RTÉ Radio keeps its connection to listeners as numbers increase across the board

Thursday, 10 Feb 2022 12:26
By RTÉ
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RTÉ RADIO KEEPS ITS CONNECTION TO LISTENERS AS NUMBERS INCREASE ACROSS THE BOARD

RTE RADIO WELCOMES 34,000 NEW LISTENERS 

RTÉ RADIO 1 GAINS 9, 000 (BoB) RTÉ 2FM GAINS 10,000 (BoB), RTÉ lyric fm GAINS 23,000 (BoB) 

RTÉ reaches almost 2 million (1,961,000) radio listeners in Ireland, with 49 percent of the Adult 15+ population tuning in every week (+34,000 Book on Book). RTÉ Radio 1 remains the only station in Ireland with a weekly reach of over +1 million (at 1,409,000) (+9,000), 17 of the Top 20 Most-Listened-to Programmes in Ireland (Adults 15+) are RTÉ Radio 1 programmes (grid below). RTÉ 2fm has a weekly reach figure of 710,000 of Adults 15+ (+10,000) while RTÉ lyric fm increased their listenership to 305,000 tuning in on a weekly basis (+23,000).

RTÉ Radio 1  

RTÉ RADIO 1 WEEKDAY MARKET SHARE 21.4% 

RTÉ RADIO 1 INCREASED WEEKDAY REACH TO 897,000 LISTENERS (+9,000)

  • Morning Ireland is the most-listened-to radio programme in the country with 459,000 people tuning in each morning, (+9,000).
  • The Ryan Tubridy Show gained +7,000 with 366,000 listeners and is the second most-listened-to programme in Ireland.
  • The Brendan O’Connor Show on Saturday mornings is the third most listened to radio programme in the country, with 351,000 listeners, and 323,000 listeners tune in to the programme every Sunday morning.
  • 346,000 listeners tune in to Today with Claire Byrne on weekdays (+6,000).
  • ​343,000 listeners are tuning in every weekday as people talk to Joe on Liveline.
  • News at One with Bryan Dobson has an audience of 330,000 listeners every weekday lunchtime (+1,000).
  • Drivetime with Sarah McInerney and Cormac Ó hEadhra increases its listenership by 3,000 with 227,000 listeners tuning in every weekday evening.
  • Ronan Collins plays the music for 242,000 listeners every weekday, increasing his listenership by 7,000.
  • The Ray D’Arcy Show broadcasts to 209,000 listeners each weekday afternoon.
  • Tuning in to the The John Creedon Show every weekday night are 51,000 listeners, up 3,000.
  • Arena with Sean Rocks has an audience of 37,000 listeners.

Weekends on RTÉ Radio 1:  

  • The Business pays dividends with a rise of 14,000 listeners (), an audience of 294,000 each Saturday.
  • Saturday with Katie Hannon increased its listenership by 5,000 (), now broadcasting to 209,000 people at the weekend.
  • An additional 8,000 listeners are tuning in to Countrywide with a listenership of 249,000.
  • For the best of the week’s radio, Playback draws 310,000 listeners every Saturday morning.
  • Sunday with Miriam informs and entertains 312,000 listeners every Sunday morning.
  • World Report/Bowman increased its listenership to 199,000 listeners (5+,000).
  • This Week has an audience of 169,000 listeners on Sunday lunchtimes (+6,000).
  • Rising Time across the weekend gained listeners with 97,000 on Saturday mornings (+10,000) and 67,000 (+5,000) on Sunday mornings.

Peter Woods, Head of RTÉ Radio 1 said: “This is a good book for us. It’s a testament to our schedule of presenters and the relentless work of our programme teams. It’s very heartening because it reflects right across the schedule – music and entertainment as well as news and current affairs – emphasising how central RTÉ Radio 1 is to the cultural and political life of this country. All of this is driven by our listeners and the connection that our programmes have with their audiences.” 
RTÉ 2FM 

RTÉ 2FM HAS A WEEKDAY MARKET SHARE OF 5.7% 

328,000 LISTENERS TUNE IN TO RTÉ 2FM EVERY WEEKDAY (+4,000) 

  • 2FM Breakfast delivers to 111,000 listeners, (+8,000).
  • Jennifer Zamparelli on 2FM has 141,000 listeners (+1,000).
  • Tracy Clifford on 2FM has 129,000 listeners (+1,000).

Dan Healy, Head of RTÉ Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM said: “As Ireland starts to come out of Covid this survey clearly shows how well radio has performed. There are 1,059,000 adults listening to radio on average between 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday. That is an 89,000 increase for every hour since the last survey before Covid. This was a good book for RTÉ 2FM with audience growing across all our shows. Doireann, Donncha and Carl have done well at breakfast, with 15- to 34-year-olds coming to listen to the show. This continues with Jennifer Zamparelli, Tracy Clifford and a very good result for Jenny Greene. 

Shortly The 2 Johnnies will join the station (21st February) and with all our other programmes, we anticipate that RTÉ 2fm will continue to grow in 2022.” 

RTÉ lyric fm   

RTÉ LYRIC FM HAS A WEEKDAY MARKET SHARE OF 2.2% (+0.1%pts) 

RTÉ LYRIC FM HAS 305,000 LISTENERS TUNING IN ON A WEEKLY BASIS (+23,000) 

  • Lorcan Murray’s Classic Drive continues to increase listenership with 66,000 tuning in on weekday afternoons (+4,000).
  • Movies and Musicals with Aedín Gormley has 63,000 listening in on Saturdays, (+13,000), while Aedín Gormley’s Sunday Matinee increases by 8,000 to 50,000 listening in.
  • Marty in the Morning has 43,000 listeners turning on every morning (+1,000)
  • Liz Nolan’s The Full Score has 45,000 listeners (+2,000).
  • Niall Carroll’s Classical Daytime reaches 35,000 listeners (+4,000).
  • The Lyric Concert with Paul Heriott/ The Mystery Train with John Kelly (Monday – Thursday) reaches 31,000 (+5,000).
  • Weekend Drive with Evelyn Grant has 60,000 listeners on Saturdays (+12,000) and 50,000 on Sundays (+7,000).

Sinéad Wylde, Head of RTÉ lyric fm said “In another book of growth for RTÉ lyric fm we see that the station has built a real relationship of trust with Irish people. There was significant growth across daytime programmes with increases for Marty in the Morning with Marty Whelan, Classic Drive with Lorcan Murray and The Mystery Train with John Kelly. At weekends too more listeners came to us to relax and be entertained with gains across the schedule particularly on The Hamilton Scores with George Hamilton and Movies and Musicals with Aedín Gormley. RTÉ lyric fm, as well as being a haven for beautiful music where listeners come to unwind, is a dynamic and diverse space where listeners also come to be stimulated and brought on exciting musical adventures.” 

Notes:  

Book-on-Book (BoB) = Source: JNLR/Ipsos MRBI 2021-4 release (May – December 2021) vs. 2021-3

We do not have a Year-on-Year information as there was no equivalent release in 2020.