MEDIA & MARKETING:THE YOUTH radio market has been transformed in the last few years, with new stations directly targeting teens and young adults as the primary listener rather than as an afterthought.
Now 2FM – RTÉ’s pop station – is throwing in the towel with a plan to start catering for an audience as old as its DJs.
The reason for RTÉ’s decision is illustrated by the latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR), covering the 12-month period from July 2008 to June 2009. In the 15-24 age group, 2FM’s national market share is 14 per cent, down four points year on year. The reason for the slippage is the growing popularity of local pop stations. In Waterford, Beat 102-103 has a daily reach among 15-24s of 60 per cent and market share locally among this group of 54 per cent.
Spin South West has a daily reach of 62 per cent among 15-24s while 102-104FM North West has a 38 per cent market share in this demographic. In Cork meanwhile, 2FM has a tiny 6 per cent of the local teen audience, who much prefer to listen to local stations Red FM and 96FM.
2FM’s decision to forget about teens and chase an older audience has not impressed Willie O’Reilly, chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland. He declared: “There are over 600,000 15-24 year olds living in Ireland who are being told by RTÉ Radio, ‘you don’t matter and we don’t want to know you’. That is a terrible indictment of the mindset within RTÉ, which has been consistently watering down its public broadcasting remit over the past number of years.
“Rather than abandoning the market, RTÉ should learn from the independents and give their listeners what they want.”
He added that, if RTÉ was regulated in the same manner as the independent sector, it would not have been allowed to introduce changes to its schedule “at the drop of a hat”.
O’Reilly points out that every independent radio station must obtain approval from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) before it can introduce programming changes, a process that can take months, and the BCI can reject the proposed changes if it believes it is not in the interests of radio listeners or broadcasting.
“RTÉ is not subject to this stringent oversight,” said O’Reilly. “We are hopeful however that the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland will introduce a more level playing field when it is established later this year.”
O’Reilly’s other hat is as chief executive of Today FM, whose main rival is 2FM. Both stations have national market share of 11 per cent but, in the 15-34 age category, Today FM has market share of 19 per cent compared with 16 per cent for 2FM.
It may have occurred to O’Reilly that when 2FM implements a more intense focus on thirty and fortysomethings, Today FM stars like Ian Dempsey and Ray D’Arcy could comfortably slot back into the 2FM schedule.
In fact, Clare Duignan, RTÉs head of radio, could make life difficult for Today FM if she lured Dempsey and D’Arcy back to Montrose. In the latest ratings book, advertising agency OMD measures Dempsey’s average weekday reach at 226,000 listeners, compared with 173,000 for Colm Jim Jim on 2FM’s breakfast slot.
In mid-morning, Gerry Ryan props up 2FM’s overall market share figure with his audience of 302,000 listeners. However, Ray D’Arcy’s audience of 235,000 is very substantial too. Evening drive time is a problem area for Duignan, with Will Leahy on 2FM garnering an average audience of 118,000 compared with 201,000 for Matt Cooper on Today FM.
Whatever Duignan does, growing 2FM’s audience won’t be easy.
RTÉ Radio 1 remains the clear market leader, with a 23 per cent market share. According to Dave Harland, chief executive of OMD: “Radio 1 seems to be benefiting from the recessionary thirst for information.” This factor has also boosted Newstalk. While its market share is up marginally year-on-year, key programmes have all gained listeners and in Dublin, Newstalk now lags 2FM’s market share by just two points.
Golden oldies station Q102 also has reason to crow after the latest JNLR book, with its market share in Dublin of 8 per cent ahead of Newstalk and Today FM and one point behind 2FM. FM104 (12 per cent) and Dublin’s 98FM (11 per cent) are also road blocks in the capital to 2FM reversing its decline.
As of last year, 2FM’s ratings slippage hadn’t affected turnover. Commercial revenue of €20 million in 2008 was the same as in 2007 and 2006, but the operating profit of €3.5 million was down from €4.1 million in 2007 and €5.2 million in 2006. However, turnover this year is likely to be down substantially – which is why something has to give.
