Listeners Left The Cities And Changed Channels

Michael Hedges May 31, 2021 Follow on Twitter

As springtime arrives in the northern hemisphere and coronavirus restrictions begin to abate radio broadcasters are set to embrace exhausted listeners. Through the last 12 to 15 months, consuming media of all sorts has been a challenge. Quite naturally, people adapt their choices to disrupted routines. Where the work had been rather stable for decades, media operators had few cues for the publics’ wants and needs. What a surprise!

The new Radio Audience Association (ARA) radio audience estimates for Romania were released this past week, reported media news portal Pagina de Media (May 24). The joint industry group has continued to report quarterly measurement through the last year. IMAS Marketing and Surveys and Mercury Research provide data collection, tabulation and validation. National share and daily reach totals are reported with breakouts for Bucharest, urban areas other than Bucharest and rural areas. Total national reach among persons 11 years and older grew by about 3% year on year while daily reach dropped about 1.4% in Bucharest.

Romanian public radio main general interest channel Romania Actualitati (RRA) remained top rated nationally, with 13.8% share, up from 13.1% year on year. Listening share in Bucharest rose slightly, 14.6% from 14.3%. RRA offers news and information mixed with pop music over a large network of AM/MW and FM transmitters plus a single DAB+ channel in Bucharest.

Kiss FM placed second nationally, drifting lower to 10.3% share from 10.8% year on year. The top 40 music channel is owned by the Greek media house Antenna Group. Yes, it still uses the famous “Kiss lips” logo. The Bucharest share dropped significantly to 5.2% from 7.4%.

Third place nationally went to Europa FM, more of an adult contemporary format. Its national share dropped to 9.4% from 10.0% one year on. It was acquired by Czech Media Invest in 2018 on the exit from Central and Eastern Europe by French media house Lagardère. Its Bucharest share dropped to 8.0% from 9.6%.

Also playing the hits is Radio ZU, fourth place nationally, down slightly to 9.1% share from 9.3% year on year. Owned by Intact Media Group, it is probably the most active promoter of its brand. Obviously, the morning show is called the Morning ZU, all targeting 15 to 30 year olds. In Bucharest Radio ZU placed second with 10.7% share, down from 11.2%.

Magic FM was the biggest winner by share nationally, 4.6% from 3.5% one year on, for fifth place. It’s a pop oldies channel targeting listeners 35 to 50 years. Among Bucharest listeners it placed fourth, 6.4% share down from 6.9%. It has been operated by Antenna Group since 2006.

The channel with the biggest share increase in the Bucharest survey area was Rock FM, 6.3% from 5.0% year on year. That boost did not help much in the national survey as the station placed 10th with 2.0% share, up from 1.4%. Rock FM is a classic rock station, also owned by Antenna Group.

Further down the rankings, Virgin Radio, 8th nationally, rose to 3.2% share from 2.2% one year on. The hip hop channel operated by Czech Media Invest also placed 8th in Bucharest. Public channel Radio Antena Satelor, targeting rural audiences with local news and folk music, placed seventh nationally, 3.9% share down from 5.0%. It placed 10th in Bucharest.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Romania
• Hot Topics - Media and the Virus