Today FM must go after younger audiences as figures show many tuning out

MEDIA & MARKETING:The average quarter-hour listenership of the radio station's drivetime shows has fallen by 10 per cent, writes SIOBHÁN O'CONNELL

THE JOINT National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey estimates the size of radio station audiences and the profile of their listeners. For advertisers, the research is an essential tool in helping them to decide where to book their advertisements. For radio station owners, there is so much data to mine in the JNLR numbers that most can find something positive to say about their programmes.

The latest JNLR figures, released last week, were particularly important because they cover a full year – January to December 2009 – and indicate some growing trends.

Newstalk and RTÉ Radio 1 both registered the largest increases in market share. 4FM is finding it a challenge in an already crowded market, and i105-107 is finding it difficult in the competitive commuter-belt counties, which have to compete with Dublin-based radio stations. The report was not so good for national stations 2fm and Today FM either.

All of 2fm’s shows broadcast between 6am and 7pm lost listeners in 2009. The station has recently announced scheduling changes for 2010.

Today FM’s average quarter-hour (AQH) listenership decreased by 5 per cent last year. Year-on-year, the only weekday show on Today FM to register an increase in listenership was Ray Foley, who broadcasts at midday. Foley’s AQH listenership rose by 1 per cent in 2009.

David Hayes, managing director of advertising agency MediaEdge:cia, believes Today FM is suffering because of Newstalk, which is in the same Communicorp stable.

“Today FM is fighting against younger sibling Newstalk, which is pitching for listeners in the Today FM heartland, and it is safe to assume that Newstalk’s success can only be to the detriment to Today FM,” says Hayes.

Newstalk grew its audience by 18 per cent last year, with the best performers being Tom Dunne in the mid-morning slot and George Hook in evening drivetime.

Both of Today FM’s drivetime shows – Ian Dempsey at breakfast and Matt Cooper in the evening – experienced a 10 per cent drop in their AQH listenership.

An added problem for Today FM is that its audience profile is getting older, according to Hayes.

He says that, in 2007, 65 per cent of Today FM’s audience was under 34. That proportion had fallen to 59 per cent last year.

“There are signs emerging that Today FM’s audience is ageing, which has to be worrying for a station with one of the oldest presenter line-ups outside of RTÉ Radio,” says Hayes. “Today FM is increasingly under pressure from younger radio stations such as Spin and older radio stations such as RTÉ Radio 1, leaving it very reliant on its core 30- to 44-year-old audience.”

Hayes believes Today FM must “recruit younger audiences just to maintain its audience, and it will be difficult to see how this will happen without some freshening up of the schedule”.

Hayes’s views are echoed by Paul Moran, media director of advertising agency Mediaworks.

“Tony Fenton’s listenership suffered the most, dropping by 14 per cent. Ray D’Arcy is now the only remaining Today FM show among the nation’s top-10 most listened-to radio programmes,” says Moran.

In Dublin, the Communicorp stations Dublin’s 98 and Spin 103.8 had mixed results. Among 15- to 34-year-olds, Dublin’s 98 enjoyed a 7 per cent increase in AQH listenership, but Spin 103.8’s fell by 18 per cent. Adult AQH numbers for both stations fell. “Dublin’s 98 and FM104 both lost listeners and are now almost on par, with FM104 being marginally ahead,” says Moran.

Of the six Dublin stations, the main success story was Q102, which increased its weekday AQH audience by 24 per cent. The drivetime show presented by Scott Williams increased its AQH audience to 17,000 from 12,000 a year earlier.

Outside Dublin, the local stations to record the biggest rises in listenership were i102-104, up 96 per cent, and Radio Kerry, Galway Bay FM and Midlands 103, all up 29 per cent.