Stuart Fogarty
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Bauer Media JNLR Radio Results! (Excellent people too, deserved).
Radio listenership in Ireland is in a very healthy position, according to the latest survey which shows that close to 3.8million people (3,791,000) listen to the radio every week.
Bauer Media Audio Ireland, home to some of the country’s leading radio stations including Today FM, Newstalk, 98FM, SPIN 1038, SPIN South West and Cork’s Red FM now has a combined weekly reach of almost 2million listeners (1.98million) and a daily listenership of 1.28million, a further increase on the last published results in July.
Bauer Media Audio Ireland’s station portfolio now has an all adults prime-time market share of 24.7% which jumps to 35.5% for the 25–44-year-old audience demographic.
At a national level, both Today FM and Newstalk recorded big audience increases across their respective prime-time schedules.
Today FM continues to grow its audience, recording marked gains in daily reach, weekly reach and across its flagship shows. Today FM now has a daily listenership of 515,000 (+15,000 BoB) and an impressive weekly reach of 959,000 (+21,000 BoB). The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show continues in popularity with further audience growth in this latest report, the biggest breakfast show on commercial radio now has a listenership of 225,000 (+4,000 BoB) while The Last Word with Matt Cooper has increased its audience to 182,000 (+7,000 BoB) in the drive time radio timeslot.
Newstalk achieved big success in this report achieving all-time highs on all key audience metrics. The station entertains a daily audience of 466,000 (+27,000 BoB) while its weekly reach also increased significantly 822,000 (+24,000 BoB). Newstalk now has an all-time high national prime-time market share of 7.6% (+.6% BoB) and 11.4% (+1% BoB) in Dublin.
The Pat Kenny Show reinforced its position as Newstalk’s most listened to programme with 205,000 people tuning in daily, an increase of 25,000 listeners since the last survey. Lunchtime Live, presented by Andrea Gilligan now has an audience of 107,000 (+5,000 BoB) while in the afternoons Sean Moncrieff has reached a record 110,000 listeners (+7,000 BoB).
In Dublin, SPIN 1038 remains the most listened to music station on weekly reach with 267,000 listeners with its flagship breakfast show with Emma, Dave & Aisling heading towards a morning audience of 50,000 (47,000), while 98FM continues to increase its weekly listenership to 182,000 (+2,000 BoB).
SPIN South West has increased its market share to 12.6% and maintains its position of biggest station in the region across weekly and daily reach. SPIN South West also increased its breakfast and drive-time shows in this report.
In Cork, Red FM is the most listened to station on daily and weekly reach in the region and Neil Prendeville is the most listened to mid-morning show in the region, with an audience of 75,000.
The latest JNLR audience figures show that the radio audience grew by a further 31,000 listeners
From Radiocentre:
See the detail on this link now 654ced6382df430165b2c634_JNLR-Sales House Report 2023-3 (FINAL)-2
The latest JNLR audience figures released today show that the daily radio audience is at 3.35 million listeners, growing by a further 31,000 listeners and up 176,000 listeners over the past 2 years.
The JNLR report, covering the period October ‘22 to September ‘23 shows that Radio enjoys huge listenership with 92% of Irish adults and 88% of 15–34-year-oldslistening to radio every week.
The daily listenership levels are also hugely impressive with the daily audience growing by a further 31,000 compared the previous research period (July ‘22 –June ’23), with over 3.35 million adults listening to radio every single weekday, a record in recent years. Listenership for 15–34-year-olds also increased with 71% of this age group listening every weekday, an uplift of 12,000 listeners compared to the previous research period. Listening levels to local and regional radio continues to be very strong with almost 2.2 million adults listen to their local or regional station every single weekday.
Radio is enjoying an unprecedented boom period with continual increases in overall audience levels. The latest daily audience levels of 3.35 million represents an increase in 176,000 listeners on an average weekday, when compared to the same period 2 years ago (October ’20 – October ’21).
