The latest RAJAR* release comes in the very week that Cool FM marks 30 years on air, and their new audience figures give added reason for celebration with an all time high of 506,000 weekly listeners.

This has edged ahead of the previous record set two years ago, which was helped by the inclusion of DAB coverage across the whole of Northern Ireland.

The decision by the original Downtown to ‘split’ its frequencies to carry two services in 1990 was not a straightforward one.

From 1988, stations elsewhere in the UK doing likewise were keeping their main output on FM aiming this at a younger audience, and opening a ‘gold’ alternative on AM.

While a station ‘of the times’ was a good fit for Greater Belfast with the launch of Cool FM, Downtown’s breadth and popularity on FM in the newer northern and western areas, combined with a loyal audience built up within the AM coverage, led to it becoming the station ‘of the place’. The addition of DAB from the early 2000s has allowed Downtown to offer a clear quality signal everywhere.

In terms of weekly reach and listening hours year-on-year, Cool with 506,000 is up from 486,000 and has a drop of 17% in hours; Downtown increases to 264,000 from 245,000 with a 13% loss in hours; and Downtown Country sees a decline to 108,000 from 143,000 and a 51% fall in hours.

Q Radio attracted an extra 24,000 listeners, giving the network 300,000 in all, with hours down by 8%.

U105 decreased to 210,000 from 221,000 in its FM area, with hours up by 10%. To this should be added the audience served only on DAB, of 31,000.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle dropped to 516,000 from 524,000, and hours were down by 12%.

The total of the listening hours for the local stations above comprises 56% of the hours spent with all radio, which is up by one percentage point from the RAJAR results in the previous quarter. That gives them a greater share of the cake - birthday or otherwise!


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos - MORI

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

In the latest RAJAR* just released, the two NI stations using letters as names are both celebrating an upturn in reach, that’s the number of people listening in the course of a week.

U105 increased to 191,000 from 186,000 in its FM area, with hours up by 5%. To this should be added the audience served only on DAB, the most recent figure being published in the last RAJAR, of 31,000.

Q Radio gained 20,000 listeners, taking them to 311,000, compared to last year when the Belfast and original Q Network figures were given separately as 142,000 and 149,000. Hours however did not follow suit, dropping by 14%.

Downtown, Cool FM and Downtown Country all saw declines (220,000 from 272,000; 477,000 from 496,000; and 125,000 from 134,000 respectively) with hours commensurately decreasing by 35%, 15% and 13%.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle also dropped to 513,000 from 539,000, and hours were down by 11%. It will be interesting in due course to see the effect of the schedule changes recently introduced at Broadcasting House.

The total of the listening hours for the aforementioned local stations comprises 55% of the hours spent with all radio, which is unchanged from the previous RAJAR results, and would suggest that overall radio listening is down in this quarter.

As always, comparisons are year-on-year and each station’s figures relate to its own stated Total Survey Area.


*RAJAR is compiled by IPSOS-MORI


The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

The August RAJAR* release comes around faster than the others, as the publication interval is eleven weeks rather than the full quarter. The latest figures reflect the period up to the end of June, and indicate a slight slippage in local station listening of two percentage points to 55% of all the hours that NI people spend with the medium.

Turning to the broadcasters, BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle saw weekly reach go from 566,000 to 493,000, with hours down by 19%.

Downtown now has 215,000 (from 244,000) and 23% fewer hours, while Cool FM sits at 442,000 (from 473,000) with 5% fewer hours; however Downtown Country moves up from 116,000 to 121,000 and has 20% more hours.

Two Belfast-based stations enjoyed increases in reach; Q Radio from 260,000 (the combination of the previously separate Q figures) to 281,000, with hours decreasing by 6%. U105 is up from 153,000 to 189,000 and by 12% in hours in its original FM area. Their DAB-only extended coverage is measured yearly and last had a published figure of 29,000.

As always, comparisons are year-on-year and each station’s figures relate to its own stated Total Survey Area.

*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
http://www.pauleaston.co.uk

The latest RAJAR* has arrived in between elections, and the four local broadcasting ‘candidates’ - BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, Downtown/Cool, the Q Network and U105 together account for 57% of the time that Northern Ireland listeners spend with radio. The remainder is largely shared out among over 40 national stations.

Drilling into the detail, BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle saw a weekly audience drop from 580,000 to 490,000, with a 10% decrease in hours.

Cool FM posted a loss (482,000 to 478,000) with a 1% dip in hours; Downtown fell from 258,000 to 194,000, losing 35% of hours; and Downtown Country increased from 120,000 to 123,000 boosting hours by 38%.

Q Radio is no longer reporting separate figures for Belfast and the original six stations; the combined number is now 271,000 (up from 231,000 when the two published figures from a year ago are added together) along with a 19% uplift in hours.

This time U105 is reporting on its original FM area, with a listenership of 201,000 (up from 12 months back when it was 172,000) and a 3% rise in hours; plus a further 29,000 within its DAB footprint.

As always, all comparisons are year-on-year and each station’s figures relate to its own stated Total Survey Area.

*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
http://www.pauleaston.co.uk

After only five weeks, this is already quite the year for Radio on the national stage, with Chris Evans moving lock, stock and barrel to Virgin Radio (part of Wireless Group, owners of U105), and Downtown parent company Bauer being due to launch Scala Radio, a classical music service on national DAB in March, with key signing Simon Mayo. BBC Radio 2 has accordingly revised its daytime line up, and RAJAR* will tell the story on all of that next year.

