Energia stays plugged in to The Pat Kenny Show

Energia has renewed its sponsorship of The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk for a second year. The deal has been extended for an undisclosed sum as part of a wider advertising campaign by the energy provider, which has more than 60,000 business customers.

The company, which is part of Bahraini-owned group Viridian, has sponsored Kenny's 10am-12.30pm weekday show since its debut last September. It has a turnover of more than €1 billion and employs about 260 people in Ireland. It is seeking to make inroads in the residential market, which it entered last January.

Energia retail director Gary Ryan said Kenny's programme had "firmly established itself in Ireland's competitive radio market" since its launch. "We are delighted to be renewing our support."

The most recent set of figures, for the 12-month period to the end of June, suggested that the former RTÉ presenter had an audience of 134,000 on Newstalk.

However, the next Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) report – due to be published on November 6th – will show a truer picture as it will be the first survey to entirely relate to the period that he has been on air. Kenny has been lined up to host a weekend programme on the new UTV Ireland channel from next spring.