Audience Gains For Almost Everyone

Michael Hedges March 15, 2010 Follow on Twitter

Casual observers may gloss over the fine detail of media surveys. The hard core – statistical anoraks – bite hard on every change and nuance. With all audience surveys, the devil, as they say, is in the details.

German broadcasters, advertisers and more casual observers have been offered up the semi-annual Media-Analyse radio audience survey, ma Radio 2010 I (March 10). In it are, for public consumption at least, the results of a significant methods change. For this survey all German speaking foreigners have been included in the sample. The result is 3.2 million more radio listeners, roughly 6% more.

In 2008 the MA radio survey sample was changed to include 10 to 13 years olds and foreigners living in Germany but only those from European Union (EU) Member States. That meant no Swiss, Norwegians, Americans nor Turks participating. Most observers found the exclusion a bit odd as media buyers, the key to survey acceptance, appreciate all consumers.

The expanded sample frame produced, understandably, happy results for most broadcasters. The ratings are up, gross reach and times spent listening. Everyone’s a winner, except for the dozen or so losers. And even those broadcasters on the decline side of trend can say this survey can’t be compared to last years’ survey of the same period or, even, any other. Trend watchers will need to wait another year.

Time spend listening shot up by five minutes per day on average, compared with the previous survey, to 244 minutes. Young people age 10 to 19 years increased listening time by 18 minutes, compared to like seasons one year earlier (ma Radio 2009 I). The same set of young people are listening to Web radio –internet only listening - 159 minutes compared to 135 minutes for all platforms.

So, the MA Radio 2010 I radio survey brings widespread rejoicing. The biggest winners, owing to foreigners included, are found in the most urbanized parts of Germany. Too, private sector broadcasters increased daily reach a point to 43.9%. Public radio channels have a 51.7% reach share. Market share comparisons with previous surveys are statistically impossible – certainly not recommended – so it’s the daily reach increases that jump off the page.

Top rated across the whole of Germany is, again, the network of local stations Radio NRW serving Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany’s most populous State. Reach growth for Radio NRW, was a modest 6%.

In second position, again, is Bavaria’s Antenne Bayern. Certain German radio purists consider it the true number one because it is a single channel. It’s gains, in terms of absolute listener reach, were the biggest in the survey among private sector stations, 147,000 listeners, roughly 13% increase. Stations in Bavaria and in its capital Munich showed big gains. Bavaria public broadcaster Bayerischen Rundfunks (BR) general interest channel Bayern 1 placed 3rd nationally in daily reach and pop music channel Bayern 3 placed 8th.

Fourth place nationally went to SWR 3, the pop music channel of public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR). The two Baden-Württemberg radio channels, SWR 4 BW (schlager music) and SWR BW 1 (pop oldies), ranked 10th and 14th, respectively. 

Three radio channels from Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Germany’s biggest public broadcaster, placed in the top ten nationally by daily reach. General interest channelWDR 2 placed 6th, pop music channel EinsLive placed 7th and WDR 4, German ‘evergreens’ and Schlager, placed 8th. WDR 4 was distinguished in the new radio survey by having the biggest absolute listener (gross reach) loss over the previous period. That said, it dropped only 1.2%. EinsLive was also distinguished by having the greatest reach increase, 20.6%. 

NDR 2, an adult/contemporary music channel from Hamburg-based public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, placed 9th in the national rankings. (See top 20 by national daily reach ranking here)

Pop music station Hit Radio FFH placed 11th nationally in daily reach (Monday-Friday 0600-1800). For 15 years the station has led all radio broadcasters in Hesse Länder (Frankfurt). Its competition is pop music public channel hr3 (Hessischer Rundfunk), ranked 16th nationally. Compared to the previous ma Radio 2009 II, new sample frame understood, FFH gained about 12% while hr3 gained only 1.2%. “Sometimes you have to be smarter and shrewder than the others,” said FFH Group director Hans-Dieter Hillmoth to Frankfurter Neue Presse (March 11), “then you win the listeners.”

Among the 25 radio channels in the Berlin city break-out only one, public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg’s (RBB) RadioBerlin 88.8 lost audience. RadioBerlin 88.8 is a Berlin-centric, mostly news and information channel. Among the rest, several others were among the survey’s biggest gainers, suggesting benefit from the new sample structure. 

Radio Hamburg broke free of its tie in the previous survey period with public channel NDR 90.3 for the Hamburg city break-out, though the reach share fell a touch. Time spent listening in Hamburg rose to 175 minutes, 5 minutes more than in the previous survey.

Several, heretofore smaller, local stations showed rather astounding gross reach increases compared with the previous survey. Stuttgart-based Die neue 107.7 had the biggest increase, 74.5%. It was followed by Berlin station Jam FM, increasing 69.2%. Harmony.fm, part of the FFH Group (Frankfurt) gained 65.2%. Spreeradio (Berlin) gained 64.8%. Last years’ big gainer, Frankfurt’s Radio BOB increased listeners by 9.8%.

Organizing data collection with six research institutes, ag.ma oversees radio audience research for public and private sector broadcasters, generally supporting the major radio ad sales-houses. In turn, Länder-based associations crunch the numbers for regional distribution. The German radio survey is Europe’s largest, interviewing semi-annually over 65,000 people.

See also in ftmKnowledge

Media in Germany

Europe's biggest and richest media market is home to some of the world's largest media companys. It was the first to switch completely from analogue to digital TV while digital radio languishes. Between tight competition and economic anxiety Germany's media shows great stamina. includes Resources 92 pages PDF (July 2009)

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