE1	Sun	212	241	-29	-12%
Sport	RTE1	Sat	173	196	-23	-12%
Drivetime	RTE1	W/D	217	241	-24	-10%

Tubridy’s time slot changed against the comparative, but not enough to apportion that to the huge 28% rise year on year, a 7% increase book on book and an increase of six places in the table. Breakfast on Newstalk added 26% on the year and Kenny gained 25%. The ‘Stormin’ Norman’ of radio, George Hook, regained his foothold on a top thirty berth this time adding 14% on the year. Alison Curtis added 13%. No place in the top five for RTE programming.  

Programme	Station	Day	15Q1	14Q1	+/-000	+/- %
Tubridy	2FM	W/D	189	148	41	28%
Breakfast	News/t	W/D	172	137	35	26%
Pat Kenny	News/t	W/D	142	114	28	25%
George Hook	News/t	W/D	138	121	17	14%
Alison Curtis	Today	Sat	135	120	15	13%

The main table is sortable. Just click on any of the highlighted green column headings for ascending then descending views.

#	Programme	Station	Day	Time	15Q1	14Q1	+/-000	+/- %	+/- #
1	Morning Ireland	RTE1	W/D	07.00-09.00	417	444	-27	-6%	0
2	Liveline	RTE1	W/D	13.45-15.00	367	390	-23	-6%	0
3	Marian Finucane	RTE1	Sat	11.00-13.00	366	376	-10	-3%	0
4	Marian Finucane	RTE1	Sun	11.00-13.00	335	363	-28	-8%	0
5	News at One	RTE1	W/D	13.00-13.45	307	336	-29	-9%	0
6	Sean O’Rourke	RTE1	W/D	10.00-12.00	303	312	-9	-3%	2
7	John Murray	RTE1	W/D	09.00-10.00	287	315	-28	-9%	0
8	Playback	RTE1	Sat	09.00-10.00	278	280	-2	-1%	1
9	The Business	RTE1	Sat	10.00-11.00	269	319	-50	-16%	-3
10	Miriam Meets	RTE1	Sun	10.00-11.00	241	262	-21	-8%	0
11	Weekend Edition	RTE1	Sat	13.00-14.00	220	219	1	0%	4
12	Drivetime	RTE1	W/D	16.30-19.00	217	241	-24	-10%	-1
13	Anton Savage	Today	W/D	09.00-12.00	212	218	-6	-3%	3
14	Sunday Miscellany	RTE1	Sun	09.00-10.00	212	241	-29	-12%	-3
15	Ronan Collins	RTE1	W/D	12.00-13.00	208	221	-13	-6%	-1
16	Countrywide	RTE1	Sat	08.00-09.00	200	222	-22	-10%	-3
17	This Week	RTE1	Sun	13.00-14.00	195	184	11	6%	3
18	Ian Dempsey	Today	W/D	07.00-09.00	194	189	5	3%	1
19	Tubridy	2FM	W/D	08.45-11.00	189	148	41	28%	6
20	Mooney/Ray D’Arcy	RTE1	W/D	15.00-16.30	183	215	-32	-15%	-3
21	Sport	RTE1	Sat	14.00-18.00	173	196	-23	-12%	-3
22	Breakfast	News/t	W/D	07.00-10.00	172	137	35	26%	4
23	Sport	RTE1	Sun	14.00-18.00	169	178	-9	-5%	-2
24	Matt Cooper	Today	W/D	16.30-19.00	153	157	-4	-3%	-2
25	World Report	RTE1	Sun	08.00-09.00	151	152	-1	-1%	-2
26	Nicky Byrne	2FM	W/D	11.00-14.00	150	151	-1	-1%	-2
27	Phil Cawley	Today	Sat	11.00-14.00	143	131	12	9%	1
28	Pat Kenny	News/t	W/D	10.00-12.30	142	114	28	25%	3
29	George Hook	News/t	W/D	16.30-19.00	138	121	17	14%	0
30	Alison Curtis	Today	Sat	08.00-11.00	135	120	15	13%	0

Looking at the individual stations and their underlying output now. In looking at these just remember that they are year on year comparisons: 15Q1 V 14Q1. Then within the stations there may have been changes to the schedule in terms of personality or the program time slot.

So on the surface some figures might look like there’s been a dramatic change (up or down) but you have to understand that it’s a full twelve month comparison.

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Here’s where we look at the local and regional franchises. Again, they are not comparatives as they simply can’t be compared to each other. I’ve made little or no comment as the data is self explanatory and my outpourings won’t add much!

The local franchises (below the regional data) are over four years, just to give a bit of perspective on the figures. That particular table is sortable so just click on the heading to sort ascending and descending – hours of fun.       

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		000	%	000	%	000	%	000	%	000	%
Station	County	15Q1		14Q1		13Q1		12Q1		+/-	+/-
Mid West Radio	Mayo	58	59%	62	62%	60	60%	63	61%	-4	-3%
Tipp FM	Tipperary	44	36%	45	36%	54	43%	60	48%	-1	0%
South East Radio	Wexford	47	41%	42	37%	43	38%	44	39%	5	4%
Galway Bay FM	Galway	66	34%	62	32%	84	43%	81	41%	4	2%
Midlands 103FM	Laois/Off/WM	62	32%	68	36%	66	35%	70	38%	-6	-4%
Shann/Northern Snd	RN/LD/LM/CN/MN	89	46%	85	43%	82	41%	93	47%	4	3%
Highland Radio	Nth Donegal	61	61%	64	64%	68	67%	68	66%	-3	-3%
Clare FM	Clare	44	48%	39	44%	44	48%	43	47%	5	4%
Ocean FM	Donegal/Leit	37	45%	35	44%	42	52%	39	48%	2	1%
KCLR 96FM	Kilk/Carlow	49	41%	40	34%	41	35%	47	40%	9	7%
East Coast FM	Wicklow	34	31%	32	30%	28	27%	28	27%	2	1%
Radio Kerry	Kerry	61	52%	58	50%	57	49%	60	52%	3	2%
LM FM	Louth/Meath	62	27%	53	23%	57	25%	61	26%	9	4%
K FM	Kildare	37	23%	40	25%	32	20%	41	26%	-3	-2%
Limerick’s Live 95FM	Limerick	57	38%	66	43%	68	45%	69	45%	-9	-5%
WLR FM	Waterford	40	44%	42	46%	41	46%	40	45%	-2	-2%