The ability to access content easily and the quality and popularity of Irish radio means that this latest JNLR shows that the average adult is listening to radio content for over 4 hours each day.
The recently published Irish Audio Report which looks at total audio listening shows that live radio dominates with a 74% share of total listening. Music streaming has a 12% share of listening while YouTube Music and Podcasts have a7% and 3% share respectively.
Facebook and Instagram begin charging €12.99 per month for ad-free feeds, with price hike due in March
From Irish Independent.
The two giant social media platforms, owned by Meta, have begun charging under an agreement with European regulators
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Nick Wass/AP
Under the new system, it will cost €12.99 per month for all accounts until March of next year, when it will rise to €12.99 for one account and €8 for every subsequent account.
It means that someone with a Facebook and an Instagram account will pay €20.99 per month, or €251.88 per year.
In exchange for paying the subscription, users will not see any ads on their feeds. A free version will remain available, but users will have to give their consent to Facebook and Instagram to use their personal data as a basis for showing them ads.
The ad-free subscription does not include a ban on ad-supported content from influencers, however.
A cheaper tariff can be accessed for €9.99 per month, and €6 per month for additional accounts, if the signup process is done on the web, rather than within the smartphone app. The difference in the price is accounted for by the 30pc charge that Apple and Google place on subscriptions enacted within apps downloaded from their App Stores. However, once a subscription is taken, access is available on any device.
The system is being introduced after European regulatory authorities, including the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, European Court of Justice and the European Data Protection Board, all ruled that Facebook and Instagram could no longer continue to rely on users’ personal data for ads without more explicit consent. In response, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is offering either explicit consent for ads based on personal data or a paid monthly subscription.
The system is specific to Europe, where data laws are stricter than in the US and other regions.
To avoid paying the subscription fee, Facebook and Instagram users must consent to the company’s use of their personal information as the basis of the day they see.
ITV cutting content spend in 2023 as ad market remains ‘challenging’
From Irish News (Signs of a softening Market?).
Broadcasting giant ITV has revealed plans to cut spending on content this year as it warned that advertising revenues are set to fall by 8% in 2023.
The group behind hit TV shows such as I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and Love Island said total advertising revenues fell 7% to £1.45 billion in the first nine months of 2023, despite edging up by 1% in the third quarter.
Total revenues lifted 1% to £2.98 billion in the period, however, as its studio and digital performance offset the drop in traditional TV ad demand.
ITV said a “challenging” economic backdrop will leave total ad revenues lower over the full year, with falls of 15% in November and between 10% and 15% in December compared with a year earlier, when demand was boosted by the Fifa World Cup.
As a result of the ad pressures, it said, content spend will be cut by £10 million to £1.29 billion in 2023, with plans to push this into next year instead.
Chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said: “ITV continues to make good strategic progress despite the challenging macro environment which is impacting the advertising market and also the demand for content from free-to-air broadcasters in the UK and internationally.
“We are on track to deliver £15 million of cost savings in 2023, as part of our previously announced £50 million cost saving target between 2023 and 2026.
“In addition, we will rephase £10 million of content spend from 2023 into 2024.”
Its studios arm, which also produces popular series such as The Voice, Queer Eye and Line Of Duty, delivered a 9% rise in revenues to £1.5 billion over the first nine months of 2023.
Its digital ad revenues in the wider business jumped 25%, while its content streaming hub, ITVX, helped wider digital turnover lift 23%.
But it said the content market is being held back in the short term by the US writers’ and actors’ strikes, which is set to hit 2024 revenues, deferring some of this into 2025.
It is expecting full-year studios revenue growth to pull back sharply to 3% in 2023, down from 19% in 2022.
Spotify posts quarterly profit, user growth beats expectations
From RTE
Spotify today swung to a quarterly profit aided by price hikes in its streaming services and growth in subscribers in all regions, and forecast that its number of monthly listeners would reach 601 million in this quarter.
The company posted a third-quarter operating income of €32m, its first quarterly profit since 2021, helped by a higher gross margin and lower marketing and personnel costs.
