Only in Ticino does the number of radio listeners remain constant according to the latest Radiocontrol surveysBy Markus Knöpfli Whether SRG radio stations, private stations or foreign radio programs: Since the introduction of the Radiocontrol measurement system, radio has become less and less popular in Switzerland. In the first half of 2002, too, fewer people tuned in to the radio in all parts of the country. Overall, private radio stations lost more listeners than SRG stations.
The picture is the same in all parts of the country: radio consumption is falling, but most sharply in French-speaking Switzerland. In the first half of this year alone, radio stations there lost 2.4% of their net reach. Since the introduction of Radiocontrol, the radio audience in French-speaking Switzerland has thus decreased by a total of 3.3%. In German-speaking Switzerland, it fell by 2.1% in the same period, and by 1.1% in Ticino.
All radio groups are affected by the decline, with Swiss private radio stations and foreign stations suffering greater losses than SRG radio stations. Looking at the individual stations, however, it is particularly noticeable that the second SRG station chain in German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland is one of the main losers with minus 37.9% and minus 21.3% respectively, even though it was able to increase its listening time.
Only a few stations were able to improve their audience figures
However, the private radio stations also suffered massive losses: ten of the 31 reported private radio stations in German-speaking Switzerland lost between 10% and 24% of their listeners compared to the end of 2001 (including the two major Zurich radio stations), while five of 16 stations in French-speaking Switzerland reported similar losses. In Zurich, the gap in reach between Radio 24 and Hitradio Z has narrowed further, but in terms of listening time, Z is clearly the number two in its broadcasting area.
The losses are also having an impact on the pools. In terms of image, the current figures are particularly embarrassing for the new One pool, which was still advertising with the slogan "Your direct route to over 1 million radio listeners" at the beginning of July. In fact, it has now started with a "mere" 98,44,400 listeners.
The stations that were able to improve their reach can almost be counted on one hand: RSR 3, for example, was the only SRG station to increase both its reach and market share. Among the private radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland, only NRJ, One FM and RTN were able to improve slightly compared to the first half of 2001.
The situation is more dramatic in German-speaking Switzerland: There, only the cable channel Eviva is showing a gentle but reasonably steady upward trend.
Many radio directors frown at the figures
Although ExtraBern seems to have recovered somewhat after the dip in the second half of 2001 (thanks to a relaunch?), it still has almost 7000 fewer listeners than a year ago. This and a significant loss at BE1 (minus 9000 listeners since the end of 2001) mean that the Bernese now have two stations of almost equal strength,
with BE1 still being listened to slightly longer. This and three other stations (Basilisk, L, Tropic) are in a worse position than at the end of 2001, but still better than a year ago.
Eastern Switzerland comes off surprisingly well, as there are only big losers and no winners (the exception is Toxic FM, which has 27,000 listeners straight away). The fact that Aktuell lost 22.2% of its listeners despite its relaunch in March can still be explained by the newcomer Toxic FM and last year's launch of Top in St.Gallen. However, the people responsible for the other stations are rubbing their eyes. Doubts about Radiocontrol are expressed here and there. Ri Managing Director Max Müller, for example, says he is "struggling to swallow these figures". He doesn't understand why his radio is showing a greater decline in listeners than the St.Gallen station after the decoupling from Aktuell in February, although Ri has not relaunched and has not received any new competition, on the contrary: at the end of last year it was even able to increase its technical reach (Walensee).
Steinmann speaks of "statistical phenomena"
But there are also questions elsewhere, as Martin Muerner, who sits on the PublicaData user commission as a representative of the Swiss Private Radio Association, confirms. He cites sudden daily or weekly outliers, sometimes by several 10,000 listeners, or uncertainties about the listener narrative when one station takes over parts of another's program at the same time, as the industry's most pressing problems with Radiocontrol at the moment. Muerner will soon be raising these problems in the Usercommission. However, he does not fundamentally doubt Radiocontrol itself, if anything, then rather the experience of the many number interpreters.
Matthias Steinmann, Head of the SRG Research Service, takes a similar view. Radiocontrol is constantly monitored and improved, he says. However, fluctuations are inherent in electronic measurements and require interpretation. He is therefore convinced that many of the current question marks will one day turn out to be "statistical phenomena" that will disappear over time.
