ftm Radio Page - July 24, 2015

Research Methods Adjusted, Little Blood Letting
A necessary tool in the audience measurement kit is sampling. Counting everybody is hardly efficient or even necessary. Collecting the best data from real people requires a reliable count of how many are there. There is no need to drain the entire body of blood when a simple finger prick is sufficient explained opinion research legend Elmo Roper deep in the last century when the science was a little more frightening. Researchers today take great care in where the needle is inserted.

Big city audience jumps, news-talk twists and turns
was it the football?

Quite often radio audience estimates for Il-de-France (IDF - Greater Paris) contrast significantly with the national Médiamétrie survey. For the April-June period, results released this week, broadcasters faced a public radio strike, lots of football news and the UberPop taxi strike. Overall radio listening shot up to 78.0% reach from 75.2% year on year.

Once again, national general interest channel RTL was number one, though lower in audience share to 12.4% from 11.4% one year on. News-talk channel RMC shot up to 2nd place with 9.0% audience share from 6.9%. RMC has a strong emphasis on sports-talk and the FIFA controversy was certainly good talk-show fodder. Public news-talk channel France Inter dropped to 3rd place, 8.7% audience share from 9.8%, as most Radio France channels dropped news for music loops for four weeks. News-talk channel - mostly talk - Europe 1 was still being punished for a show host change last year, posting 8.7% audience from 10.9% year on year.

The statutory national general interest channels, on aggregate, gained audience share slightly to 40.3% from 40.1% one year on. The public broadcasting France Bleu network added to that increase with 1.6% audience share, up from 1.0%. Unlike the national survey public radio channels aside from France Inter generally showed increases; all-news France Info up to 4.3% audience share from 3.9% and FIP (France Inter Paris) up to 2.3% audience share from 2.1%. France Musique and France Culture were lower. (See Greater Paris audience trend chart here)

Legacy national hit music channel NRJ held 5th place in the IDF survey, 5.3% audience share from 5.6% year on year. Skyrock, Nostalgie and RTL2 were also lower. Radio Classique, classical music plus business and political news, sank to 2.6% audience share from 4.1% one year on. RFM and Virgin Radio posted gains. Altogether the national music channels were slightly lower at 25.9% aggregated audience share.

Local IDF stations on aggregate rose to 19.7% audience share from 18.0% year on year. Radio Latina remained to top rated local station, down slightly to 2.1% audience share. Urban music format Voltage jumped to 1.8% audience share from 0.8%. Tropiques FM, Generations and Radio FG were also up. Radio Nova, officially a national channel, and Oui FM were lower.

Another chance for digital radio once frequencies found
the cost-effective solution

There’s a new plan for digital radio in Russia. State broadcast infrastructure provider Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS), after appropriate testing, now favors the DAB+ digital radio standard, reported radioportal.ru (July 20). Previously the RTRS “approved” the DRM digital radio standard, then the older DAB standard but not much actually happened.

Test broadcasts from the famous Ostankino Tower in Moscow showed good coverage in residential areas, less so in urban areas because of tall buildings. Reception in automobiles was essentially the same, not so good around big buildings. Undeterred, the RTRS wants to push forward, largely because DAB+ multiplexes are far less expensive to build and operate, nobody wants to upgrade FM systems and DAB+ receivers, transmitters and everything else associated are widely available in Europe. (See more about digital radio here)

The remains something of an issue with spectrum availability for digital radio in the Russian Federation. The 174-320 MHz band has now been approved for digital radio by the Russian spectrum regulator SCRF. Until 2019 analogue TV switch-off in Russia this slice of radio spectrum is already in use. The Russian-invented RAVIS digital radio standard seems to have been abandoned.

Radio Page week ending July 17, 2015
radio in Spain, EGM, show hosts, Kiss FM, Cadena SER, RNE, ITU, audio quality, Neil Young, radio in Serbia, B92, radio news, radio in France, Mediametrie, audience measurement, Radio France, France Inter, RTL, Nostalgie

Radio Page week ending July 10, 2015
radio in Latvia, NEPLP, media regulator, Latvijas Radio, Radio Skonto, radio in Poland, KRRiT, Radio Hobby, Radio Sputnik, radio in Spain, RNE, COPE, Onda Cero. Cadena SER, audience measurement

Radio Page week ending July 3, 2015
radio advertising, Cannes Lions, Radio Lions, Soundcloud, audience measurement, PPM, Nielsen, Voltair, radio in Bulgaria, BNR

Radio Page week ending June 26, 2015
radio in Italy, Gruppo Finelco, RCS Media, Radio 105, Radio Monte Carlo, Virgin Radio

Recently added radio audience figures and resources

• France - Greater Paris Radio Audience (July 2015)
  national and local channels, market share, trend
• Germany - Radio Audience (July 2015)
  leading stations, audience trend, daily reach
• France - National Radio Audience (July 2015)
  national channels, sectors, market share, reach/TSL
• Spain - National Radio Audience (July 2015)
  national channels, reach share, trend
• Spain - Major Media - Radio (July 2015)
  public and private broadcasting companies, channels, management, platforms, audience estimates
• Greece - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (June 2015))
  public and private broadcasting, owners, executives, market share
• Montenegro - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (May 2015)
  public and commercial radio channels, management, platforms
• UK - National Radio Audience (May 2015)
  market share, trend, sectors
• UK - London Radio Audience (May 2015)
  market share, trend
• UK - National Radio Audience (May 2015)
  BBC/commercial 'gap'
• Czech Republic - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (May 2015)
  public and private radio channels, management, audience reach
• Portugal - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (April 2015)
  public and private broadcasting companies, channels, management, platforms, audience estimates
• FYR Macedonia - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (April 2015)
  public and private stations, management
• Malta - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (March 2015)
  public, private, educational and religious stations, ownership, management, platforms, audience reach
• Italy - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (February 2015)
  public and private broadcasting companies, channels, audience reach/share, management
• Switzerland - Radio listening by region (February 2015)
  public and private sectors, penetration, time spent listening
• Switzerland - French region Radio Audience (February 2015)
  share, trend
• Switzerland - Swiss-German region Radio Audience (February 2015)
  share, trend
• Switzerland - Italian region Radio Audience (February 2015)
  share, trend
• Bosnia/Herzegovina - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (January 2015)
  public and private broadcasters, management, descriptions, regulator, broadcaster association
• Albania - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (January 2015)
  public and private radio channels, national, regional, religious and community stations
• Turkey - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (January 2015)
  ownership, management, program formats, platforms, audience estimates

More Resources

Also see ftm Knowledge

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