“We believe moving forward, we should see pretty consistent growth in our operating income,” its Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel said.
It forecast operating income of €37m in the current quarter.
After spending more than €1 billion in building up its podcast business, Spotify has been keeping a tight lid on costs, laying off 6% of its employees earlier this year and in July raising prices for its premium plans.
“We are still focusing on efficiencies, but efficiencies for us doesn’t mean just cost cutting, it means getting more out of each dollar,” CEO Daniel Ek told Reuters.
Spotify’s gross margin rose to 26.4% in the three months from July to September, up 166 basis points from a year earlier.
“We do expect to continue to see margin expansion into next year,” Vogel said in an interview.
The company’s number of monthly active users rose 26% to 574 million in the third quarter, beating its own guidance and analysts’ forecast of 565.7 million.
Premium subscribers, who account for most of the company’s revenue, rose 16% to 226 million, topping estimates of 223.7 million, according to IBES data from LSEG.
Revenue rose 11% to €3.36 billion, just beating estimates of €3.33 billion.
Spotify’s monthly user forecast for the fourth quarter sets the company firmly on target to reach 1 billion users and $100 billion in revenue annually by 2030. Analysts had expected a forecast of 591.2 million listeners.
It also expects premium subscribers to reach 235 million in the last three months of the year and revenue to reach €3.7 billion.
Analysts were expecting a forecast of 232.4 million premium subscribers and revenue of €3.69 billion.
TikTok reaches 2 million users in Ireland
From RTE.
Video sharing platform TikTok has announced that there are now 2 million people in Ireland using the app each month.
The company said a community of creators across the country had helped it reach the milestone.
“Our vibrant community of 2 million people across Ireland is made up of book lovers, foodies, families, musicians, comedians, artists and so much more, who come to TikTok to discover, share their stories, inspire creativity and spread joy,” said Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok.
The Chinese-owned video-sharing app has faced scrutiny over how much access China has to user data.
In April, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued guidance advising Irish Government departments and state agencies against the use of the app on official devices.
The US and UK governments, as well as EU institutions, have also banned the platform on staff devices over cybersecurity fears.
TikTok has described the government bans as misguided and based on misconceptions.
Ireland is playing a central role in the company’s efforts to address concerns over data security.
A plan called “Project Clover” involves European user information being stored at two data centres in Dublin and at a third centre in Norway.
Yesterday, TikTok secured permission from the High Court to challenge the Data Protection Commission’s decision to fine it €345m for failing to protect children’s privacy on the site.
Consumer sentiment boosted by supports in Budget 2024
From The Irish Times.
Rise in confidence driven by domestic factors as improved sentiment in Ireland contrasts markedly with other countries
Irish consumer sentiment improved modestly in October as support measures rolled out in Budget 2024 made consumers a little less gloomy about their household finances, according to a consumer sentiment report.
The Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Survey is a monthly survey carried out by Core Research of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults. The October survey was taken between October 4th and 18th.
The report said the uptick in confidence was driven by domestic factors as improved sentiment in Ireland contrasted markedly with weaker results in the latest readings for similar confidence measures for the US, Germany and the UK.
The broad tone of Irish consumer sentiment remained cautious as cost-of-living concerns remained elevated and nervousness about the outlook for jobs has increased. “However, Budget 2024 measures seem to have encouraged some improvement in household spending plans in October,” the report noted.
Consumer sentiment increased to 60.4 in October from 58.8 in September, which reversed just under half the 3.4-point fall seen between August and September. It left Irish consumer sentiment clearly below the 15-month high of 64.5 recorded in July and some considerable distance below the 27-year survey average of 84.9.
Four of the five key elements of the survey posted monthly gains between September and October. The exception was consumer thinking on the outlook for jobs which weakened to its lowest level in seven months.
“Again it should be noted that the October reading points to considerable caution in relation to the buying climate at present,” the report said. “However, it may be that budget measures have made more consumers both able and willing to spend.”
