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ftm Radio Page - November 18, 2016

There’s good news, bad news and really bad news
blame the measurement

The face of radio is certainly changing. The unexpected has become normal. Something’s happening there and it’s more than the measurement.

French measurement institute Médiamétrie released this past week national radio audience estimates for the September-October period. Market share rankings year on year were largely unchanged. That masked an underlying shift in the broadly measured national radio audience.

RTL remains, as it’s been since time began, the top ranked national radio channel with 12.5% market share, up from 11.7% one year on. And second place went to public channel France Inter, also deeply engrained, with 11.6% market share, up from 10.1%. It’s the highest market share for France Inter in living memory.

Third place went to NRJ, shared with Europe 1 at 6.6% market share. In the same period last year both channels were tied with 7.2% market share. It the lowest market share for hit music channel NRJ in more than four years and the worst performance for mostly talk channel Europe 1 in even longer. Europe 1 has run through a series of, shall we say, under performing talk-show hosts.

Public regional network France Bleu tied news and sports channel RMC for 5th place. France Bleu was down to 6.4% market share from 7.1% year on year. RMC was up, also 6.4%, from 6.0%. News and news-talk channels made gains in the September-October period. All-news public channel France Info scored 3.4% market share for 9th place, up from 3.0%.

Most music channels were lower. Returning to the published audience estimates after six months in the gulag for ratings distortion, Fun Radio placed 7th with 4.0%, down from 4.4% one year on. Nostalgie, Skyrock, Cherie FM and Radio Classique were down. RFM and RTL2 were up. (See France national radio audience market share chart here in Resources). Commercial radio operators, expectedly, blamed the measurement.

The immediacy of radio news - and the period was filled with breaking stories - beat the traditional rentrée end of summer marketing and promotional binge of the music channels. Average time spent listening during the September-October period has been dropping rather consistently for several years, 2 hours 49 minutes in the current period being the lowest in more than a decade. Total listening dropped to 79.7% of the French population from 80.8% year on year.

For French national commercial channels generally the September-October period audience estimates showed to lowest aggregate market share, 70.4%, in much more than a decade, down from 71.4% one year on and 75.1% in September-October 2007. Public broadcaster Radio France, considered doomed not long ago, now can claim 25% of all French radio listeners, up from 23.9% market share.

Regional channels suffer as reach falls
National news channel rises

A mix of ups, downs and relief are contained in every radio audience survey. Some broadcasters are happy, some sad, excuses at the ready, and other just wait for the next round.

Only two radio channels in the top ten showed positive in the latest Czech RadioProjekt national daily reach audience estimates for rolling Q2/Q3 averages. Radio Impuls (Londa) and Frekvence 1 (Lagardère) held the top two positions, off 3.3% and 2.1% year on year, respectively. Radio Impuls is a national general interest channel, adding brand extension Ceske Impuls on AM/MW and digital platforms two years ago. Frekvence 1 is more pop music oriented.

Public radio Ceske Rozhlas (CRo) all-news channel Radiozurnal posted its best daily reach results in two years, up 3.2% year on year, for 3rd place. All-speech channel CRo Radio Plus, still deep on the ranking list, jumped nearly 100% in daily reach one year on. CRo Djojka, recently reconfigured, fell 13.2% in daily reach to 6th place. (See leading Czech channels radio reach trend chart here)

Switching place with CRo Radiozurnal is adult-contemporary Evropa 2 (Lagardère), dropping to 4th nationally, losing 5.9% in daily reach year on year. Evropa 2 has been slowing losing audience for several years. Big regional channel Radio Blanik held 5th place with a negligible loss in daily reach. Several other regional radio channels post significantly lower daily reach figures.

Against the trend, Rock Radio, in 10th place nationally, was up 9.1% in daily reach. Interestingly, the station has performed well above average reach figures in the last two years only in the Q2/Q3 survey periods. Media Bohemia sister station Radio City was also up 10.6%. Both stations have benefitted recently from increased FM distribution through acquisition and reshuffling.

The STEM/MARK Median RadioProjekt national radio audience estimates are two quarter averages released quarterly of persons 12 to 79 years. Q2/Q3 radio audience estimates, typically released in early November, are closely watched by Czech media buyers looking for last minute trends ahead of the annual holiday splash. Q3 radio ad spending ticked up to CZK 253 million, about €9.35 million, reported mediahub.cz (November 9), up 1.3% year on year.

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Recently added radio audience figures and resources

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