Day: 29 July 2015

The JNLR 2015Q2 research is now available. The samples and estimated universes have changed little on last year and therefore are no real cause for concern. The survey shows that Radio listenership is up 1% or 25,000 listeners year on year, but that’s just enough to push the radio reach figure up by one percentage point to 84%.

On a year on year basis most of the stations are heading in the right direction. RTE1 was up 14,000 listeners per day, and Newstalk and 2FM each added 36,000 over the year. Today held steady down marginally by 1,000 listeners and Lyric is down 7,000. But looking the same stations on a book on book basis the picture is slightly different.

	Year on Year									Book On Book
Station	15Q2			14Q2			+/-	+/-		15Q1		+/-	+/-
Any Radio	84%	3007		83%	2982		1%	25		84%	3009	0%	-2
Region/Local/M-City	58%	2071		57%	2054		1%	17		58%	2078	0%	-7
Any National	46%	1657		46%	1641		0%	16		46%	1670	0%	-13
Home Local Station	42%	1521		42%	1497		0%	24		42%	1515	0%	6
Any RTE Radio	35%	1252		34%	1216		1%	36		35%	1241	0%	11
Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric	34%	1235		33%	1195		1%	40		34%	1217	0%	18
RTE Radio 1	24%	863		24%	849		0%	14		23%	843	1%	20
Today FM	13%	457		13%	458		0%	-1		13%	476	0%	-19
RTE 2FM	11%	402		10%	366		1%	36		11%	400	0%	2
Newstalk	11%	401		10%	365		1%	36		11%	404	0%	-3
Regional/Local	7%	260		7%	266		0%	-6		8%	272	-1%	-12
RTE Lyric FM	4%	131		4%	138		0%	-7		4%	138	0%	-7

RTE1 had a good quarter adding 20,000 and, likewise, 2FM added 2,000. But that’s where the cheer ends with the other stations turning in negative figures. The big faller was Today FM which is down 19,000 or 4% on the quarter, so perhaps a little of the D’Arcy affect kicking in. He left Today FM in December 2014 and the last quarter surveyed would have been surveyed sans D’Arcy – having said that, it’s still a little early to be definite, but signs are that there will be a negative knock-on after his departure.

Even Newstalk, which had been adding listeners every quarter since 2012Q4, finished that run by losing 3,000 souls in 2015Q2 and they were nudged out of third spot this survey by 2FM and by a mere 1,000 listeners. Although there were some highlights in the quarter for them with Hook overtaking Cooper in the evening battles. 

After a bit of bloodletting and some harsh criticism before previous surveys, 2FM may have turned the tide (although Tubridy had a hand in that) in that it’s had five surveys gaining ground – nothing in the ‘stellar’ department in that ground reclaim, more sure and steady. 

There’s more supplementary tables/graphs below pertaining to the reach numbers for those that are that way inclined.

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	15Q2		15Q1		14Q4		14Q3		14Q2		14Q1		13Q4
Any Radio	3007	84%	3009	84%	3006	84%	2986	83%	2982	83%	2969	83%	2972	83%
Any National	1657	46%	1670	46%	1642	46%	1638	46%	1641	46%	1618	45%	1632	45%
Home Local Station	1521	42%	1515	42%	1534	43%	1501	42%	1497	42%	1491	42%	1488	41%
Any RTE Radio	1252	35%	1241	35%	1214	34%	1212	34%	1216	34%	1217	34%	1232	34%
RTE Radio 1	863	24%	843	23%	836	23%	837	23%	849	24%	845	24%	849	24%
Today FM	457	13%	476	13%	460	13%	463	13%	458	13%	442	12%	461	13%
RTE 2FM	402	11%	400	11%	375	10%	366	10%	366	10%	376	10%	394	11%
Newstalk	401	11%	404	11%	392	11%	376	10%	365	10%	334	9%	315	9%
Regional/Local Station	260	7%	272	8%	278	8%	272	8%	266	7%	261	7%	264	7%
RTE Lyric FM	131	4%	138	4%	137	4%	142	4%	138	4%	128	4%	127	4%

 Shares

The shares rarely throw up anything spectacular, and they don’t disappoint this quarter. On a year on year basis the fallers would be RTE1 and Today FM dropping 0.8% and 1.3% respectively. 2FM and Newstalk both added a half point over the year. On a quarter basis Today also lost out there, dropping 0.7%.

Newstalk stayed as it was and RTE1 grabbed 0.8%. Looking that the survey holistically there may have been a small shift towards ‘local’ with the Regionals and Home locals gaining some share during the year.  

