In the week of the Radio Academy Awards, where BBC Radio Ulster brought home Gold for Station of the Year, the latest RAJAR* research sees the local broadcaster posting year-on-year increases in both its reach (to 530,000 listeners) and hours (by 8%).
As I know from experience, national recognition from Industry peers at the same time as winning high audience figures in RAJAR is a very rewarding combination, and is a significant achievement by the team at Ormeau Avenue.
Turning to the Commercial sector in the Province, Downtown attracted a thousand more listeners over the year, taking the audience to 293,000 with hours up by 11%, but sister outlet Cool FM was down by 47,000 to a reach of 361,000 with a 22% drop in hours, ahead of the station refreshing its programme line up later this month.
Citybeat enjoyed an annual rise of 10,000 to 136,000, with hours also well up, by 69%; while the Q Network suffered a loss of 19,000 in reach taking this to 91,000, though hours increased by 9%.
The reach for U105 year-on-year dropped by 12,000 to 192,000 and hours took a 1% dip.
This research covers the period from October 2013 to March 2014, and is the first to fully include the new DAB services provided on the Digital One multiplex, such as Smooth Radio, Absolute 80's and TeamRock.
Overall, the story for radio as a medium is a positive one, with a total of almost 28 million hours a week now spent listening to all stations by listeners across Northern Ireland, an increase of 8% compared to a year ago.
*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI. The figures for each station relate to its own TSA.
More RAJAR analysis:
The national picture from Matt Deegan: http://www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective: http://pauleaston.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/london-rajar-q12014.html
As I know from experience, national recognition from Industry peers at the same time as winning high audience figures in RAJAR is a very rewarding combination, and is a significant achievement by the team at Ormeau Avenue.
Turning to the Commercial sector in the Province, Downtown attracted a thousand more listeners over the year, taking the audience to 293,000 with hours up by 11%, but sister outlet Cool FM was down by 47,000 to a reach of 361,000 with a 22% drop in hours, ahead of the station refreshing its programme line up later this month.
Citybeat enjoyed an annual rise of 10,000 to 136,000, with hours also well up, by 69%; while the Q Network suffered a loss of 19,000 in reach taking this to 91,000, though hours increased by 9%.
The reach for U105 year-on-year dropped by 12,000 to 192,000 and hours took a 1% dip.
This research covers the period from October 2013 to March 2014, and is the first to fully include the new DAB services provided on the Digital One multiplex, such as Smooth Radio, Absolute 80's and TeamRock.
Overall, the story for radio as a medium is a positive one, with a total of almost 28 million hours a week now spent listening to all stations by listeners across Northern Ireland, an increase of 8% compared to a year ago.
*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI. The figures for each station relate to its own TSA.
More RAJAR analysis:
The national picture from Matt Deegan: http://www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective: http://pauleaston.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/london-rajar-q12014.html
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