Irish Radio is Enjoying its Highest Audience Ever.

The JNLR/Ipsos report, released today 6th February 2025, covering the period January to December 2024 shows that Radio is enjoying record levels of listenership with 3.9 million people now listening to radio every week, growing by 105,000 listeners compared to the same 12 month period previously (Jan-Dec ’23). The average weekday audience listening at any time between 7am to 7pm is now at 1,095,000, the highest recorded average audience ever. This clearly shows that despite competition from so much media,  Irish people have a deep passion for live radio and listen in increasing numbers across broadcast and online platforms.

Other key results from the latest JNLR/Ipsos survey are:

• 90% of all adults and 85% of 15–34-year-olds listen to radio every week.
• The daily listenership levels are also hugely impressive with the daily weekday audience now at 3.47 million, growing by 72,000 listeners.
• 69% of 15-34 year olds listen to radio each weekday, while daily weekday listening levels for the hard to reach 15-24 year old cohort is also very impressive with 65% listening each weekday.
•  Listening levels to local and regional radio continues to be very strong with over 2.2 million adults listening to their local or regional station every single weekday.
• The Irish Audio Report which was published in November last year and measures all forms of audio listening, revealed there is universal listening to audio content with 97% of adults listening every week. Live radio dominates audio listening with a 76% share of total audio listening followed by music streaming with a 12% share while YouTube Music has a 6% share and podcasts a 3% share of audio listening.
• In terms of how people listen, 12% of all radio listening is now through a connected device with 7% of all listening through a smart speaker while listening via a mobile device is at 3%.
• For the younger 15 to 34 age cohort, 22% of all their radio listening is now through a connected device with a smart speaker accounting for 8% of all 15-34 listening, while listening through a mobile device also accounts for 8% of all radio listening for this audience.

Stations across the country are celebrating increases in audiences with Beat 102-103 in Waterford gaining another 14,000 weekly listeners, while Radio Kerry reports that 89,000 people are tuning in to them every week, while at National level, Today FM has 953,000 weekly listeners.  Bauer Media Audio Ireland is reporting that it is the largest radio group in Ireland across all key audience measurements with Today FM maintaining its position as No.1 commercial station in Ireland and Newstalk has a robust market share of 8.4% with the Pat Kenny Show retaining its dominance as the most popular show on commercial radio.  The youth radio stations in the Bauer portfolio reported increases in listeners with the popularity of the 98FM Breakfast with Rebecca and Brendan continuing to grow, Spin Hits with Steve K on Spin 103.8 increased its audience by 3,000, Red FM remains the 'must listen to' station in Cork, with Spin South West continuing to grow its audience.  The most recent acquisitions by the Bauer group, iRadio and Beat had very strong results, with Beat reporting a market share of 16.5% and iRadio showing a market share of 8.3%.

Local radio continues to perform strongly in the local radio markets across the country,  with 35.6% of adults in the country tuning into their local station every day. On the criterion of share of minutes listened during prime 7am to 7pm, local radio has a total share nationally of 37.4% while particular stations - Highland Radio, Radio Kerry, Northern Sound Radio and Mid-West Radio hold the majority share position (50%+) in their respective franchise areas.

Ciaran Cunningham CEO Radiocentre Ireland said:

“It is fantastic to see record audience numbers listening to Irish radio. Today’s figures are a great reminder that Irish radio is such a central part of people’s lives, with brilliant content being consumed by millions of listeners every single day. Radio is where we hear our favourite songs first, laugh with our favourite presenters, and stay connected with what are the important stories of the day. It’s an exciting time for brands to harness the power of radio and speak to millions of listeners across broadcast and online platforms”.

Source : Radiocentre Ireland,

Source: JNLR/Ipsos 2024-4 (January to December 2024), JNLR/Ipsos 2024-2 Audio Module (Apr’24 – Jun ’24 3 month data)