	Year On Year			Book on Book
Station	15Q2	14Q2	+/-	15Q1	+/-
Any Radio	100.00%	100.00%	0.00%	100.00%	0.00%
Any National	45.90%	47.10%	-1.20%	46.20%	-0.30%
Any RTE Radio	31.50%	31.90%	-0.40%	31.00%	0.50%
Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric	30.90%	31.20%	-0.30%	30.30%	0.60%
RTE Radio 1	21.90%	22.70%	-0.80%	21.10%	0.80%
RTE 2FM	7.10%	6.60%	0.50%	7.10%	0.00%
RTE Lyric FM	1.90%	1.80%	0.10%	2.00%	-0.10%
Today FM	7.90%	9.20%	-1.30%	8.60%	-0.70%
Newstalk	6.60%	6.10%	0.50%	6.60%	0.00%
Any Region/Local/M-City	54.10%	52.90%	1.20%	53.80%	0.30%
Home Local Station	39.50%	38.40%	1.10%	38.90%	0.60%
Other Regional/Local Station	4.40%	4.80%	-0.40%	4.70%	-0.30%

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Finally the day parts – it’s very much the same at this level every survey showing a dominant national broadcaster.  

 

Turning our attention to the capital now, we see that radio listenership is up 26,000 on the previous year or 2.5% and now stands at 81%. Considering that radio listening in the city declined every survey from 2011Q1 until  2014Q1, it’s a healthy trend survey of late showing a growing audience for radio. 

On a year on year basis the accolades go to Today FM up 18,000 (22%) and Newstalk up 20,000 (+13%). The other stations turned in some decent rises as well and the only fallers were Q102 and 4FM. The tables and graphic below spare me the laborious commentary!

Book on book it’s not all in positive territory with Newstalk, Q102 and 98FM losing some ground since the last book and Radio 1, Spin, FM014 and Sunshine the only stations to record an increase on 15Q1.   

	Year On Year								Book on Book
	15Q2		14Q2		+/-	+/-	Ch		15Q1		+/-	+/-	Ch
RTE Radio 1	305	30%	278	27%	27	3%	10%		297	29%	8	1%	3%
FM 104	188	18%	185	18%	3	0%	2%		184	18%	4	0%	2%
Newstalk	170	17%	150	15%	20	2%	13%		174	17%	-4	0%	-2%
Spin 1038	149	15%	136	13%	13	2%	10%		147	14%	2	1%	1%
98FM	105	10%	101	9%	4	1%	4%		109	11%	-4	-1%	-4%
Today FM	99	10%	81	8%	18	2%	22%		99	10%	0	0%	0%
Q102	87	9%	91	9%	-4	0%	-4%		92	9%	-5	0%	-5%
RTE 2FM	76	7%	70	7%	6	0%	9%		77	8%	-1	-1%	-1%
RTE Lyric FM	58	6%	57	6%	1	0%	2%		60	6%	-2	0%	-3%
Radio Nova 100FM	56	5%	55	5%	1	0%	2%		58	6%	-2	-1%	-3%
Sunshine 106.8	55	5%	35	3%	20	2%	57%		45	4%	10	1%	22%
Classic Hits 4FM	35	3%	36	4%	-1	-1%	-3%		38	4%	-3	-1%	-8%
Phantom 105.2FM	22	2%	18	2%	4	0%	22%		22	2%	0	0%	0%

 

RTE1 is still dominant in the capital with a 30% reach and a 117,000 lead on its nearest rival FM014. The fight for second place looked like a close run thing last time out with Newstalk only 10,000 listeners behind FM014 for the second slot (bragging rights only really). This gap has now widened to 18,000 in this survey due to a Newstalk decline and an increase in FM104 listenership.

Today FM are probably disappointed not to have capitalised on the momentum they were experiencing in Dublin in the last few surveys. They made no reach gains on the previous book leaving them perched at 99,000 again. It’s back to 2009Q4 we’d have to go to see Today FM above 100,000 in the city.

2FM, like with its national picture, would seemed to have applied the brakes to the Dublin decline turning the corner since it hit a low point in 2012Q4 and dropping to 62,000 listeners in the metropolis. The gains have been marginal but positive in the main. Below are historical and pictorial representations of the reach of the stations in Dublin.    

