The latest radio ratings were released in the UK and Ireland last week. While stations crow over who is No.1 we’re concerned with a basic, yet essential question; how is radio as a platform performing?
In Ireland, the news is not good, with overall listening taking another dive. Currently the Average Weekday Yesterday Listenership figure is at 84%. About ten years ago that was up at 89%. It’s clear the trend is showing less and less Irish people are listening to radio.
The opposite is true in the UK where radio …

Overall listening to radio in Ireland is on the way down.
To see a trend you need to look back over the years which I have done and you can also.
In 1999, the JNLR Listened Yesterday figure for All Radio was 88%. The most recent JNLR reports that same figure as 85%. A drop of 3%.
It gets really interesting when you compare us to the UK market. In 1999 the RAJAR Listened Yesterday figure for All Radio was 89%. The most recent RAJAR reports that same figure as 92%. An …

FM in the UK continues its downward fall.
The latest RAJAR market trends released yesterday shows a market share for analogue (AM & FM) has fallen to 65.4% with the remainder of listening done on growing DAB and digital platforms.
The big winners are digital only stations like Jazz and Planet Rock. Absolute Radio have also done phenomenally well with about half their listeners tuning in on DAB, Freeview and online. Not bad for an AM licenced station!
What I also find interesting, is that this churn is actually driving an …

Radio needs to embrace digital and start doing some joined up thinking. That was the message to the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) conference this week from Peter McPartlin, Strategy Director at Ireland’s largest media buyer Carat Ireland.