However, the report said that as many as 256,000, or 12 per cent, of domestic customers were in arrears on their electricity bills in June.
One in three consumers said neither the Irish economy nor their own finances were doing well. “This may reflect consumers’ judgment that economic performance is best measured by a palpable sense of rising real incomes rather than widely used technical metrics,” the report continued.
One in four consumers said that while they felt the Irish economy was doing well, their personal financial circumstances did not reflect that. This response was more prevalent among those over 55, among men and among those citing difficulties in making ends meet.
Just under one in five consumers judged the Irish economy to be doing well and said they were benefiting either a lot or a little. These responses tended to be a little more common among Dublin-based consumers, men, those aged over 65, and those with the strongest educational qualifications, higher income, and those indicating they were comfortably making ends meet.
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Colin Gleeson
Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter
Christmas FM Back on Air With New Competition for Irish Advertisers
From IMJ but we say, a very welcome return that deserves all of our full support!
Has to be said, well done sponsors An Post, Coca-Cola and Cadbury. Very, very worthy.
Christmas FM, the popular radio station that ‘Switches Christmas On’ every year will be back on air in late November and the seasonal station has secured Cadbury, Coca Cola and An Post as its lead sponsors.
Now running for 16 years, the station has launched a new promotional competition for Irish businesses to help them stand out from the crowd this festive season.
Open to businesses both big and small, the competition is easy to enter, businesses simply need to fill in their details here. The closing date is Monday 6th November at 1pm. The prize is a €5,000 digital advertising campaign on Christmas FM
This year, Christmas FM will also be continuing with the successful Magic of Christmas fundraising appeal, raising money for three of Ireland’s leading children’s charities – Barnardos, Barretstown, Make-A-Wish Ireland and a range of children’s charities around Ireland making a difference in local communities through Community Foundation Ireland. The Magic of Christmas was launched in 2022, with the aim of raising €1m over a three-year period for the charities.
“Cadbury, Coca-Cola and An Post will be premier FM sponsors for 2023 and we’re delighted to have them on board,” says Garvan Rigby, co-founder of Christmas FM.
“We are celebrating Christmas FM’s 16th year on air this festive season which has been made possible by our incredible sponsors, listeners and volunteers. We are looking forward to raising funds for The Magic of Christmas fundraising appeal and we would also like to thank Clayton Hotel Liffey Valley who have kindly donated their studio space once again this year.”
“For us at Cadbury, Christmas is a time for connection and showing you care. We are delighted to be working with Christmas FM once again this year to help generously spread Christmas magic throughout the season. Year after year, the fantastic Christmas FM team bring Christmas to life on our airwaves while also fundraising for some great causes, reminding us all of the true spirit of the season. The festive tunes and heartwarming stories fill us all with joy, reminding us of what’s most important during this special time of year,” says Maighréad Lynch, brand manager, Cadbury Ireland, said.
“Coca-Cola and Christmas have a longstanding connection and our sponsorship of Christmas FM for the 5th year allows us to bring the Coca-Cola Christmas spirit to the Irish airwaves again. This festive season, Coca-Cola will ignite people with the Christmas Spirit and invite them to bring more joy and kindness across the island of Ireland. As Coca-Cola is the brand that helped create Santa, together with Christmas FM, we plan to expand his meaning to remind everyone of the magic of Christmas. Our Coca-Cola Santa will return, along with our iconic Christmas truck and Designated Driver initiative to help people discover their inner Santa and remind us that kindness and generosity rules. The world needs more Santas,” adds Rebekah Hitchmough, brand manager GB&I, The Coca-Cola Company.
Richard Miley, marketing communications lead , An Post Mails & Parcels, adds: “At An Post, we believe in sending from the heart, and this sentiment resonates even more during the Christmas season. We’re passionate about sending love worldwide and connecting loved ones with post. That’s why we’re thrilled to renew our partnership with Christmas FM, the station that truly embodies the essence of the season. Together, we continue to share the magic of Christmas and support the invaluable work of these remarkable charities.”