JNLR Press Release - 2022-4

The latest JNLR/Ipsos report into radio listening is published today (9th February 2023). It covers the period from January to December 2022.    

The latest results show 3.207 million listeners (15+) tune into radio every weekday – that is daily radio listening at 78.3% of all adults. Weekly listening increases to 90.7% of the population.

A total of c 16,800 people were interviewed during the survey period by Ipsos, on behalf of JNLR - Joint National Listenership Research - that is commissioned by all national, regional and local stations, BAI, AAI, and IAPI.

The following tables show the key, topline results from the ‘week-day’ report for the main radio stations at National level, within Dublin and Cork counties, and the South- East, South-West, North-West, North-East/Midlands, Multi-city and Dublin Commuter regions.  (See p.12).  

While Tables 1-4 show the proportion of adults tuning into the stations at some time during the day, the depth of listening or loyalty to various stations is best reflected in the share of listening achieved by each station, as shown in Tables 5-8, whilst Table 9 provides information on the Local Stations in each licensed franchise area. 

(Reference to change in this report relates to the previous published report incorporating the period October’21 to September ‘22.  Figures showing the size of the increase/decrease reflects the movement since this last publication (book-on-book) and is rounded to 1 decimal place). 

A large majority of Irish adults – 78.3% listen to the radio on an average day. More than half, 51.6% (-0.1%) tune into their local or regional station and 42.6% (-0.1%) listen to a national station.  Among the younger, 15 to 34-year, market 68.1% (+0.2%) listen daily.

Irish radio audiences continue to listen to a significant amount of radio everyday
– tuning in, on average, for almost 4 hours (237 mins, -2) per day during the prime 
7am to 7pm time (Irish Adults listening Mon-Fri). In terms of share of all minutes 
listened in the country, National Radio currently has 45.1% share (-0.3%) of all minutes 
while Local/Regional Radio holds the majority share position with 54.9% (+0.3%) in this 
reporting period.
Across the various regional areas throughout the country, National Radio holds the majority share position in Dublin (56.6%) and the greater Dublin Commuter belt (55.9%) while Local/Regional radio is in the majority in the other regions throughout the country, in particular, achieving its highest share position in Cork (65.0%), in the North-West (60.8%) and in the South-West (58.1%) Regions (See T5).

Among the younger, 15-34-year, audience Local/Regional Radio is in the majority share position achieving a combined share of minutes of 63.6% (-1.0%) versus 36.4% (+1.0%) for National Radio. In particular, the Local/Regional group holds its strongest share position among this age cohort in Cork (68.3%), in Dublin (67.0%) and in the South-West Region (66.0%).  (See T7). 

Considering the older 35+ age segment, Local/Regional radio is ahead in terms of share of all minutes listened, 52.7% (+0.6) compared to National radio, 47.3%. However, in regional markets among this age group, National Radio holds the majority share of minutes in Dublin (62.9%), the Dublin Commuter region (61.4%) and the Multi-city area (51.1%) (See T8).

Local radio continues to perform strongly in the local radio markets across the country, with 37.1% of adults in the country tuning into their local station every day.  In particular, on the criterion of share of minutes listened during prime 7am to 7pm local radio has a national share of 40.3% while particular stations - Highland Radio, MWR, Northern Sound Radio and Radio Kerry hold the majority share position (50%+) in their respective franchise areas. (T9).

The population estimates in this report are based on Labour Force Survey estimates 2022 provided by the CSO.

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