A slight word of caution before looking at these figures. In comparing this year to last, it has to be remembered that the sample size of the survey increased to reflect our changing population. In the 2011-3 survey, the estimated universe was 3.511m whereas the estimated universe in the latest survey (2012-3) is 3.608m and extra 97,000 listening people.
This has a tendency to slightly confuse the comparisons at times. Stations may have the same number of listeners, in volume terms, but could have declined in their percentage reach– all simple mathematics.
| Station | 12_3 | 11_3 | 10_3 | 09_3 | 12_11 | 12_09 |
| Any Radio | 85% | 84% | 85% | 87% | 1% | -2% |
| Any National | 47% | 46% | 46% | 51% | 1% | -4% |
| Any RTE Radio | 35% | 35% | 36% | 39% | 0% | -4% |
| Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric | 35% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 1% | -4% |
| RTE Radio 1 | 24% | 25% | 24% | 26% | -1% | -2% |
| RTE 2FM | 11% | 11% | 14% | 16% | 0% | -5% |
| RTE Lyric FM | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Today FM | 14% | 13% | 13% | 15% | 1% | -1% |
| Newstalk | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 0% | 0% |
| Any Region/Local/M-City | 58% | 58% | 58% | 57% | 0% | 1% |
| Home Local Station | 44% | 45% | 45% | 47% | -1% | -3% |
| Other Regional/Local Station | 7% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 0% | -1% |
The National radio picture is still very healthy with 85% of the population listening to radio on a daily (weekday 7am to 7pm) up marginally on the previous year. Over the intervening 12 months, very little has happened with only small fluctuations in listenership on the national stage. RTE Radio one declined by 1% and Today FM gained one point and the rest of the stations manage to stay static.
Looking at this from a long term view the trajectory does seem downward, with all the national stations declining bar one, Lyric FM. The national broadcasters other two stations fell over the four years – RTE1 by 2% and 2FM by 5%. Today FM was the only other faller in that period.
Even taking into account the shifting goalposts of the estimated universe the figures below are the actual number of listeners for each station.
| Station | 12_3 | 11_3 | 10_3 | 09_3 | 12_11 | 12_09 |
| Any Radio | 3052 | 2963 | 3011 | 3067 | 89 | -15 |
| Any National | 1681 | 1620 | 1634 | 1802 | 61 | -121 |
| Any RTE Radio | 1260 | 1224 | 1267 | 1393 | 36 | -133 |
| Any RTE1/2FM/Lyric | 1248 | 1205 | 1256 | 1376 | 43 | -128 |
| RTE Radio 1 | 879 | 878 | 848 | 901 | 1 | -22 |
| RTE 2FM | 410 | 396 | 476 | 549 | 14 | -139 |
| RTE Lyric FM | 124 | 118 | 111 | 118 | 6 | 6 |
| Today FM | 493 | 446 | 460 | 533 | 47 | -40 |
| Newstalk | 303 | 287 | 269 | 265 | 16 | 38 |
| Any Region/Local/M-City | 2098 | 2036 | 2044 | 2022 | 62 | 76 |
| Home Local Station | 1605 | 1572 | 1599 | 1644 | 33 | -39 |
| Other Regional/Local Station | 253 | 238 | 273 | 269 | 15 | -16 |
It really highlights the decline in the numbers tuning into 2FM on a daily basis.
Again the market shares are an interesting take on listenership and plot nicely the mixed fortunes of the various stations over thirteen surveys.
