The eagerly awaited JNLR was released last week. Key findings indicate that radio is in good shape with 8 in 10 adults listening every day. RTÉ Radio 1 is the only station to reach over 1 million adults each week (1,400,000), while 2fm has a weekly reach of 700,000 Adults 15+ and lyric fm reaches 282,000. And, while some programmes are down versus the highs of 2020, comparisons to 2019 show a very stable and positive picture.  

Source: JNLR 2021-3 & 2019-3 *2019 – The Marian Finucane Show / Today with Sean O’Rourke 

RADIO MEETS MANY NEEDS AND SUITS MANY OCCASIONS 

We know that people listen to radio for multiple reasons; they want to be informed, they want to be kept company or they simply want to relax. We also know that they listen to radio in multiple situations; while doing the school drop off, while commuting, while cooking dinner or going for a run. 

We’ve been keeping an eye on this since Autumn 2019 and so have a good picture of some of the key changes that have taken place since the pandemic upended normality.   

2020 saw an increase in household chores, DIY, gardening and sporting activities. However these good intentions didn’t last and the latest wave of our audio needs and behaviour research, conducted by Red C in October, has seen a return to 2019 levels for these activities.  

Meanwhile, entertaining, going out and catching up with friends or family has not recovered. This is all the more significant given that the 2021 research was conducted before the more recent restrictions were introduced.   

Changed behaviour also includes a shift in when media is consumed. For example, fewer listeners are tuning into radio in general before 8am but more are listening throughout the morning than were in 2019. 

RTÉ’s UNDERSTANDING AUDIO DASHBOARD UPDATED 

Last year we launched our easy-to-use Understanding Audio dashboard. This allows users to immediately see the prevailing activities, needs-states and media usage among different demographics at different times of the weekday and weekend. Alongside this, sits JNLR information and streaming data for each of our programmes. This dashboard has now been updated with the latest JNLR figures and Red C activity research.    

For those who have already signed up, there’s no need to do anything – when you next access the dashboard it will have refreshed – and for those who would like to be given access, please contact RTÉ Media Sales at mediasales@rte.ie