Radio station 2fm to become profitable for RTÉ in 2016

2fm will become "a net contributor" to RTÉ's finances in 2016, having reached a break-even position in 2015, according to the head of the station, Dan Healy.

The revenue figures for last year have not yet been signed off on by RTÉ’s financial controllers, but Mr Healy said he understood the station had broken even.

Advertising revenues in the first six weeks of 2016 are running 24 per cent higher than they were in the same period in 2015, while revenues last year were in turn 27 per cent higher than they were in 2014, he said.

Mr Healy, who joined RTÉ from the commercial radio sector in mid-2013, has overseen a complete revamp 2fm's schedule. The station recently unveiled new branding, including a new logo, as it bids to recruit more 15-34-year-old listeners.

“There are no quick fixes,” Mr Healy said. The music station made €5 million in commercial revenues in 2014 and “would like to do” €10 million this year. “We’re only recovering money that was lost to us,” he said.

Between 2009 and 2014, 2fm recorded deficits totalling €26.9 million. It last made a surplus in 2008, a year in which its commercial revenue topped €20 million.

Among listeners, 2fm now has a market share of 6.5 per cent, down from the 12 per cent it commanded six years ago. Its current target is a 10 per cent share of listening.

“It has been a hard road really,” Mr Healy said. However, he said he expected the next director-general of RTÉ would continue to back the station. “The RTÉ executive and the RTÉ board are fully behind 2fm.”

The station is conscious that it must give younger listeners “radio in the format they want it”, not simply via an FM signal. Mr Healy said a 19-year-old in one of 2fm’s focus groups had told its researchers that he didn’t tend to listen to radio “because the wifi in the kitchen is really weak”.