German Radio Audience: Southwest

Public broadcasters fared better in the recent Media Analyse MA radio 2005 I radio audience survey. Recent re-branding seems to have been a key factor. The public radio market share in Baden-Württemberg is 54.5%, down slightly, in Saarland – 59.1%, in Rheinland-Pfalz – 57.7%, up from 55.5%. The smallest public radio market share in the region is reported in Hessen, with 43.4%, unchanged from MA radio 2004 II.

Four states in southwestern Germany make up the Nielsen III zone, used for advertising and surveys. The region holds about one-quarter of Germany’s population, about 21 million people. Baden-Württemberg is the most populous, with Stuttgart as its capitol, and home to major public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and major private stations Hit-Radio Antenne and Radio Regenbogen. SWR also serves Rheinland-Pfalz, which has a population of 4 million. As a consequence, private broadcasters have taken advantage of good conditions for local programming. Tiny Saarland, population 1.1 million, has its own public broadcasters, receives SWR channels – particularly DasDing – and private station Radio Salü has over one-third of the total audience. Hessen also has its own public broadcaster, Hessischer Rundfunk – often noted as one of Germany’s most creative, and several successful private stations.

Radio Audience in Germany
MA radio 2005 I results

Radio audience figures were released (March 9) for the whole of Germany by Media-Analyse, the joint broadcaster research institute.

In general, the Radio 2005 I survey – covering September through December 2004 - shows an increase in radio’s overall reach in Germany, 81.9% of the population uses the medium, up from 81.2% in the previous survey. The current survey reveals a growing difference between the amount of time men spend with radio, 220 minutes, versus 201 minutes by women. Women, however, listen more than men between 0900 and noon and men listen than women between 1700 and 1900. Increasing their time spent listening by 2 minutes over the previous survey are people 30 to 59 years of age, to 243 minutes. The most favored age group for advertisers, 14 to 49 year olds, listen 220 minutes, unchanged from the previous survey.

Privately owned radio stations in Germany have now doubled to 200 since 1989. In 1988 there were 10 private stations. That jumped to 100 in 1989. There are 59 public radio channels, dropping back from 63 in 2003. Of the top ten channels ranked by Monday through Sunday, 0600-1800 listeners, 8 are regional public broadcasters. Bavaria’s Antenne Bayern and the Radio NRW network in Nord Rhine Westphalia are the only privately owned radio chennels in the top ten.

Six separate research companies conduct the telephone surveys and collect data from zones corresponding to Nielsen television survey zones.

Before 2000 the MA conducted personal interviews to survey radio listening. That was replaced with telephone interviews. This method change caused a slight decline in reported daily usage, to 79% of the population from 82.3%, and a time spent listening increase to 209 minutes in 2000 from 179 minutes in 1999.

Subscribers, sales-houses, and regional authorities release radio listening data but selectively. Media-Analyse (ag.ma) does not publicly release radio audience results. Survey results are designed as ad sales currency, results reported include “listeners per advertising hour.”

Articles in this series on radio in Germany focus on the Radio 2005 I Media-Analyse results in the individual Nielsen zones

German Radio Audience: the North
Public broadcasters hold the edge in northern Germany, legacy stations slide.

German Radio Audience: North Rhine-Westphalia
Radio NRW and WDR, no competition.

German Radio Audience: Southwest
Market history no advantage to private broadcasters

German Radio Audience: Bavaria
Big public and private channels post big increases

German Radio Audience: Berlin-Brandenberg
New top station in Germany's most competitive market

German Radio Audience: the East
Targeted local stations gain on market leaders

For the regions’ 14 to 49 year old audience competition is keenly intense. Six of the top ten trended lower in the age group.

In Baden-Württemberg – private stations play defense

SWR 4 maintained its’ top spot in Baden-Württemberg with 551,000 listeners, though losing 5% from the last survey. The separate SWR 4 Baden-Württemberg dropped to an 18.7% market share from a 19.8%, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight in the state. SWR 4 Rheinland-Pfalz increased to a 20.2% market share, Monday through Friday 0500-midnight, from 18.3%.

SWR 3 also topped a half million listeners, gaining just over 1% from the previous survey for 501,000 listeners. SWR 3 is the clear regional winner among 14 to 49 years olds, a 2% increase over the previous survey but a 12.4% increase over the same period last year.

SWR 1 operates separate channels for Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz. In Baden-Württemberg the channel maintained a 13.3% market share, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight. The Rheinland-Pfalz SWR 1 channel jumped to a 13.3% market share from 11.9% in the previous survey, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight.

The two SWR 1 channels, taken in combination, also posted minute gains, to 292,000 listeners overall. The channel made substantial gains in the 14 to 49 year old age group, increasing over the last five survey periods to 186,000 average hour listeners.

Hit-Radio Antenne, another legacy FM channel, remained the top rated privately owned station in the region with 301,000 listeners, down less than 1% from 303,000. The channel maintained a 13.5% market share, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight in Baden-Württemberg.

“Defense is hard,” said Hit-Radio Antenna General Manager Achim Voeske, quoted in local newspaper Sindelfinger Zeitung. Voeske credited the morning show team

Radio Regenbogen, a privately owned station, gained 1.5% to 272,000 listeners, Monday through Saturday, 0600-1800. The station lost market share, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight in Baden-Württemberg, to 10.2% from 10.5%.