In the latest research just released, U105 enjoyed the largest gain in reach, from 197,000 in its FM area this time last year to 221,000, with DAB listeners now taking the audience to a total of 250,000.

Q Radio saw a decrease in both the Belfast and original Q Network areas, from 133,000 to 131,000 and 153,000 to 145,000 respectively.

Downtown Country posted a gain in reach - 119,000 to 143,000 while the heritage Downtown service decreased from 266,000 to 243,000. Cool FM moved back from 503,000 to 486,000 year-on-year.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle had a drop in reach - 536,000 to 524,000.

As always, each station’s figures relate to its own Total Survey Area.

*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos - MORI

(Updated 8.2.19 with comparative amendments)

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
http://www.pauleaston.co.uk

With the sunshine of summer now a pleasant memory, the latest RAJAR* reveals what radio listeners were tuning into over that period. Again, the local stations notched up a strong performance, attracting 58% of all listening hours.

In terms of the individual broadcasters, Bauer NI lead the way with 710,000 listeners, up 13,000 on a year ago. Counter-intuitively, Downtown dropped by 16,000 to 272,000 with hours up by 19%; Cool increased by 1,000 to 496,000 while hours dipped by 18%; and Downtown Country attracted 134,000 (reach and hours down by 8,000 and 19% respectively). The explanation is that there is now less duplication in listenership across the 3-station family.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle had a weekly reach of 539,000, down from 572,000, with hours decreasing by 10%.

U105 achieved an overall increase of 13,000, but the figure 12 months ago of 198,000 related to the FM area, whereas there this time it is 186,000, with the further 25,000 added through the wider DAB footprint. On a like-for-like comparative basis hours were down by 11%.

Q Radio saw small gains in Belfast - 140,000 to 142,000 and 1% higher hours, but losses elsewhere - 166,000 to 149,000 and hours down by 17%, the latter being despite the addition of relay transmitters in parts of the province.

As ever, each station's figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area.

*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective;
http://www.pauleaston.co.uk



 

In the week that industry body Radiocentre revealed that the medium was the fastest growing in advertising expenditure terms during the first quarter of 2018, the latest RAJAR* also continued to tell a good story for NI local stations, which together attract 57% of all listening hours.

Across the sector there are ups and downs on the quarter and on the year, which is the more telling comparison.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle saw an increase in weekly reach from 544,000 to 566,000 with hours up by 3% overall.

Cool FM led the Bauer-owned stations here with 473,000 (down 1,000) and a 7% decrease in hours; Downtown attracted 244,000 (down 30,000) in reach but increased hours by 2%; and Downtown Country declined in reach and hours (126,000 to 116,000; 12%).

The Q Network had mixed fortunes with Q Belfast up by 5,000 to 130,000 in reach and up 11% in hours, with the original 6 Q stations down 29,000 to the same 130,000 figure and hours down by 8%.

U105 had an interesting book in that it is the first time their new DAB service which began last July has been measured. Early days of course, and attracting 21,000 additional listeners beyond the original FM area, though not sufficient to compensate for the 34,000 drop in this to 153,000, with hours decreasing by 16%.

As ever, each station’s figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.


More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleaston.co.uk

It’s often said that Radio comes into its own at times of disruption, such as during weather-related events. With that in mind, the latest RAJAR* research period ended on April 1 and included listening when ‘The beast from the east’ brought us snow.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle did best with an increase in weekly reach from 518,000 to 580,000 and total hours up by 1% overall.

Cool FM and Downtown Country were up from 473,000 to 482,000 and 103,000 to 120,000 respectively, with hours increasing by 11% and 45%. Downtown itself lost 10,000 in reach (now 258,000), but gained by 9% in hours.

The Q Network fared less well, moving from 135,000 to 113,000 for Q Belfast (with hours down by 15%), and from 154,000 to 118,000 for the original 6 stations (hours down by 4%).

Likewise, U105, now broadcasting from its new home at City Quays, dropped in reach from 193,000 to 172,000 and in hours, by 22%. This does not yet reflect the expanded coverage through going on DAB last summer.

As always, each station's figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area and all comparisons are year-on-year.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleaston.co.uk

In a previous blog, I noted that NI station audiences had settled into distinct layers around the hundreds of thousands of listeners.

Cool FM now celebrates crossing the 500,000 mark, receiving this good news from RAJAR* on its 28th birthday. The latest figure of 503,000 is helped by the measured area being the larger DAB footprint, and compares with 397,000 last year for the FM signal.

This puts the station within shouting distance of BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, which has a weekly reach of 536,000 (up from 521,000).

Downtown and its Country sibling also see increases (260,000 to 266,000 and 103,000 to 119,000), as do Q Belfast (129,000 to 133,000) and the original Q stations (143,000 to 153,000); while U105 decreases from 210,000 to 197,000.

Listening hours also tell a story - NI local radio now attracts a 58% share of all hours as opposed to 56% at the same time last year.

Individually, the stations with increasing total hours are Cool FM (by 31%), Q Belfast (27%), Downtown Country (20%) and the original Q stations (18%). Those decreasing are Downtown (by 5%), BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle (15%) and U105 (32%).

Please note that each station's figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area and all comparisons are year-on-year.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleaston.co.uk