RADIOS GERMAN SWITZERLAND
(2nd semester 2001 + 1st semester 2002) Net reach in 1000 listeners and market share in % in German-speaking Switzerland, 24 h, persons 15+
2nd half-year 2001 1st half-year 2002
NR-T MA-% NR-T MA-%
Total radio 3955.5 100 3883.8 100
Radio groups
Total SRG 2910.7 62.9 2879.4 62.8
Private CH 2506.9 27.8 2296.8 27.9
Abroad 1899.6 9.3 1765.2 9.3
SRG
Total DRS 2720.5 59.2 2669.6 59.0
DRS 1 2007.5 40.6 1951.2 40.9
DRS 2 611.6 4.5 379.7 4.2
DRS 3 923.9 10.9 876.3 10.6
MW 531 409.3 3.0 292.2 3.2
Virus 32.6 0.1 28.1 0.1
Pools
Pool 2000** 701.8 7.9
City Pool 359.9 3.6 346.5 3.9
One Pool 984.4 11.7
Powerpool 386.6 4.7
Tourism Pool 356.6 4.1
1 Radio 24 294.8 3.1 261.0 3.1
2 Hitradio Z 250.9 2.9 221.4 2.6
3 Radio Top 209.4 1.6 178.2 1.5
4 Argovia 176.0 1.9 172.9 1.9
5 Zürisee 165.5 1.6 158.2 1.6
6 Grischa/Piz 157.8 1.4 156.1 1.4
7 Pilatus 148.9 1.7 140.7 1.8
8 Radio 32 146.5 1.8 133.0 1.6
9 Basilisk 137.0 1.4 128.8 1.5
10 Sunshine 119.7 1.0 116.2 1.2
11 Central 112.8 1.2 107.9 1.3
12 Eviva 95.0 0.9 96.2 1.1
13 BE1 90.2 0.9 81.0 0.9
14 (17) Extra BE 78.3 0.6 80.5 0.7
15 (14) Rainbow (D) 87.2 0.6 78.4 0.6
16 (18) BeO 75.7 0.9 72.3 0.8
17 (21) Radio 7 (D) 71.6 0.5 70.8 0.5
18 (19) Rottu 75.1 0.7 68.6 0.7
19 (16) Current 81.5 0.7 63.4 0.6
20 Edelweiss 74.9 0.6 69.4 0.5
21 (15) Canal 3 (net) 82.0 0.5 66.1 0.4
22 (24) Freiburg (net) 55.4 0.2 59.7 0.2
23 Radio 105 66.5 0.5 58.5 0.5
24 (22) Ri 71.0 0.3 54.1 0.4
25 Emme 52.0 0.3 48.1 0.3
26 Radio L (FL) 39.0 0.2 34.9 0.2
27 Radio Tropic 32.2 0.1 30.5 0.1
28 Antenne Vorarlberg* 28.9 0.1
29 Toxic FM* 27.0 0.1
30 32 Goldies* 26.6 0.1
31 Top Two* 11.9 0.0
In brackets: Position in 2nd semester 01. Radio Munot is missing. Because the station takes over programming from SR DRS, no figures for this radio station can yet be published outside the Munot reception area for methodological reasons.
* collected for the first time
** in the composition since 1.7.02, without Plus variant Source Publica Data
Loss ranking list
Radio loss in %
German-speaking Switzerland
DRS 2 -37.9
MW 531 -28.6
Ri -23.8
Current -22.2
Canal 3 (net) -19.4
Top -14.9
Virus - 13.8
Radio 105 -12.0
Hitradio Z -11.8
Radio 24 -11.5
Radio L (FL) -10.5
BE1 -10.2
Rainbow -10.1
Western SwitzerlandWRG -24.7
RSR 2 -21.3
Option Musique -14.5
Framboise -14.0
Nostalgia -13.6
Fréquence Jura -10.5
Lac -10.3
*Change from H2 01 to H1 02
Radios Romandie
(2nd semester 2001 + 1st semester 2002)
Net reach in 1000 listeners and market share in % in French-speaking Switzerland, 24 h, persons 15+
2nd half-year 2001 1st half-year 2002
NR-T MA-% NR-T MA-%
Total radio 1276.2 100 1245.1 100
Radio groups
Total RSR 906.6 60.2 889.1 61.7
Private CH 771.5 23.7 706.6 23.0
Abroad 680.6 16.1 649.8 15.3
SRG SSR
Total RSR 792.6 53.0 771.7 54.9
RSR 1 578.0 35.8 543.0 36.9
RSR 2 127.0 3.8 99.9 4.0
RSR 3 139.7 4.9 149.6 5.3
Option Musique 230.3 8.5 196.9 8.6
Pools
Top French-speaking Switzerland 270.4 8.9
Top French-speaking Switzerland I 377.4 14.6 363.1 14.1
Geneva pool 207.4 6.4
Vaud-Pool 231.9 7.3
Jura-Plateau-Alpes 329.6 12.0 301.4 11.3
LausanneFM/OneFM 159.1 5.3
1 Nostalgia (F) 120.0 3.9 103.7 3.1
2 (3) Lausanne FM 85.7 2.6 90.2 2.9
3 (2) Framboise 92.9 2.8 79.9 2.5
4 (6) NRJ (F) 67.3 1.5 73.9 1.8
5 One FM 67.8 2.3 72.2 2.4
6 (9) RTN*** 62.8 1.7 63.4 2.1
7 (4) Rhône 68.5 2.5 63.2 2.4
8 (7) Lac 63.4 1.6 56.9 1.5
9 (8) Fréquence Jura 62.9 2.7 56.3 2.2
10 Fribourg (net) 57.5 1.6 56.0 1.6
11 Jura Bernois 56.2 1.7 52.4 1.8
12 Chablais 50.5 1.7 47.0 1.8
13 Europe 2 (F) 43.1 0.9 44.6 0.9
14 Thollon 31.3 0.5 28.3 0.4
15 Canal 3 (net) 25.6 0.4 23.7 0.4
16 WRG FM 21.9 0.3 16.5 0.3
In brackets: Position in 2nd semester 01
***Measurement only from 21.3. - 30.6.02 (due to interference transmitter)
Source Publica Data
Radios Ticino
(2nd semester 2001 + 1st semester 2002) Net reach in 1000 listeners and market share in % in Ticino, 24 h, persons 15+
2nd half-year 2001 1st half-year 2002
NR-T MA-% NR-T MA-%
Total radio 245.0 100 244.2 100
Radio groups
Total SSR 203.7 79.7 202.5 79.4
Private CH 86.9 6.4 82.1 6.2
Abroad 133.0 14.0 129.8 14.4
SRG SSR
Total RSI 181.4 68.3 180.7 67.6
RSI 1 149.7 51.6 148.6 51.0
RSI 2 29.6 6.9 28.7 7.3
RSI 3 50.8 9.5 49.2 9.3
Pools
Ticino 15.3 9.0
Ticino Svizzero 7.8 4.0
1 Fiume Ticino* 17.3 2.5
2 3iii* 14.5 2.1 3 Studio Star* 5.5 0.6
*first surveyed Source Publica Data