Wireless Ireland continues to add new listeners as latest results show growth across its network of urban stations.
The latest JNLR audience figures show that an average of 3.809m adults tuned into
Irish radio stations weekly across the period of April 2023 to March 2024. That
equates to 91% of the 15+ population and the research also shows that the average
listener is listening for over 4 hours daily, highlighting the importance of radio in this
market.
In Dublin, Wireless Ireland’s Q102 grew weekly reach by a massive 26% year on
year to 184,000 listeners, while FM104 also increased to 258,000 listeners. While
the Q102 figure only includes 3 months for the new Ryan Tubridy Show, it is pleasing
to see that it and the other shows across the schedule are delivering new listeners
and playing a strong part in its growth story. The combined weekly reach in Dublin
now stands at 360,000 or 30% of Dublin adults. Wireless Ireland stations in Cork
also saw year on year growth, with Cork’s 96fm growing to 169,000 and C103 to
128,000, an impressive 19,000 higher than the same period last year. Combined the
stations reach 50.6% of the population on a weekly basis.
In Limerick 91,000 people tuned into Live 95fm on a weekly basis, equating to 52.7%
of the population, while 110,000 people tuned into LMFM, capturing 38.9% of the
available audience.
urbanmedia, the Wireless Ireland owned sales house, also delivered year on year
growth and now reaches 980,000 people weekly, helped by partner stations Galway
Bay FM delivering 117,000 and WLR 61,000 in weekly reach.
Today also saw the release of RAJAR listenership figures which cover listenership of
UK radio stations. The report showed that U105 now delivers 223,000 listeners on a
weekly basis, on FM across greater Belfast and DAB across all of Northern Ireland.
Commenting on the results, Sean Barry, Managing Director of Wireless Ireland said
“The continued growth in our audience numbers is testament to the work being done
by our programming teams across the island. We continue to invest in the best talent
and it’s great to see our audiences reacting positively to the changes that we have
made. A strong JNLR number backs up what we’re seeing in our digital audiences
and we look forward to even more growth in the future”
ENDS
Wireless Ireland assets in Ireland include Dublin’s FM104 and Q102, Cork’s 96fm
and C103, Live 95 in Limerick, LMFM and U105 in Belfast. Its sales house urban
media also represents Galway Bay FM and WLR and is the home of the Urban
Access national package.
Wireless Ireland is part of News UK & Ireland which also includes News
Broadcasting, home of talkSPORT, talkSPORT2, Talk, Times Radio and Virgin Radio
in the UK and News Ireland, publisher of award-winning titles The Sunday Times,
TheSundayTimes.ie, The Irish Sun and TheSun.ie, as well as HarperCollins.
Sources –
JNLR/Ipsos 2024-1 (Apr ‘23 to Mar ’24 – published 15th May 2024)
RAJAR/ IPSOS MORI/ RSMB – Q1 2024 (published 15th May 2024)
For further information please contact Brian McCarthy on [email protected]
