RTÉ Morning Ireland and Today with David McCullagh, Digi Mart USA News (Ireland): RTÉ Radio 1 continues to dominate listenership figures in Ireland, although its rival Newstalk has recorded gains across many of its biggest programmes.
RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland remains the most listened-to radio programme, with an average of 464,000 people tuning in per day. That is up 7,000 from 457,000 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 to September.
Today with David McCullagh took second place with 421,000 listeners, down 1,000 from the previous JNLR figures in August. Oliver Callan has 283,000 listeners in his new 11am-1pm slot, down 2,000.
News at One has 271,000 listeners, down slightly from 273,000, while Liveline has 268,000 compared with 254,000 previously.
The Louise Duffy Show’s listenership is unchanged at 133,000, while Drivetime with Katie Hannon and Colm Ó Mongáin has 202,000 listeners from 4 to 6pm, down 9,000. Brendan O’Connor on Saturday has 411,000 listeners, up 11,000 over the previous three months, while 391,000 tuned in on Sunday, down 8,000.
The Business on Saturday mornings has 351,000 listeners, up 9,000, while Sunday with Miriam has 322,000, up 5,000. RTÉ holds 15 of the top 20 radio programmes, down from 16 of 20, and the entire top 10, with a market share of 28.3 per cent.
RTÉ 2FM has a market share of 4.8 per cent. Its Breakfast show with Carl Mullan, Roz Purcell and Aisling Bonner gained 14,000 listeners, bringing its audience to 189,000, and is the most listened-to radio show nationally among 15 to 34 year olds.
RTÉ Lyric’s market share remains at 3.5 per cent, although it lost 5,000 listeners, falling to 353,000 each week.
Patricia Monahan, director of audio at RTÉ, said that less than a year after the launch of its new radio schedule, it was “fantastic to see that listeners are engaging with new voices and shows across the day.” Tara Campbell, head of RTÉ Radio 1, said the station had “seen growth in this book across different genres,” including news and current affairs, music, sport, and arts and culture programmes.
“Listeners clearly want to talk to Kieran Cuddihy, with the increases in listeners to Liveline mirroring what we’re seeing in very strong social media engagement growth for the programme,” Campbell said.
At Newstalk, the station’s market share grew slightly, up 0.8 per cent, to 8.3 per cent. The Pat Kenny Show reached a record high in its weekend slot, with 175,000 listeners on Saturday and 134,000 on Sunday, increases of 8,000 and 12,000 respectively since the last results.
The Claire Byrne Show gained 12,000 listeners over the past three months, bringing its audience to 222,000.
The Hard Shoulder, now presented by Shane Coleman and Ciara Kelly, grew its audience to 170,000, up 17,000. Anton Savage, who left his Saturday show on Newstalk to take over the breakfast show from Kelly and Coleman, has 167,000 listeners, down slightly from 168,000.
Eric Moylan, Newstalk’s managing editor, described the latest figures as “excellent” and said they showed its new schedule was “landing with the public.” “We have more people tuning in across the entire week than ever before in the station’s history,” he said. “There is significant growth over the past eight months on every part of our schedule.”
The survey was carried out by Ipsos B&A on behalf of JNLR, which 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.
