RTÉ Radio 1 continues to dominate listenership figures in Ireland, though its recent rescheduling has led to continued losses among some of its biggest programmes.
Morning Ireland remains the most listened to radio programme with an average of 457,000 people tuning in per day, up 5,000 from 452,000 over the previous three months, according to the latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures published on Thursday.
The figures cover the 12-month period up to June this year.
RTÉ holds 16 out of the top 20 radio programmes and the entire top 10, with its market share at 28.2 per cent.
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Today with David McCullagh (9am-11am) took the second spot at 422,000, down 1,000 listeners in the previous JNLR figures in May.
Oliver Callan has 285,000 listeners in his new slot from 11am-1pm, down from 296,000.
News at One has 273,000 listeners, down slightly from 275,000 in the previous three months, while Liveline and its new presenter Kieran Cuddihy has a listenership of 254,000 compared with 268,000.
The Louise Duffy Show has 133,000 listeners in her 3pm slot (down 12,000) while Drivetime with Katie Hannon and Colm Ó Mongáin has 211,000 listeners from 4-6pm (no change).
Brendan O’Connor on Saturday has 400,000 listeners, down 14,000 on the previous three months, with 399,000 tuning in on Sunday, down 10,000.
The Business on Saturday mornings has 342,000 listeners, down 30,000, while Sunday with Miriam has 317,000 people tuning in, down 17,000.
Tara Campbell, head of RTÉ Radio 1, said: “Once again Radio 1 continues to lead the market with more than one million weekly listeners and all of the top ten most-listened-to programmes in the country on the station. We’ve seen solid performances in this book for both Morning Ireland and Today with David McCullagh with 457,000 and 422,000 listeners respectively, massively outperforming all of their competitors at this time of day.”
RTÉ 2FM has a 9.4 per cent share of 15 to 34-year-olds while RTÉ Lyric FM has a market share of 3.5 per cent.
Patricia Monahan, director of audio at RTÉ, said the results were “very encouraging” and clearly indicate that “our new schedules across RTÉ Radio 1 and 2FM are beginning to resonate with audiences”.
“Lyric FM is maintaining the brilliant momentum it has built in recent years and Raidió na Gaeltachta continues to deliver for Irish language speakers across the country,” she said.
Over at Newstalk, the new Claire Byrne Show has 210,000 listeners, up 4,000 since the last JNLR figures.
The Hard Shoulder, now presented by Shane Coleman and Ciara Kelly, held their audience share at 153,000 listeners.
Anton Savage, who left his Saturday show on Newstalk to take over the breakfast show from Kelly and Coleman, has 168,00 listeners, up 10,000 from 158,000.
The Pat Kenny Show has an audience of 167,000 on Saturdays and 122,000 on Sundays.
Overall, Newstalk’s market share remains at 7.8 per cent. Eric Moylan, managing editor of the radio station, described the figures as a “strong performance”.
“It’s clear the audience likes what they hear and are moving the dial,” he said.
“In the past three months we’ve seen more people tune in each weekday and across the weekend with impressive growth for Newstalk Breakfast, The Claire Byrne Show, Moncrieff and The Pat Kenny Show on Saturday and Sunday, where Pat has already set a record for the most listened to weekend programme in the station’s history.”
The survey carried out by Ipsos B&A on behalf of JNLR is commissioned by all national, regional and local radio stations, as well as Coimisiún na Meán, the Association of Advertisers in Ireland and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland.
A total of 16,750 people were interviewed during the survey period, Coimisiún na Meán said.