	15Q2		15Q1		14Q4		14Q3		14Q2		14Q1		13Q4
RTE Radio 1	305	30%	297	30%	285	28%	280	28%	278	27%	275	27%	286	28%
FM 104	188	18%	184	18%	187	18%	182	18%	185	18%	194	19%	196	19%
Newstalk	170	17%	174	17%	170	17%	162	16%	150	15%	137	14%	128	13%
Spin 1038	149	15%	147	15%	142	14%	138	14%	136	13%	129	13%	127	13%
98FM	105	10%	109	10%	110	9%	103	9%	101	9%	88	9%	85	8%
Today FM	99	10%	99	10%	88	9%	87	9%	81	8%	74	7%	81	8%
Q102	87	9%	92	9%	97	10%	82	8%	91	9%	89	9%	87	9%
RTE 2FM	76	7%	77	7%	75	7%	73	7%	70	7%	71	7%	72	7%
RTE Lyric FM	58	6%	60	6%	56	6%	61	6%	57	6%	54	5%	55	5%
Radio Nova 100FM	56	5%	58	5%	55	5%	52	5%	55	5%	49	5%	50	5%
Sunshine 106.8	55	5%	45	5%	43	4%	38	4%	35	3%	34	3%	33	3%
Classic Hits 4FM	35	3%	38	10%	38	4%	37	4%	36	4%	32	3%	31	3%
Phantom 105.2FM	22	2%	22	2%	20	2%	20	2%	18	2%	15	1%	15	1%

Graphic: Dublin Reach 

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Just to give some background into the Dublin tastes here are the top 20 weekday programmes

 

	Station	Time	Programme	Reach
1	RTE1	07.00-09.00	Morning Ireland	168
2	RTE1	10.00-12.00	Sean O’Rourke	144
3	RTE1	09.00-10.00	John Murray	120
4	RTE1	13.45-15.00	Liveline	114
5	RTE1	13.00-13.45	News at One	111
6	RTE1	12.00-13.00	Ronan Collins	97
7	Spin	14.45-18.45	Steve K	90
8	FM014	10.00-15.00	The 10-3 Show	87
9	FM014	06.00-10.00	Strawberry Alarm Clock	83
10	RTE1	16.30-19.00	Drivetime	82
11	News	07.00-10.00	Breakfast	80
12	FM014	15.00-19.00	The Jam	70
13	RTE1	15.00-16.30	Ray D’Arcy	62
14	News	16.30-19.00	Right Hook	58
15	News	10.00-12.30	Pat Kenny	56
16	News	13.30-16.30	Moncrieff	45
17	Today	07.00-09.00	Ian Dempsey Breakfast	44
18	Today	09.00-12.00	Anton Savage	43
19	Q102	13.00-17.00	David Harrington	43
20	Spin	07.00-09.45	Fully Charged	43

 I added to the Dublin Figures – there was some interesting chatter in excluding the Nationals and simply looking at the Locals. I have no choice but to restrict the listings to FM104, 98FM, Q102 and Spin – the adage of ‘work fills the time allotted’ springs to mind!

So, below are the programmes compared to their previous year, all fairly pedestrian. The ‘#’ column shows the rank of each programme amongst the others in the table. The table is sortable as well

Station	Time	#	Programme	15Q2	14Q2	+/-	+/-
FM014	06.00-10.00	3	Strawberry Alarm Clock	83	78	5	6%
FM014	10.00-15.00	2	The 10-3 Show	87	86	1	1%
FM014	15.00-19.00	4	The Jam	70	82	-12	-15%
FM014	19.00-21.00	19	It’s Your Call	15	13	2	15%
FM014	21.00-01.00	15	FM104 Phoneshow	28	34	-6	-18%
98FM	07.00-10.00	10	The Ray Foley Show	38	41	-3	-7%
98FM	10.00-12.00	12	Dublin Talks	33	33	0	0%
98FM	12.00-16.00	7	Barry Dunne	42	44	-2	-5%
98FM	16.00-19.00	11	The Big Ride Home	34	35	-1	-3%
98FM	19.00-21.00	21	The Fix with Brian Maher	11	8	3	38%
98FM	21.00-22.00	23	On-Air with Ryan Seacrest	5	3	2	67%
98FM	22.00-00.00	22	Dublin Talks At Night	8	8	0	0%
Q102	06.00-09.00	17	Breakfast Show	21	21	0	0%
Q102	09.00-13.00	9	Liam Coburn	39	42	-3	-7%
Q102	13.00-17.00	5	David Harrington	43	47	-4	-9%
Q102	17.00-19.00	16	Aidan Cooney	23	30	-7	-23%
Q102	19.00-00.00	20	Debbie Allen	14	20	-6	-30%
Spin	07.00-09.45	5	Fully Charged	43	45	-2	-4%
Spin	09.45-12.45	12	Nikki Hayes	33	36	-3	-8%
Spin	12.45-14.45	7	Spin Talk	42	44	-2	-5%
Spin	14.45-18.45	1	Steve K	90	79	11	14%
Spin	18.45-21.00	14	The Zoo Crew	30	27	3	11%
Spin	21.00-00.00	18	Total Request Live	18	14	4	29%

