The latest round of Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures, released on Wednesday 24th October, confirm WLR's reach and market share are continuing to grow in Waterford, particularly in the 20-44 age group. Over 70,000 people, more than 71% of all adults (15years+) in Waterford, listen to WLR every week (up 8,000 people on the same period last year), with 50% of all adults (15+years) in Waterford listening to WLR every day for an average of 4 hours daily (up an incredible 11,000 people on the same period last year).
Saturdays and Sundays have also seen exciting growth, with Sundays recording particularly strong growth across the day. The broad offering of music, magazine content, specialist shows and plenty of sport proves to be just what the Waterford audience wants to hear across the weekend.
All weekday shows recorded significant growth again year on year, with The Big Breakfast Blaa recording their best results since Mary O'Neill and Ollie Carroll took the reigns in October 2015.
WLR's mid-morning show, Déise Today has also recorded increases since this time last year. Geoff Harris has secured the highest figures ever recorded on a lunch time slot on WLR, while Teresanne O'Reilly increased The Drive Home listenership to its highest figures in over 10 years!
Significant increases were also recorded by the 6-7pm specialist programmes which included sport, arts, business and farming.
Ray C, who presents WLR's evening show, The Shift and John O'Shea who mans The Late Show also saw year on year increases.
Weekly Reach – up from 63% to 71% UP 8%
Daily Reach – up from 39% to 50% UP 11%
Saturday Reach – up from 33% to 36% UP 3%
Sunday Reach – 32% to 41% UP 9%
These latest figures also show that Irish radio stations continue to be the number 1 choice for Irish audiences with a combined strength of 85.5% share of the audio market in Ireland. This compares with 8.1% own music, 4.9% Spotify and 1.6% Podcast.
With a sample size of more than 16,000 people, the JNLR is the most robust research conducted in Ireland and the results cannot be disputed with the latest JNLR figures released today confirming the popularity of radio in Ireland with 82% of the population tuning in every day. This translates into weekday figures of 3.1 million listeners.
Speaking about the latest results, WLR Managing Director, Des Whelan, said, "I'm delighted with the latest set of listenership figures, which sees WLR grow its audiences for the sixth book in a row. Considering the competition and the choice available to listeners, to achieve a weekly listenership of 71% is probably WLR's outstanding achievement in its 40 year history.
In these times when traditional media is fighting for its very survival, delivering our best audience figures in ten years is a reflection of the quality of the programmes, talented broadcasters and people working in WLR. WLR's broadcasters are of national standard, which, combined with a passion for all things Waterford, gives us a mix that’s very attractive to listeners in this area.
I’m very proud of the team we have in WLR. Everyone’s commitment is excellent and in turn has given this area a standard of local broadcasting that’s the most professional in Ireland."
WLR's Programme Director, Michael Byrne, said, "2018 has been a great year for WLR. Our increases in ratings across the four JNLR books this year have been consistently strong. The team is working very hard everyday to deliver a vibrant, local and professional radio service to the people of Waterford. WLR listeners tune into us for over 4 hours on average each day. We appreciate their loyal listening time and thank the businesses of Waterford for the continued support."
