Nova celebrates ratings milestone with highest music radio market share in Dublin

August 15, 2024 radionewsfeeds Ireland Comments Off on Nova celebrates ratings milestone with highest music radio market share in Dublin
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Radio Nova is celebrating a milestone in its history as the station gets the highest market share amongst music stations in Dublin.

Nova’s market share in Dublin has increased in the latest JNLR to 8.3%, with long-time rival, FM104, now at 7.3%.

Nova now scores 246,000 weekly listeners and sees its daily audience grow 122,000 to 135,000 in its wider franchise area of Dublin city, county and commuter belt.

CEO & Programme Director Kevin Branigan says: “The champagne corks are popping here today with the JNLR ratings officially confirm that Radio Nova is Dublin’s Number One music radio station – significantly ahead of all other music stations in the city. We’ve passed out FM104, Today FM, RTE 2FM, 98FM, Spin & Q102 by a mile – making Radio Nova by far the largest music station on the dial.

“Not only that, we’ve increased our total audience in Dublin and the surrounding counties to almost a quarter of a million listeners!

“To say we’re delighted and humbled by the support of our listeners would be an understatement. Thank you, as always, to all our listeners in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow AND further afield for your continued support – from all of us at Radio Nova.”

Elsewhere in Castleforbes House, Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio is also celebrating, with news that 370,000 people now listen to the station, the highest ratings in its 15-year history.

Across the industry, the latest JNLR/Ipsos audience figures released today shows that the Irish daily radio audience is at over 3.4 million listeners, growing by 69,000 listeners while 69% of 15 to 34 year-olds listen to radio every weekday.

The JNLR/Ipsos report, covering the period July ‘23 to June ‘24 shows that Radio enjoys huge listenership with 90% of Irish adults and 86% of 15–34-year-olds listening to radio every week.

The daily listenership levels are also hugely impressive with the daily weekday audience now at over 3.4 million, growing by 69,000 listeners compared to the previous survey covering the period Apr ‘23-Mar ‘24.

Listenership for 15–34 year-olds also increased, with 69% of this age group listening every weekday, while daily weekday listening levels for 15-24 year olds is at 64%.

Listening levels to local and regional radio continues to be very strong with over 2.2 million adults listening to their local or regional station every single weekday.

The ability to access content easily and the quality and popularity of Irish radio means that this latest JNLR shows that the average adult is listening to radio content for 4.1 hours each day. And the latest Irish Audio Report, released by Ipsos, which looks at total audio listening, shows that live radio dominates with a 74% share of total listening. Music streaming has a 12% share of listening while YouTube Music and Podcasts have a 7% and 3% share respectively.

6.2% of all radio listening is now through a smart speaker while listening via a mobile device is at 3.2%. For the younger 15 to 34 age cohort, 8.3% of their listening is through a smart speaker and 8.6% through a mobile device.

Ciaran Cunningham CEO Radiocentre Ireland said: “It is clear that radio listening is booming in Ireland and today’s figures are a great reminder that Irish radio is a central part of people’s lives with brilliant content being consumed by millions of listeners every single day.

“All parts of the Irish population, from young to old are listening to radio in huge numbers because it is a key part of Irish daily life. Advertisers recognise the power of the medium with the latest Radiocentre Ireland revenue figures showing that for the January to June period, revenue to Irish radio operators came to €77.9 million, up 2% on the same period last year.”

Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show has achieved record listenership of 244,000 confirming its position as the most listened to show on commercial radio in Ireland, up from 229,000 in Q1.

The Bauer speech station also has an all-time high market share of 8.7% and its highest ever weekly reach with 869,000 listeners tuning in every week.

Newstalk Breakfast with Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman have also recorded an all time high audience of 168,000 listeners, up 11,000 book on book. Andrea Gilligan’s Lunchtime Live also made significant gains adding 19,000 listeners meaning 137,000 now tune in daily.

Moncrieff with Sean Moncrieff also saw an increase to 108,000 and The Hard Shoulder with Kieran Cuddihy increased by 7,000 to 155,000.

