French National Radio Audience Softens

The front tires on this

Citroen are doing all the work. Youth channels Skyrock and NRJ – always on the drivers-side in France – gained market share: so much for the whinging about young people deserting radio for the internet. NRJ kept its’ 4th place showing with 7.3% market share, gaining year on year and quarter to quarter. Skyrock jumped to 7th place from 9th in the November-December survey with 4.7% market share.

New tires, properly inflated, always perform well. RMC and Fun Radio are known brands, recently upgraded. RMC is a relative newcomer, less than five years old in its present configuration, and beneficiary of re-branding from RMC Info. It posted the biggest market share gains year on year of any channel to 4.1% (8th position) from 3.3%. Fun Radio – also a youth market channel - has completely reversed its’ fortunes with morning show host Cauet advancing 19% between 0600-1000 Monday through Friday.

None of the top four channels – NRJ included – changed market position. RTL remains in 1st position, dropping to 10.8% market share from 11.5% one year on. France Inter – still number 2 – fell to 8.6% from 9.0% year on year. Europe 1 – briefly number 2 in the April/May 2005 survey – is still number 3, gaining market share slightly to 7.9% from 7.7%. The top three leaky tire channels are general interest programs emphasizing news and talk programs.

ftm background

New and Local Stations Slam Networks in Paris Radio Survey
Distinct from the total of France is Paris and surrounding areas, the Ile-de-France. It is both broadly urban and, well, Paris. The Mediametrie 126,000 September to December regional survey released a week after the national results shows more about smaller. VOILA!

Nasty Trends for French National Radio
Médiamétrie results for November-December show general interest radio down, music channels down, youth channels down. Blame TV. Blame the internet. Voila!

No Spring Flowers for Radio France
Spring quarter Médiamétrie audience figures for French national radio channels showed listener losses for the biggest Radio France channels

Big Stations, Well-known Brands Suffer Losses in Médiamétrie National Radio Survey
The top three French national channels hold their market positions, Fun Radio recovers, Europe 2 doesn’t, RMC Info and Les Independants move ahead.

Observatoire de la Radio: Intensité et attachement
IP France offers an extraordinary look at French national radio channels content and the listeners.

The other rear tire leaking badly is the “mature” channel segment. France Bleu – 6th place – dropped to 5.5% market share from 5.9% one year on. Nostalgie – 5th place – dropped to 5.6% from 5.7%.

All metaphors break-down eventually, like that old Citroen. Adult contemporary channel RFM gained, as did information-rich France Info. Stretching it just a bit, there’s a spare tire in this story, hidden in the boot. Les Independantes, a mix of 112 local stations, has an aggregated market share of 10.5%.

Local stations’ strength becomes far more apparent when looking at the results for Ile de France, that densely populated part of France that includes Paris. Local radio stations have a combined 21.1% market share, though no one station breaks into the top ten.

The Ile de France results for January-March seem to mirror the national survey for the same period. General interest stations, except RMC, are lower, including RTL. Skyrock moved from 5th to 4th position with a 6.3% market share. France Info placed 5th in market share and overall number 1 in daily reach, 13.4%, dislodging RTL for the top spot in reach.

The Médiamétrie 126,000 French radio survey was conducted between January 2 and April 2 2006.

French National Radio Audience Softens

Think of the French national radio market as an automobile. Each quarter Médiamétrie measures the amount of air in the tires. Those rear tires, on which the power-train puts most pressure, are slowly going flat.