Media & Marketing: Eamon Dunphy's breakfast show has almost finished its first week and punters who placed bets on the presenter not turning up in the studio each morning look set to be disappointed.
The programme represents the most ambitious attempt yet by NewsTalk to push its ratings up and cut its € 3.8 million losses. While JNLR figures are not available yet, in-car listening figures are.
While they only offer a partial guide to the radio market in Dublin, commuters are a key group for fast growing stations such as NewsTalk.
Mobiltrak Europe, based in Dublin, said Dunphy's show grabbed 6 per cent of in-car listening in Dublin on Monday, but this increased to 12 per cent on Tuesday and 12 per cent again yesterday.
Tim Bourke, project manager with Mobiltrak, commented: "If this trend continues, it may result in a good return for NewsTalk. It should enable Newstalk 106 to challenge the big guns of radio."
Mobiltrak is a new Irish company using a US technology to track in-car listenership around Dublin. It has a large number of devices located around Dublin measuring what stations cars are tuned to.
Meanwhile, advertisers appear satisfied with the first few days.
Paul Moran, managing director of media planning and buying agency Mediaworks, described the show as a success, albeit a slow burner. "I think the general reaction is a positive one, although it's going to take time. Radio is very habitual and it takes time for people to switch radio station, especially when it comes to talk radio."
At present, the Ian Dempsey breakfast show on Today FM has an average quarter-hour listening figure of 79,833. This refers to the average number of people listening in any quarter of an hour period. The Dunphy show hopes to get about 20,000.
Because Today FM is a national station, it is hard to compare with the Dublin-only audience of NewsTalk.
However, Moran said if Dunphy managed to reach 20,000 (roughly a quarter of the Dempsey audience), it would be a notable achievement.
The use of old Last Word contributors such as Senator Shane Ross and Irish Voice editor Niall O'Dowd has irked some in the media, but advertisers do not seem to think this is a problem.
"Some people have said the set-up is a little chummy, but I don't think that is a problem. The contributors are high calibre and their contributions are very punchy," said Paul McCabe, radio analyst with MCM Communications, an arm of McConnells.
He said Dunphy was able to get senior politicians to appear on his show.
"If you take this week, for instance, very few backbenchers appeared, whereas there were two senior ministers, Mary Harney and Charlie McCreevy."
"It's still early days, but I would say that Morning Ireland as well as Today FM and 2 FM will be watching their backs." he said.
Dan Healy address
NewsTalk's chief executive, Dan Healy, is to address the Marketing Breakfast next Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.
The breakfasts, organised by the Marketing Institute, are usually popular with marketing professionals and next week's talk takes place at Dublin's Dome Restaurant. Healy will talk about the differences between running a talk-based station and a music station.
'Irish News' tabloid
The Irish News is to switch to a new "compact" or tabloid format next spring. A new £12 million printing plant in Belfast will print the revamped paper. The Irish News said the development was part of a newspaper industry trend, with a range of established titles making similar moves.
Papers who launched compact editions include the Times and Independent in London, the Irish Independent and the Scotsman.
In 2000, the Irish News became the first daily newspaper in Britain or Ireland to move from a broadsheet to a "Berliner" format.
Now the paper is shrinking even further.
Outdoor advertising
The latest statistics on outdoor advertising show several large drinks and beverage brands increasing their spending. Gordon's Gin, owned by Diageo Ireland, spent € 325,572 on outdoor billboards in August alone.
This was the largest amount spent on outdoor during the month, according to a survey by Poster Management Limited.
Gordon's was followed by Lucozade. The brand was once associated with hospital wards, but it is now strongly marketed as an energy drink and €230,080 was spent on the brand in the Republic during August. In third position was Bulmers, with a €228,878 spend.
McDonald's choice
McDonald's has selected Cawley Nea as its creative advertising agency.
Media Works will continue to handle media buying on behalf of the company.
McDonald's is planning to handle its own public relations following internal restructuring, which saw Siobhan Murray become communications manager.
The company will also use various public relations consultants on a project-by- project basis, said a statement.
