The Power of Radio (and all things Audio)
Radio is a powerful Advertising medium and actually an Irish phenomenon (Radio is not as advertising dominant in the UK for example). And right now for 2025, it is flying! Generally sold in ‘packages’ with different broadcast time bands called – TAP or Prime Time PT.
TAP are cheaper but broader airtime (usually 7am to midnight).
You will see Admatic Ad rates for each key station – just click in the Radio section on the homepage. Don’t neglect Radio in your Advertising. We’ve also developed our own easy, value, ready made Radio Readymade Campaign packages – make sure to click on those too.
Huge Listenerships
It’s massive! You’ll see data on each station as you browse.
Radio listening in Ireland is split 64/36 urban and rural respectively, and radio stations across Ireland have over 11.3 million social media connections across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat so you/we can also use that. They’re generally happy to sell it as part of any media buying (!)
Radio listenership is measured by independent research ‘JNLR’ considered ‘The Bible’ for media planning. There’s no doubt, Radio still shows remarkable popularity!!!
The 2024 (published Feb 2025) JNLR report shows that Radio is enjoying record levels of listenership with 3.9 million people now listening to radio every week, the highest weekly listenership ever recorded, growing by 105,000 listeners compared to the same 12 month period previously (Jan-Dec ’23).
The average weekday audience listening at any time between 7am to 7pm is now at 1,095,000, the highest recorded average audience ever.
Other key results from the latest JNLR/Ipsos survey are:
- 90%of all adults and 85% of 15–34-year-olds listen to radio every week.
- The daily listenership levels are also hugely impressive with the daily weekday audience now at 3.47 million, growing by 72,000 listeners.
- 69% of 15-34 year olds listen to radio each weekday, while daily weekday listening levels for the hard to reach 15-24 year old cohort is also very impressive with 65% listening each weekday.
- Listening levels to local and regional radio continues to be very strong with over 2 million adults listening to their local or regional station every single weekday.
- The Irish Audio Report which was published in November last year and measures all forms of audio listening, revealed there is universal listening to audio content with 97% of adults listening every week. Live radio dominates audio listening with a 76% share of total audio listening followed by music streaming with a 12% share while YouTube Music has a 6% share and podcasts a 3% share of audio listening.
- In terms of how people listen, 12% of all radio listening is now through a connected device with 7% of all listening through a smart speaker while listening via a mobile device is at 3%.
- For the younger 15 to 34 age cohort, 22% of all their radio listening is now through a connected device with a smart speaker accounting for 8% of all 15-34 listening, while listening through a mobile device also accounts for 8% of all radio listening for this audience.
Source: JNLR/Ipsos 2024-4 (January to December 2024), JNLR/Ipsos 2024-2 Audio Module (Apr’24 – Jun ’24 3 month data)
Brendan O’Connor, Oliver Callan, Miriam O’Callaghan and Marty Whelan see massive listenership increases Matt Cooper keeps a steady ship at Today FM while other shows see dip Pat Kenny’s Newstalk show is still the most popular show on commercial radio.
RTÉ radio continues to dominate the airwaves, with a 29.6pc share of listeners in Ireland. Morning Ireland is up 1,000 listeners to 466,000 since the last survey in November.
Oliver Callan’s 9am show has gained 11,000 listeners. The listenership for his slot now stands at 349,000. The comedian took over permanently from Ryan Tubridy in February last year.
Claire Byrne’s show is performing strongly, up 7,000 since last November. Its listenership stands at 349,000.
The Louise Duffy Show has gained 5,000 listeners, which brings her tally to 228,000.
Joe Duffy’s Liveline attracted an additional 7,000 listeners for a total of 314,000.
Ray D’Arcy has gained 6,000 listeners to bring his total up to 194,000, while Drivetime is up 5,000 to 226,000.
There has also been an increase in listeners across RTÉ’s weekend shows.
Brendan O’Connor’s Saturday show is up to 358,000 listeners, which represents an increase of 16,000. On Sundays, his listeners have increased by 27,000, from 339,000 to 366,000.