The station’s flagship weekend programme The Anton Savage Show continues to be a destination for listeners now enjoying an audience of 134,000 on Saturdays between 9am and 11am and 118,000 in its Sunday slot between 10am – 12pm. Down to Business with Bobby Kerr continues to attract a significant audience growing to 120,000 in these latest results.

Managing Editor of Newstalk, Patricia Monahan commented today: “These results clearly confirm Newstalk as the talk station of choice for a generation of listeners and are testament to the energy, creativity and dedication of the entire team, both on air and behind the scenes.

“We will continue to host the conversations that count to our audience across our programmes and look forward to engaging with all our new listeners.”

Sticking with Bauer, and it looks like Today FM remains on track to hit a weekly reach of 1million, with 988,000 listeners tuning in to the national station each week, over 50,000 more listeners than this time last year, although down slightly this quarter by 4,000.

While Today FM’s daily reach stands at 489,000 (-17,000 BoB), it’s the weekend schedule that saw a number of wins in the latest results, including Weekend Breakfast with Alison Curtis, KC on Today FM and Block Rockin’ Beats with Dec Pierce.

The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show now has 210,000 listeners (-6,000 BoB) tuning in each morning. This weekend will see Ian Dempsey make his Electric Picnic debut as he takes to The Today FM Sound Garden stage with Ian Dempsey’s Pick N’ Mix.

Dave Moore on Today FM (09:00-12:00) marks his one-year anniversary of his show with 223,000 listeners, 7,000 more than this time last year (-5,000 BoB). Dave Moore continues to be the most listened-to show on the station.

Louise Cantillon (12:00-14:00), entertains a sizeable audience of lunchtime listeners with 131,000 tuning in (-8,000 BoB).

Ray Foley in the afternoons (14:00 – 16:30) now holds an audience of 155,000 loyal listeners (-6,000 BoB). Ray Foley continues to be the most successful show in that timeslot in the history of Today FM.

Commenting, Dec Pierce said: “I want to thank everyone that tunes in every Friday and Saturday night to Today FM. This radio show holds a really special place in my heart, and it is such an honour to share the Block Rockin’ Beats music and madness with so many of you every weekend.”

Another weekend show on the rise is Weekend Breakfast with Alison Curtis. Alison continues to grow her army of weekend early risers as her Saturday show now stands at 189,000 listeners (-1,000 BoB , +4,000 YoY).

Finally, it was a great JNLR for Cork based Keith Cunningham, KC on Today FM (Saturday 2-6pm) now holds an audience of 141,000 listeners (+11,000 BoB). KC said; “Coming back to Today FM this year was so special for me, & now landing 11,000 new listeners each Saturday is something else. On Saturday afternoons we play the music you love, with the sports updates you need, and do lots of messin’ in-between. I can’t thank the loyal Today FM audience enough for supporting the show.”

Commenting on the figures, Fyona Smith, Managing Editor of Today FM said: “The Today FM team’s effort over the past year has led to significant growth. We’re excited to keep pushing forward to meet our audience’s expectations, continuing to strive to deliver entertaining and engaging moments is our key focus.”

James Brownlow, Managing Editor, Music & Entertainment at Bauer Media Audio Ireland commented: “This survey shows that radio across the country is thriving, especially within our Bauer Media portfolio. It’s as challenging as ever to be the best in market and for Today FM to once again achieve such fantastic market winning measures, in such competitive times, really is testament to the quality of work the team puts in for the Irish audience.”

In Cork, Red FM’s market share is now at 21% while its weekly reach of 177,000 and daily reach of 129,000 positions it as the market leader. Breakfast with KC is the biggest morning show in Cork with an audience of 48,000 (+1,000 BoB) while The Neil Prendeville Show also maintains its leading position, with a listenership of 75,000 (-1,000 BoB).

In Dublin, SPIN 1038’s Breakfast Show Emma, Dave and Aisling has beaten its own record to achieve and all-time high listenership of 59,000 listeners (+7,000 BoB) with the station also leading the Dublin market on daily reach, now at 141,000 (+6,000 BoB).