Radio 7 lost 14.5% of its audience, slipping to 164,000 listeners from 192,000 in the previous survey. Among listeners 14 years and older in Baden-Württemberg the station fell to a 6.3% market share, Monday through Friday 0500-midnight, from 7.6%.

Overall radio listening in Baden-Württemberg was lower by 2% to 885,000 persons in the average hour.

Saarland – public radio audience

In Saarland, public broadcaster Saarland Rundfunk’s SR 1 audience share increased to 24.2% from 21.0%, Monday through Friday. Measuring “listened yesterday,” SR 1 showed 222,000 listeners, Monday through Friday, from 202,000 in the previous survey. The average age for the stations audience dropped to 45 years.

SWR’s youth channel DasDing 103.7 also increased to 5.3% from 4.4%, overall. In Saarland the channel fell to a 5.9% market share, Monday through Friday 0500-midnight, from 6.2%.

SR 3, Saarland Welle, dropped 2.1% to 95,000 listeners in the average hour from 93,000 Monday through Saturday but the channel increased about 11% Monday through Friday.

Saarland Rundfunk can now claim 51.5% of all Saarland listeners, Monday through Friday 0500-midnight, up from 51.0%.

Private station Radio Salü is the highest rated channel in Saarland with a 34.9% market share, down slightly from 35.5%, Monday through Friday 0500-midnight. With a “better music mix” format, the station reaches 94,000 listeners in the average hour Monday through Saturday, 0600-1800.

Rheinland-Pfalz – bigFM Hot and neue

Public radio channels SWR 3 and SWR 4 accumulated 965,000 and 815,000 listeners in Rheinland-Pfalz, respectively, measuring “listened yesterday.” SWR 4 reported 209,000 average hour listeners, Monday through Friday, up 11.3% and 296,000 listeners Monday through Saturday, up 6.1%.

Rheinland-Pfalz listeners tuned away from local private channel RPR1 (“Die Superhits im MegaMix”), dropping from its previous number 1 position to number 3. Average hour listening decreased 6.3%, to 252,000 listeners from 301,000 in the previous survey and 1.029 million people “listened yesterday.” The channel has a 21.0% market share, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight.

Private station bigFM Hot Music Radio, one of the big success stories from the MA radio 2005 I, jumped 24.4%, to 112,000 from 90,000 listeners in the average hour, Monday through Saturday. It increased to a 8.7% market share, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight, from 8.3%. The station targets 14 to 29 year olds and has 383,000 listeners measured as “listening yesterday” in Rheinland – Pfalz.

The two bigFM channels - Der Neue Beat and Hot Music Radio - increased among the 14-49 year old age group. In Baden-Württemberg bigFM Der Neue Beat increased market share to 5.1%, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight, from 5.0%.

Rockland Radio, another private channel local to Rheinland – Pfalz fell to 4.3% market share in the state, Monday through Friday, 0500-midnight, from 5.1% in the previous survey.

Hessen – new YOU(th) stations gain strength

The most notable loss was handed to Hessen private broadcaster FFH, down 9.4% to 559,000 listeners, Monday through Friday. The down trend is not new. Among its key target 14 to 49 year olds, the Monday through Saturday figures are down 12.45 from MA radio 2004 II and 17.8% from MA radio 2004 I. FFH maintains its number 1 position in Hessen, held for 15 years.

Last summer public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk’s hr1 overhauled the programming and the channel has since lost 9.3% of its Monday through Saturday average hour audience, to 78,000 listeners from 86,000. It has, however, increased its 14-49 year old audience by 13%. hr1’s market share of those who “listened yesterday,” Monday through Sunday, 0500-midnight declined to 5.3% from 5.7%.

Primary general interest channel hr4 also lost audience and market share. Measuring “listened yesterday,” the survey showed hr4 dropping to 19.2% market share from 19.9%. Monday through Saturday, 0600-1800 average hour listeners declined to 340,000 from 350,000.

“Pop and service” hr3 gained market share, to 18.9% of “listened yesterday,” from 18.5%. The channel lost, slightly, in average hour, Monday through Saturday, 0500-midnight, to 310,000 from 320,000.

Cultural channel hr2 dropped to 1.6% market share of “listened yesterday” from 1.7%.

Taken together hr1, hr3 and hr4 accumulated a total of 712,000 listeners, losing 26,000 since the previous survey.

Always opportunity targets for broadcasters, the youth audience provided good news for both public and private broadcasters. YOU FM, youth oriented channel part of Hessen Rundfunk, increased 15%, to 30,000 listeners. Planet Radio, owned by FFH, also jumped significantly: to 80,000 listeners from 69,000 in the previous survey, a increase of 15.9%.

Both YOU FM and HR Info were granted greater signal coverage in Hessen, according to state regulator LPR Hessen March 18th.

PPM Adopted in Norway for Radio Measurement - June 7, 2005

Norway’s radio broadcasters and TNS Gallup will begin using Arbitron’s Personal People Meter (PPM) technology for radio audience measurement. A 400 person panel will be equipped with PPMs starting with the first quarter 2006, under a 5 year contract with the Norwegian National Radio Steering Committee. Arbitron licenses PPM technology to TNS Gallup in Europe. Norwegian radio broadcasters are the first to adopt the PPM for audience measurement.