Shares:

 

Shares show that RTE1 have largest share in the capital. Year on Year RTE1 and 98FM have made share ground with Q102 and FM104 being on the other end of that spectrum. Book on Book again RTE1 added 1.5% (points) and Sunshine and FM104 made ground as well whereas Q102, Lyric and 98FM lost out on some share against the previous survey.   

	Year On Year				Book on Book
Station	15Q2	14Q2	+/-		15Q1	+/-
RTE Radio 1	33.8%	33.4%	0.4%		32.3%	1.5%
FM104	11.1%	11.6%	-0.5%		10.7%	0.4%
Newstalk	10.3%	10.0%	0.3%		10.5%	-0.2%
Spin 1038	7.1%	7.1%	0.0%		7.2%	-0.1%
Dublin’s 98FM	6.4%	5.9%	0.5%		6.7%	-0.3%
Today FM	6.2%	6.1%	0.1%		6.3%	-0.1%
Q102	5.2%	6.9%	-1.7%		5.9%	-0.7%
RTE 2FM	4.5%	4.9%	-0.4%		4.7%	-0.2%
Sunshine 106.8	4.0%	2.5%	1.5%		3.4%	0.6%
Nova 100FM	3.5%	3.9%	-0.4%		3.7%	-0.2%
RTE Lyric FM	3.2%	3.2%	0.0%		3.6%	-0.4%
Classic Hits 4FM	2.6%	2.3%	0.3%		2.6%	0.0%
TXFM	1.0%	1.3%	-0.3%		1.2%	-0.2%

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Note: Nova is included here in the Dublin figures. Nova’s franchise is “Dublin Commuter” where they reach 71,000 listeners and 6%. 

I’m not ignoring our friends down South, it’s just that time is the enemy in the days that the results are released. I know there’s terrific interest in the region, but the interest in the national picture is stronger, so i have to go with that first. Having said that, here’s some data on Cork:

The graphic will shows the rapid rise of Red FM coming on the back of the decline of 96FM and finally overtaking them in this survey.   They added 12,000 this book alone and 44,000 (+11%) over the year.  Conversely 96FM lost 25,000 (-6%) in the year and 3,000 book on book. 

	Year on Year									Book On Book
	15Q2			14Q2			+/-	+/-		15Q1			+/-	+/-
Any Radio	344	83%		340	82%		4	1%		343	83%		1	0%
Any National	167	41%		177	43%		-10	-2%		172	42%		-5	-1%
Red FM	123	30%		79	19%		44	11%		111	27%		12	3%
96 FM	115	28%		140	34%		-25	-6%		118	29%		-3	-1%
Radio 1	91	22%		92	22%		-1	0%		89	22%		2	0%
C103	64	15%		70	17%		-6	-2%		64	16%		0	-1%
Today FM	49	12%		56	14%		-7	-2%		52	13%		-3	-1%
Newstalk	47	11%		40	10%		7	1%		45	11%		2	0%
4 FM	43	10%		30	7%		13	3%		42	10%		1	0%
2FM	35	9%		35	9%		0	0%		38	9%		-3	0%
Lyric FM	15	4%		18	4%		-3	0%		14	3%		1	1%

 

 

Finally, just a quick look at where most of the action took place – the morning.

Station	Time	Programme	15Q2	14Q2	+/-	+/-
C103	06.00-10.00	Colum McGrath	32	34	-2	-6%
96 FM	06.00-09.00	Nick Richards	49	58	-9	-16%
Red FM	06.00-09.00	The KC Show	41	22	19	86%
C103	10.00-13.00	Patricia Messenger	39	41	-2	-5%
96 FM	09.00-12.00	PJ Coogan	73	91	-18	-20%
Red FM	09.00-12.00	Neil Prendeville	64	35	29	83%
C103	13.00-16.00	Eric-Griffin	30	29	1	3%
96 FM	12.00-16.00	Ken Tobin	55	77	-22	-29%
Red FM	12.00-16.00	Red Hits with Izzy	53	35	18	51%