98FM celebrated increases across the board today: market share (4.8%), weekly reach (191,000) and daily reach (82,000) as well as audience growth in all daytime shows: 98FM’s Big Breakfast with Rebecca & Brendan adding 3,000 listeners, now at 37,000 while Brian Dowling & Suzanne Kane now entertain an audience of 33,000 (+5,000 listeners BoB).

iRadio has grown its weekly audience by 12,000 in the past year to achieve a reach of 349,000 while SPIN South West increased its weekly reach to 154,000 (+7,000 BoB) this time around.

Commenting on the results, Bauer Media Audio Ireland CEO Chris Doyle said: “This is a stellar performance from Bauer, with lots of all-time highs being recorded. Congratulations to the Newstalk team for a truly outstanding result. It’s also fantastic to see such strong numbers from SPIN and Red FM in their respective markets.

“We have the very best team across Bauer, who consistently create and deliver amazing content that connects with audiences across Ireland, every day.”

Wireless Ireland’s network of local stations across Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Louth/Meath now reach 814,000 adults or 19% of the national adult population on a weekly basis.

In Dublin, Wireless Ireland’s Q102 grew weekly reach by 26% year on year to 197,000 listeners, while FM104 also increased to 269,000 listeners. These stations now deliver 31% of Dublin listeners on a combined basis. In addition, there’s growth for C103 in Cork, delivering 123,000 adults each week, representing an increase in weekly listenership of 10% year on year.

Cork’s 96FM now delivers 158,000 weekly listeners, Live 95 delivers 94,000 and LMFM delivers 112,000 adults in the Louth/Meath area.

urbanmedia, the Wireless Ireland owned sales house, also delivered year on year growth and now reaches nearly 1 million (996,000) people weekly, helped by partner stations Galway Bay FM delivering 120,000 and WLR 62,000 in weekly reach.

Commenting on the results, Sean Barry, Managing Director of Wireless Ireland said: “The continued growth in our audience numbers is testament to the work being done by our programming teams across the island.

“We continue to invest in the best talent and it’s great to see our audiences reacting positively to the changes that we have made. A strong JNLR number backs up what we’re seeing in our digital audiences and we look forward to even more growth in the future.”

Live 95 has 94,000 listeners tuning-in every week, which is over 50% of adults in Limerick City and County.

Station Director of Live 95, Joe Nash said “Radio is such a powerful medium and its connection with Limerick people is clearly shown by these latest official listenership figures, with a massive 80% of Limerick adults tuning in to a radio station every day.

“We are lucky to have a great team here at Live 95 and we consider it a privilege to serve this community. We want to thank the listeners, those who engage with us on our socials, website and the Live 95 app and also our advertisers, who consistently choose us to deliver their message about their product or service.”

And over at RTÉ, the headline remains that over two million adults, or 48% of the adult population listen every week with gains for all RTÉ stations.

  • RTÉ holds 17 of the top 20 radio programmes broadcasting in Ireland
  • RTÉ Radio 1 remains the only station with a weekly reach of over 1 million listeners with gains of +31,000 YoY
  • RTÉ 2FM weekly reach increases by 94,000 YoY to 791,000
  • RTÉ lyric fm has 335,000 listeners on a weekly basis increasing by +37,000 YoY

Since this time last year, 31,000 additional listeners are tuning into RTÉ Radio 1 across the week, weekly listenership to RTÉ 2FM has increased by 94,000, and RTÉ lyric fm has an additional 37,000 listeners based on this time last year.

Commenting on the latest figures, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst said: “We saw over recent days how millions of people in Ireland turned to RTÉ for coverage of an exceptional Olympic Games. Public service media continues to play a central role in Irish life – and these latest radio listenership figures underline that once again. RTÉ broadcasts 17 of the top 20 radio programmes in Ireland.

“RTÉ Radio 1 is growing, and remains the only station with a weekly reach of over 1 million listeners, with gains of 31,000 listeners year-on-year. RTÉ 2FM is growing, with a weekly reach increase of 94,000 year-on-year. And RTÉ lyric fm is growing, increasing by 37,000 listeners year-on-year. I’m proud that RTÉ’s range of programmes, including speech and trusted news and information, entertainment and music, continue to engage and connect audiences across Ireland.”


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This story first appeared on Radio Today

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