New Watch Takes Over Radio Measurement

Michael Hedges July 27, 2009 Follow on Twitter

The fun – for some – in looking at new audience figures is seeing which stations are up and which are down. Measurement companies take that fun away when changing methods and systems. Oh, well, we must look forward.

Audience measurement in Switzerland is tricky with regional characteristics divided into linguistic zones. That hasn’t changed but the measurement method has. The institutes providing radio measurement – MediaPulse and PublicaData – make clear in the data release (July 21) that changes in method make comparisons to previous surveys impossible.  Changes to the license (concession) structure for private local radio broadcasters in 2008 required a shuffling of the sample to larger areas. Public reporting remains limited to the three Swiss linguistic zones – Swiss German, French and Italian. More precise data is made available to broadcasters and, of course, media buyers. Insofar as the license zones for individual stations changed, so did the measurement service alter sample weighting.

More significant – at least to measurement anoraks – is the retirement of the original Radiocontrol watch at the end of 2008. The new device – called MediaControl – has greater memory capacity and, therefore, can make its tiny recording every 20 seconds rather than 60 seconds. The Radiocontrol watch will be enshrined in radio history as the first electronic measurement device adopted by any country’s broadcasters replacing recall-based measurement.

As usual, the channels of public broadcaster SSR-SRG dominate the surveys. In the Swiss German zone – the largest by population and most important to media buyers – public broadcaster DRS channels have a 62.1% aggregated market share with nine radio channels. General interest channel DRS1 was reported as the most listened to in the Swiss German zone with 36.7% market share, followed by youth channel DRS3 with 17.0% market share, then ‘culture’ channel DRS2 with 4.3% market share. Folk music channel Musikwelle, which was moved from medium wave (AM) frequencies to digital platforms (DAB) and cable has a 3.5% market share. The three non-FM (DAB, cable and satellite) channels, available nationwide, received a combined 2.0% market share.

The 27 privately owned local commercial stations (plus five cable only stations) reached an aggregated 28.3% market share. In market share terms, the biggest are licensed to Zürich proper or the concession zones that include Zürich. Radio 24 (Zürich) topped private local stations in the Swiss German zone with 2.8% market share, followed by Energy Zürich (Zürich) with 2.4%, Radio Argovia (north-central Switzerland) with 2.3% and Radio Zürisee (Zürich) with 2.0%.

In French speaking Switzerland regional public broadcaster RSR is, likewise, dominant with 59.3% aggregated market share for five channels available on FM. The most listened to channel in the French speaking zone is RSR general interest channel La Premiere with 39.95 market share, followed by adult contemporary/oldies music channel Option Musique with 9.6%, then youth channel Couleur 3 with 6.3%.

The 11 Swiss private local radio stations in the French speaking zone have a 22.8% aggregated market share. French radio stations broadcasting on both side of the border have a 10.3% aggregated market share.

Results for private local broadcasters reflect the impact of the new concession zones, expanded toward Lausanne and away from Geneva. The BNJ FM network, created from three local stations in the Arc Jurassien concession zone in October 2008 under new regulator allowances, has a 5.1% market share, followed by Rouge FM with 3.1%, Lausanne FM with 2.9% and One FM with 2.7%. 

Audience shares in the Swiss Italian region for public broadcaster RSI are – at least in Switzerland – legendary for its size. The aggregated market share for the three RSI radio channels is 70.8%. General interest channel Rete Uno has a 50.2% market share, followed by youth channel Rete Tre with 14.9% and culture channel Rete Due with 5.7%.

There are but two private local stations in the Swiss Italian region. Radio 3i is, then, number one with 5.2% market share, followed by Fiume Ticino with 2.3%. Foreign stations – not named – received an aggregated 7.8% market share.

The MediaPulse radio market survey was conducted among persons 15 years and older between January 1st and June 30th 2009.

See also in ftm Knowledge...

Europe's Radio - Western Europe – new

Opportunity meets tradition in Western Europe's radio broadcasting. Change has come fast and yet oh, so slowly. This ftm Knowledge file contains material and resources on public and private radio broadcasting in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. 107 pages. PDF (June 2010)

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