French Follow Presidential Race on Radio

Michael Hedges April 25, 2007

One conclusion from the just released Médiamétrie radio audience figures is a Presidential election effect. Or, so it seems. Overall listening is up, taking news and information stations higher and music stations lower.
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There is no doubt that interest in the French presidential elections has run very high. Voter turnout for the first round was an astonishing 84.6%, highest in 40 years. All the main candidates have been all over all media for months.

And overall listening to radio January through March jumped to 84%, 1% higher than Q4 2006 and 0.7% higher than Q1 2006. Average overall time spent listening also expanded to 177 minutes. It was a good quarter for radio.

For radio channels branded for news and information it was a great quarter. Perennial number one RTL shot to 12.1% market share from 10.8% one year on. RTL’s gross reach reached 12.5%, the highest in four years. RTL Chairman Axel Duroux noted to La Figaro, “It is a general (interest channel) at the top, contradicting the alarmist remarks of some.” And to Le Monde, “There is of course the presidential effect, but we are on a longer trend."

Public broadcaster France Inter – largely news and information – kept second place, increasing market share to 8.7% from 8.6% one year on. Radio France President Jean-Paul Cluzel said, “the presidential effect is small.” He was certainly thinking about France Info, the public broadcasters all-news channel, which fell to 3.7% market share from 4% year on year. But France Culture had its best showing ever, finally a 1.0% market share.

Europe 1 rose to an 8.1% market share, from 7.9% one year on. And it was a happy increase over the unfortunate 7.5% in Q4 2006. “All indicators are on the rise,” said Europe 1 boss Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, to Le Figaro, also mentioning that he has no intention of stepping down.

RMC keeps gaining audience, moving up to 4.6% market share from 4.1% year on year. NextradioTV President Alain Weill credited interest in the presidential elections. Critics and competitors point out that RMC increased its coverage in the last year.

But it was a bad report for several of biggest music channels. Nostalgie tumbled most, to 5.2% market share from 5.7% one year on. NRJ fell to 7.1% market share from 7.3% and SkyRock drop to 4.4% market share from 4.7% year on year. MFM dropped to a 0.9% share from 1.0%. Rire & Chansons dropped to 1.3% from 1.4% market share.

It wasn’t all bad news on the music side of radio. Fun Radio, on a roll for more than a year, held its 3.4% market share. RFM also held its 3.7% market share.

And there was actually good news for Europe 2, up to 3.0% market share from 2.7% one year on. Cherie FM hit a 4.0% share, up from 3.9%. And RTL2 jumped to 3,1% from 2.8% one year on.

Most French broadcasters cheered the survey results showing a substantial increase in overall radio listening. Said RTL Chairman Duroux, “We see that new media did not cannibalize the old.”

Skyrock President Pierre Bellanger, quoted in Le Monde, summed up: “The radio did not die, thank you¨”

The Q1 Médiamétrie 126,000 French national radio audience survey was conducted between January 1st and April 1st 2007, interviewing 33,034 persons age 13 years and older.

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And Paris Radio Listening Up, Too… April 27, 2007

Médiamétrie released first quarter 2007 radio audience estimates for Paris (Il de France) and the pattern seen with the French national channels is the same. Radio listening is up; 83.9% reach from 83.4% one year on. News and information channels showed big gains, similar to the pattern seen in the French national results released earlier.

RTL again leads in the Paris audience race, increasing its market share to 12.1% from 10.5% in Q1 2006. Europe 1 places second, coming within reach of the top spot with 11.7% market share from 8.7% one year on. France Inter remains in 3rd place with 7.9% market share.

RMC benefited from the news/talk surge moving into 4th place (5.6% market share) from 8th (4.2%) year on year.

Chérie FM posted the strongest gains of the national music channels, placing 5th (4.9%) from 10th (3.6%) one year ago. No other music channels improved market ranking (age 13 plus). Skyrock slipped to 6th place (4.8%) from 4th (6.4%). NRJ increased market share to 4.6% (7th) from 4.4% (6th) one year on.

France Info is the only news and information channel to lose both market share and ranking, dropping to 8th place (4.0%) from 5th (6.0%).  

Nostalgie maintained 9th place, dropping market share to 3.3% from 4.2% one year on.

Tenth place goes to RFM (3.1%), dropping from 7th (4.3%) one year on.