Fast Moving Listener Behavior Is No Surprise

Michael Hedges April 16, 2021 Follow on Twitter

Interlocking behaviors during the coronavirus and related ravages are yet to be fully understood. This is difficult for the media sphere, where decisions were often minute-to-minute before those minutes turned to mush. The "move fast and break things” ethos worshiped by hedge fund managers and executives who follow them seems not to have a second act. Media consumers noticed and, well, moved faster.

The radio broadcasting slice of the media mince pie, one year after coronavirus disrupted everybody, has been spoiled as much as the rest of the dish, save those parts thriving on that disruption. More than 2 million French listeners dropped away in the year, noted media measurement institute Médiamétrie in its January-March national audience estimates (April 15). “The daily life of the French remains greatly modified, and mobility reduced,” said its official preface. “While activity remained strong, a large part of the workforce worked under unusual conditions.”

Among persons 13 years and older gross reach slid to 73.2% from 77.6% during the same period one year on, a historic low. This difference was estimated as 2.14 million listeners. Average daily time spent listening dropped by 4 minutes to 2 hours 43 minutes.

In the data, most French national radio channels were affected one way or another. On top, again, is public general interest channel France Inter; 13.3% audience share slightly off year on year. France Inter offers lots of news; it always has. Privately-owned RTL placed second at 12.4% audience share, significantly off from the same period last year, 13.4%, when it tied for the top with France Inter. The RTL audience share fell abruptly through the year.

Bolting into third place was legacy national hit music channel NRJ, flagship of NRJ Group, with 6.1% audience share, up from 5.6% one year on. Public radio network France Bleu held fourth place; 5.6% audience share, down from 5.8%. Sports talk and business channel RMC dropped to fifth spot, 5.5% audience share from 5.9% and third place. The NextRadioTV channel has been sliding since 2017.

Long suffering Europe 1, owned by Lagardère Group, managed sixth position, no change at 4.5% audience share. The biggest gain during this survey period was from public all-news channel France Info. With 4.4% audience share, up from 3.3% one year on, it moved into seventh place nationally. Oldies channel Nostalgie, NRJ Group, dropped to eighth with 4.3% audience share, down from 4.8%. Rock-solid was urban (hip-hop/rap) channel Skyrock holding 4.0% audience share and ninth in the national rankings. Tenth place went to pop/rock oldies channel RTL2, RTL Group; 3.0% audience share up slightly from 3.1%.

Also on the fringes, Fun Radio and France Culture were up a bit, Cherie FM down a bit and RFM down a lot. Public alternative channel FIP won its highest audience share since becoming a national channel in 2019, 1.5% audience share, up from 1.1% year on year.

The channels of public broadcaster Radio France rose to 29.5% aggregated audience share, up from 27.8% one year on. The Radio France audience share has been steadily rising for two years. Correspondingly, the aggregate audience share of national commercial channels dropped to 65.0% from 67.1% in the same period last year. This slide has been apparent for a few years, accelerating since the pandemic out break.

Radio listener behavior has always been affected by other consumer behavior. Several French media watchers noted the rise in podcast downloading during the coronavirus disruption. Between March last year and this, offered Le Figaro (April 15), podcast downloads increased by 20% to 80 million. “When you see the success of our podcasts, you can see that radio and digital are just in step: the linear channel feeds the digital, and vice versa,“ France Inter director Laurence Bloch, quoted by Le Monde (April 15).

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in France
• Hot Topics - Media and the Virus
• Hot Topics - Podcasts and Podcasting