JNLR 2014 Q2 Dublin Listenership

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin

The capital’s fortunes changed in this survey following twelve successive surveys of either stagnation or decline with Dublin radio listenership gaining a point to 80% bringing listenership to 810,000 on an average weekday (67% and 60% on Saturday and Sunday respectively for the overly curious). But beneath that figure lies a tangles web of thirteen stations whose fortunes were varied over the year.

For illustrative purposes I’ve added a table this time around showing the all the stations results over the last four surveys as well as a year on year comparison. I stick with the year on year for comparative purposes but it can get a little confusing discussing the long and the short term surveys. Anyway it’s probably only fair to see the numbers laid bare to spot any emerging trends.

gap11 dubNot unlike the National picture Newstalk made the big gains adding 23% to their listeners bring them to 150,000 and helps it to root itself firmly into third spot after RTE1 and FM104. Newstalk performs well in the metropolis with just under half their listeners turning in from Dublin. (Interestingly Radio1, Lyric and Newstalk have each 41% of their total listenership residing in Dublin. On the other hand 2FM is only boosted by 19% and Today FM by 18% by the Blues listenership).

Year on year RTE1 is down slightly to 278,000 but, as you can see from the graphs below, they are on an upward trajectory. FM014, Spin and Q102 all lost listeners over the twelve months, but on a survey on survey basis the picture wasn’t so bleak. Nova, Lyric, Classic Hits and Sunshine all had some great gains (albeit on a small base) and would seem to be eating away at some of the larger stations survey after survey.

  14Q2 13Q2 +/- +/-
Any Radio 810 80% 817 81% -7 -1%
RTE Radio 1 278 27% 284 28% -6 -2%
FM 104 185 18% 225 22% -40 -18%
Newstalk 150 15% 122 12% 28 23%
Spin 1038 136 13% 131 13% 5 4%
98FM 101 9% 87 9% 14 16%
Q102 91 9% 95 9% -4 -4%
Today FM 81 8% 76 7% 5 7%
RTE 2FM 70 7% 66 7% 4 6%
RTE Lyric FM 57 6% 43 4% 14 33%
Radio Nova 100FM 55 5% 43 4% 12 28%
Classic Hits 4FM 36 4% 25 2% 11 44%
Sunshine 106.8 35 3% 29 3% 6 21%
Phantom 105.2FM 18 2% 17 2% 1 6%

Top slot still goes to RTE1 who hold a dominant position at 278,000 listeners (27%) and are perused by FM104 at 185,000 (18%) having lost 40,000 listeners over the year. They in turn are being chased down by Newstalk on 150,000 (15%) who have narrowed the gap between them to 35,000. Not that their fighting for the same cohort of listener but the prize of second spot is very much up for grabs in Dublin. Today FM stabilised in the capital on 81,000 (8%) after successive surveys of either decline or small to no gains.  

  13Q3 13Q4 14Q1 14Q2
Any Radio 809 80% 803 79% 804 79% 810 80%
Any Region/Loc/M-C/D-C 472 47% 452 45% 459 45% 469 46%
RTE Radio 1 286 28% 286 28% 275 27% 278 27%
FM 104 207 20% 196 19% 194 19% 185 18%
Newstalk 122 12% 128 13% 137 14% 150 15%
Spin 1038 135 13% 127 13% 129 13% 136 13%
98FM 81 8% 85 8% 88 9% 101 9%
Q102 97 10% 87 9% 89 9% 91 9%
Today FM 77 8% 81 8% 74 7% 81 8%
RTE 2FM 66 7% 72 7% 71 7% 70 7%
RTE Lyric FM 49 5% 55 5% 54 5% 57 6%
Radio Nova 100FM 47 5% 50 5% 59 5% 55 5%
Classic Hits 4FM 29 3% 31 3% 32 3% 36 4%
Sunshine 106.8 30 3% 33 3% 34 3% 35 3%
TXFM 17 2% 15 1% 15 1% 18 2%

For a “holistic” view of the Dublin market you can cycle through the graphic tabs below which show the total radio reach and then the individual stations by their reach in thousands and percentage reach. If nothing else it clearly shows the rise of Newstalk on the back of signing Pat Kenny.

[module-289]

Market Shares

Dublin market share is dominated by RTE1 at 34.1% with a twenty two point gap between it and FM104. Newstalk made good gains adding two points to a 9.7% share. Q102, Spin and Today were all down as was 98FM. Nova, Lyric, Sunshine and Classic Hits also gaining ground.

Station 14Q2 13Q2 +/-
RTE Radio 1 33.40% 33.60% -0.20%
FM104 11.60% 14.10% -2.50%
Newstalk 10.00% 8.20% 1.80%
Spin 1038 7.10% 7.10% 0.00%
Q102 6.90% 8.60% -1.70%
Today FM 6.10% 5.70% 0.40%
98FM 5.90% 5.90% 0.00%
RTE 2FM 4.90% 5.20% -0.30%
Nova 100FM 3.90% 3.70% 0.20%
RTE Lyric FM 3.20% 2.20% 1.00%
Sunshine 106.8 2.50% 2.50% 0.00%
Classic Hits 4FM 2.30% 1.90% 0.40%
TXFM 1.30% 0.90% 0.40%
Other  0.80% 0.30% 0.50%

The only way to look at the shares are two fold: Dublin in full and then ex-RTE so you can see what’s happening more clearly without the dominance of the national station. 

[module-294]

Within any reach figure there’s a story. It’s the one behind the scenes and hopefully the graphs below capture some of what’s happening. Like above, with thirteen stations it’s a tangled mess so I’ve divided it into Dublin “A” and “B” to give you, hopefully, a clearer picture. Each line tells its own story but something that struck me was the Newstalk journey throughout the day (among others).

Breakfast has a huge spike just after eight and then dies off rapidly only to be resuscitated at ten by Pat Kenny. There’s a odd undulating pattern to his listenership with people diving in and out seemingly. Then at the stroke of twelve all hell breaks out and there seems to be mass defection – but not to another station by the looks of things. I’ve looked at these patterns nationally as well and they can be found in the Station Programmes bit. 

[module-290]

At his point I’m beginning to hear the lyric in The Smiths What Difference Does It Make? –  “Oh, the devil will find work for idle hands to do”! But, before I descend to my fiery pit, below I have shown how each station has performed against previous surveys across the day (14Q2 V 13Q2 and 12Q2). For consistence and to be able to digest it quickly: the red line is always current survey, blue ’13 and green ’12. I’ll refrain from comment as that level of detail would be too much and each will have their own opinion (which you can share with the group below if you are part of the Disqus Comment family).  

[module-291]

Honest – finally; I just thought this paints a interesting picture in Dublin

dub profile  

Tagged in: |