JNLR (Joint National Listenership Research) 2010 National Stations

The JNLR figures thump in the desks today and, on the surface it would seem that there is a small shift away from radio.

The figure for ‘any radio’ for 2009 was 87% whereas the same figure for 2010 is 85%which is a drop of 88,000 listeners over the year. The figures above are the full year figures from 2006 to 2010. It plots both the reach and share of each station year on year.

Looking at ‘10 to ‘09 all the national stations are either down or, at best, stationary. The big faller in the survey is Today FM which has lost 2% points nationally over the year equating to 56,000 sets of ears. At best, surveys like these move at a glacial pace. Sometimes the year on year yields a ‘spectacular’  increase or decrease – but rarely.

Given the slow pace or change in these surveys you can only really draw any meaningful data by looking at the longer term. To that end the table below shows the comparison between ‘10 and ‘06. The outstanding figure is that of 2FM which has lost 5% points in both reach and share.

Its nationwide reach has fallen by 165,000 listeners since 2006. It has lost listeners ever year since 2006 – this survey being the biggest fall. Perhaps its a change in format (a forced one), perhaps its a migration towards other stations, a fact not borne out in these results. One thing is certain, something has to be done.