Reflecting Again On A Calm Winter

Michael Hedges April 20, 2011 Follow on Twitter

It’s said that all politics, all advertising and all ratings are local. And winter quarter ratings reflect very little excitement anyway so any changes seem really important. But listeners eventually come out of hibernation.

There was little shifting in market share rankings, year to year, in the French national radio survey results released by measurement institute Médiamétrie (April 19). The channels that did move, up or down, were fairly significant. The five general interest channels – RTL, France Inter, Europe 1, France Bleu network and RMC – are the top five channels by market share, though in aggregate the market share dropped to 43.0% from 43.6% year on year. Public radio channels increased aggregate market share to 22.7% from 22.4%. (See audience share details here)

There was no change at the top. RTL has it, once again, slightly down to 12.6% market share from 12.8% one year on. Time spent listening to RTL was also down. The channel typically scores well in Q1, Q3, and Q4. And it doesn’t do badly in Q2.

Public radio general interest channel France Inter is, too, still number two.  It’s up a bit, to 9.9% market share from 9.8% year on year. It is, however, the channel’s highest market share in two years. It’s post-ratings presser expressed “satisfaction.”

Lagardère’s full-service national channel, Europe 1, continues to feel pain. Its winter quarter market share dropped more than any other national channel to 7.6% from 9.0% one year on. It remains number three in the national survey. In the last year or so Europe 1 lost two big name comedian performers plus its managing director.

The big news of a positive nature is the rise of RMC, the news and sports talk channel of NextRadioTV. It posted its highest market share ever, 6.2% up from 5.3% year on year. It is now tied for 4th place with regional public radio network France Bleu, which was off a wee bit to 6.2% from 6.3%.

Hit music channel NRJ placed 6th with 5.9% market share, up from 5.5% one year on. When the channel hit a low point in market share (November-December 2009) owner and broadcasting legend John-Paul Baudecroux shook-up the programming and promotions staff vowing to bring the iconic channel back into the top ranks. It’s tougher now than it was five or so years ago as the French radio market has matured.

Which makes rap channel Skyrock notable. It’s market share dropped to 4.5% from 4.8% year on year, now tied for 7th spot. Skyrock has been in the news these last two weeks, obviously not in the January-March survey period. Axa Private Equity, the 70% shareholder, fired founder and CEO Pierre Ballenger, the 30% shareholder. But he’s locked himself in his office and announced a major concert promotion to rally listeners – and perhaps new shareholders. The May-June ratings period could be interesting.

Also in the mix, among the youthful targeting channels, is Fun Radio, the dance music channel owned by RTL Group. It’s placed 9th with a big bump to 4.3% market share from 3.8% one year on, also its highest market share in, like, forever. Fun Radio is positioned for a slightly older but still young audience.

At the other side of demography, oldies channel Nostalgie (NRJ Group) held 8th place with 4.5% market share, down just a bit.

If the big international news events – earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns, revolutions – had any impact on radio listening in France it wasn’t found in the results for all-news France Info. It’s still 10th ranked and still with a 3.6% market share.

Médiamétrie reported overall listening down slightly to 82.4% of the French population. Aggregate time spent listening dropped to 172 minutes per day. The survey was conducted January 3rd through April 3th among people 13 years and older.

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