Miriam O’Callaghan’s 10am Sunday show is also doing well, gaining 4,000 listeners to bring her total listenership to 304,000.
The figures suggest that talk radio has never been so popular, with Irish listeners heavily invested in coverage of news events.
Marty Whelan on RTÉ lyric fm is hitting all the right notes too, achieving a new high of 71,000 listeners for his 7am-10am daily show.
Despite a number of changes over the past year, 2FM is performing well. It is currently the most popular station among 15 to 34-year-olds, with a 12.1pc share of that audience.
Early-morning show 2FM Breakfast with Carl and Aifric gained 10,000 listeners to bring it to 152,000, while Laura Fox lost 2,000 listeners, bringing her total to 131,000.
Presenter Tracy Clifford has dropped 2,000 listeners and now has 117,000.
The 3pm-6pm slot formerly occupied by The 2 Johnnies, aka 2FM Drive, showed no fluctuations, with 145,000 listeners.
51% Female and 49% male, and 82% of Housekeepers tune in daily.
Listenership Reports
23-092916-JNLR-Sales House Report 2024-4 (Final)
UM JNLR detailed Q1 2023 vs Q1 2024
The Irish Audio Report 2023
The 2025 published Irish Audio Report which looked at total audio listening shows that live radio dominates. Music streaming has a 12% share of listening while YouTube Music and Podcasts have a 7% and 3% share respectively. Smart Speaker advertising (now in 45% of Irish homes) always worth considering. Ask us.
(And remember we’ve great RTE Radio deals which you’ll see in our Radio section from the homepage! You’ll not buy RTE Radio for less anywhere – including from RTE!)
Further RTE 2025 Rate Card and Radio information, you’ll find here RTE-Rate-Card-2025-V1-2
Various Lengths
Radio lengths are generally accepted as 15, 30 or 60 seconds long. 30 Second Radio commercials represent probably 95% of all Radio Commercial lengths as are costed in the radio section on the homepage (most Radio costs are therefore based on 30 seconds).
But the 30 second commercial is historical and remember, the shorter the commercial, the more spots/frequency so always consider 15 or 20 seconds too.
Other lengths are not exactly pro-rata in cost terms and you can see a length cost converter in our ‘How Admatic works’ section if you want to use a different length. Shorter (10 or 15 second commercials) are of course, great for frequency (more spots).
Programme Spots or Packages
You can buy individual spots in particular shows, or, you can buy Packages or both (!).
Most Radio airtime is sold as a ‘Package’ (number of spots at one price and usually in groups of 14, 21, 28 and 35 spot packages).
Primarily there are two types. Prime Time Packages which feature prime broadcast times normally 7am-7pm and are consequently more expensive than Total Audience Packages (TAP) which have a wider broadcast time spread, normally 7am-midnight.
But you can bolster a package by selecting key high-profile spots in key shows notably on RTE Radio One for example. Always good if you need to advise an internal/trade audience to listen in to the start of the campaign by having a guaranteed fixed spot/s.
Value
Generally TAP (Total Audience Packages) offer better value but you can buy it all in the radio section on the homepage.
Our low prices are guaranteed as shown for bookings up to 12 months, so book now ahead at these prices because they will increase but we’ll always try to do even better for you and secure some extra bonus airtime where we can, after booking.
The JNLR (Radio Research)
Click on these links for a detailed analysis station-by-station Nationally, Dublin and Cork. These are the latest….Irish Audio 2024 Report will be produced in 2025.
23-092916-JNLR-Sales House Report 2024-4 (Final)
UM JNLR detailed Q1 2023 vs Q1 2024
The Irish Audio Report 2023
Airtime availability
Although less of an issue as such, there may be some issues around the availability of the particular spots you’re looking for, particularly at peak times or for specific programmes that can sell out.
Radio has really bounced back and we sell more Radio on this platform than any other media. But we’ll advise you if there is availability issues.
Sending us your commercial
Easiest just to upload them to the platform in your own private dashboard for free! You can then track and store you commercials.
Or, send them by email or WeTransfer to us (MP3 format best).
You may find our Create Advertising and Copy Clearance pages useful too.