The tables below show the gains and losses both on the last book and compared to the previous year. If a direct comparison, via the time slot, cannot be made during the comparison – then that programme is not mentioned. So, for example in the year on year gains table, Breakfast Republic is excluded as the time slots are totally different year on year. They are included in the book on book tables as it’s a direct comparison.  Table: Year on Year Gains       16Q2 16Q1 15Q1   YoY   BoB News at One RTE 1 W/D 13.00-13.45 

Radio listenership dropped in the capital to 818,000 down 1% on the year and the same book on book. The falls are less pronounced on a book on book basis with but looking at them over the year some of the falls are severe. Double digit decrease in the capital for Newstalk, Today FM, Q102 and 2FM and, of them, only Q102 managed to get something back in the last quarter. RTE1 are still the dominant force reaching 305,000 listeners. They are followed by FM104 on 189,000 a 3% increase on the year. Newstalk, are next on 154,000. Last year

Here’s where we look at the local and regional franchises. Again, they are not comparatives as they simply can’t be compared to each other. I’ve made little or no comment as the data is self explanatory and my outpourings won’t add much. Each is compared to the last book and the last year.    Table: Regional Reach                     YoY BoB Area Franchise 2016Q1   2015Q1   2015 Q4   +/- Ch% +/- Ch% Regional SE Beat 98 25%   101 25%   97 25%   -3 0% 1 0% Regional SW

All the top tables and in the interest of tracking the license fee money the book on book numbers are compared so that 2FM can be scrutinised. The Gains and Falls tables likewise are divided into the year on year and book on book. The metric for the gains and falls are subjectively based on actual listeners and not the percentage gain. If it were percentages (we should really say) we’d be showering Ray D’Arcy with praise for a 19% increase in listeners year on year and also to Alison Curtis getting a 6% increase book on book. RTE1 stole

Each of the national stations are looked at below in terms of their individual programming. There’s a comparison to last quarter and last book in all cases.  

Overall there was a minor drop in listenership nationally, well within statistical error and certainly not to trouble with this issue any further. National listenership remained at a healthy 83% or 3,001,000 people daily. Focussing on the stations, the clear winner on the national stage was RTE1 in this book, with a year on year increase of 64,000 listeners (8%) and a book on book gain of 32,000 or 4%. The veneer of 2FM’s number year on year, holding steady at 374,000, is very much tarnished when we see their more recent past. Their book on book figure has them

In Dublin listenership to overall radio listenership dipped marginally from 81% to 80%. Still the most listened to station in the capital is RTE1 commanding a 30% reach up 9% on the year or 27,000 listeners. You can see for the table at the bottom that they occupy the top five most listened to station in the capital and four of them have added numbers over the year.  Book on book they also did well managing a 3% increase in the quarter. Their nearest rival for the top slot is FM104 some 126,000 listeners away. FM104 managed to stay unchanged

There’s too much data here – so I’m going to simply provide the numbers and you can extrapolate what you want from it. In the four regions there’s still a job to do to catch up with the “home locals” – which, in most cases are very dominant. On a positive note: three out of four regional stations beat RTE1 into second position. There’s also a table of all the ‘franchises’ – it’s interesting to see the totality of the radio market and how they all stand – comparisons are unwise as the different franchises have different populations etc.  

There were some good wins for RTE1 occupying the top five slots in the programmes that gained year on year and three of them in the weekend schedule. They also hold the top five book on book – but the emphasis there is on the weekday schedule. Today FM hold three of the five faller’s berths looking at them year on year.  The main Top 30 Table below is sortable – just click on the heading and it will sort ascending and then descending (on a second click).  Table: Year on Year Gains (‘000) Programme Time Station 15Q4 14Q4 Book

Here we have a look at the different stations and their weekday offerings. This time out the year on year and book on book are explored.   

Cork was akin to a bare-knuckle scrap in the last few books  – now it looks like a mismatch and no rematch in the contract. RedFM pulled away, yet again, to 133,000 or 32% reach having added 34,000 listener’s in the year (+34%) and a more conservative 8,000 or 6% in the last quarter. Cork’s 96FM is the ultimate victim in this fight dropping 17,000 on the year (-13%) but managing to keep it steady in the last quarter. Consider, if you will, that in mid ’13 they were at an untouchable 174,000 listeners per day, 70,000 ahead of their

The national picture shows that radio listenership is still in a healthy position with a reach of 83% of the population every day. While this is up 18,000 on the previous year (14Q3) it’s down marginally (3,000) on the previous book (15Q2). That small slippage also had the affect of moving the point reach from 84% in 15Q2 to 83% this time out. On a station by station basis most gained year on year and fell on a book on book analysis. RTE1 is still the dominant force reaching 24% of the population every day or 868,000 people which is

There’s a lot in the regional and locals so I’m simply going to provide the ammunition: those who want can fire the bullets. All regional stations are performing well against the nationals but still have a way to go before they reach the “home local” grouping in their respective franchises. You can see from the table below where each of the national stations rank in the various franchises. It shows that, in the main, they would be second to the home locals, ahead of RTE1, in all areas, bar one.

The Top 30 is a bit of a mess in terms of comparatives and has been thrown off kilter. The whole 2FM schedule has changed, not only in terms of characters, but, and more importantly for the purposes here, the time slots have changed making it difficult to make genuine hard comparisons. Take for example ‘Breakfast Republic’ on 2FM. Last time out the time segment was 06.00-08.45 and raking in 119,000 listeners in the 15Q2 survey. It’s now on a 06.00-10.00 slot and pulls in 196,000 listeners, which makes the “show” have a gain in listeners of 96,000 or over