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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