Ireland - Radio waves
20 February 2005
By Catherine O'Mahony Relief, disappointment, shock and, in the lucky cases, elation. With these kinds of emotions about, it could only mean the release of the most feared and anticipated report of the year for the radio industry: year-end listenership figures. The 2004 Joint National Radio Listenership (JNLR) report inevitably marked another blow for RTE's radio output, but it proved yet another vindication for the country's increasingly thriving local radio stations. Among the more startling developments was the news that 2FM's core audience of 15-to-34-year-olds was down 11 per cent. Serious efforts to revitalise the station's afternoon and evening schedules are now likely. The good news for RTE was that the Radio 1 evening schedules have picked up, the much-maligned Lyric is doing well - it doubled its share - and Morning Ireland remains by far the most listened-to show on radio. But the Radio 1 schedule looks to be generally stalled before lunchtime, and only younger guns Rachael English and Ryan Tubridy had anything significant to be happy about. The latest book was bad news, not only for Marian Finucane - which was hardly surprising given the recent news of her move to weekend radio - but also for mid-morning stalwart Pat Kenny. His listenership was down 31,000 at 301,000, more than RTE's own internal trackings had predicted. Gerry Ryan, meanwhile, gained 22,000 listeners on his 2FM show. Kenny could argue that his lost ground was partly a knock-on effect of Finucane's decline in listeners (26,000), but the chances are high that he will be one of the losers in the planned autumn schedule 'tweaking' of Radio 1 in the daytime. There were celebrations at a host of the newer commercial stations. Local stations gained 21,000 listeners last year overall, and local or regional stations raised their market share to 47 per cent from 46 per cent. Dublin's Newstalk 106 advanced for a reach of 5 per cent (or 6 per cent of adults), thanks to the new Eamon Dunphy show, which attracted 16,000 listeners. Overall, Dunphy's performance was seen as adequate, though it failed to thrill. Initiative Media commented in a research note that many in the industry would see this kind of result as "disappointing and a far cry from his glory days on The Last Word''. George Hook, in Newstalk's drivetime slot, lost some ground, with average quarter hour listenership down 13 per cent at just 7,000. Q102's spring re-launch gained it three per cent to 12 per cent, close to the highs achieved in the early days of Lite and reversing its 2003 decline. Its market share is now 9 per cent, up by half, with listeners now staying with the station for an average of an hour and 55 minutes a day. While Q102 is supposed to be targeting over-35s, it has doubled its share among 15-to-34-year-olds, to 10 per cent. Most dramatically of all, music station Spin FM almost doubled its listenership to 9 per cent. It is now second after FM104 in the 15-to-24-year-old age group. Worryingly for the competition, it's the biggest Dublin station at night for under-34s. Some media buyers believe Spin has taken share from 98FMwhich lost 35,000 listeners in the youth audience. However, Tom Wright, the station's chief executive, said he believed his main battle was with FM104 and Q102. "There's a perception out there that we're all about dance music, but it's a bit of a misconception," he said. Wright attributed Spin's success to "continual music re-assessment and clever, direct marketing''. In the second half of last year, Spin was into double figures on reach, at 10 per cent of adults. "This is one of the most dramatic books of recent years," said Dave Harland, chief executive of Initiative Media. "Effectively, Spin is challenging all media planners and advertisers to reappraise the structure of their Dublin radio plans." In the south-east, Beat boosted its listenership to 19 per cent, for a market share of 8 per cent. Kieran McGeary, chief executive of Beat, said six-month figures showed the station with reach of 20 per cent, which is close to 2FM's 23 per cent. "We're already beating 2FMin our core target market of 15-to-34-year-olds and these six-month figures show that we're now on target to overtake them in the all-adults demographic," he said. At Today FM, Ian Dempsey's apparent share collapse was unfairly reported in some circles. Dempsey's show is shorter now, so direct comparisons of his listenership are not possible. In fact, the average per quarter hour listenership on his show was up 3,000 at 83,000. On this comparative basis, however, Ray D'Arcy has been the big winner. His profile has been boosted by his TV appearances and he is now attracting an average quarter hour listenership of 113,000, a huge leap from 88,000. He is now eclipsing Dempsey as the commercial station's biggest draw. It was a poor book for Matt Cooper, whose efforts at the Last Word slot are still faltering. Year-on-year his reach is down 4,000, which is seen in the industry as a disappointing result. Overall, Today FM will be pleased to have significantly boosted its Cork listenership in particular, after making a determined effort in the region in the past year. Cork remained a competitive place for radio, with 96FM remaining dominant but continuing to lose some ground, as did RedFM. RTE 1 and 2FM also gained listeners in the area. http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/s...511-qqqx=1.asp |
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