EGM: Main generalist radio stations fall in audience in election period
Between April and June, a period marked by electoral news, thousands of Spaniards switched off the radio, according to the second wave of the year’s General Media Study (EGM) published today.
General radio lost, specifically, 250,000 listeners compared to the previous wave (2% less), due to a drop in the audience of the main channels and their ‘star’ programmes.
SER closed this wave with 87,000 fewer listeners (-2.1%), to the point of endangering its 4 million listeners barrier. PRISA’s radio station maintained its leadership in the network and in most of its main programmes.
Today, with Ángeles Barceló, it leads the ranking with 2,835,000 listeners, although it has lost 110,000 (-3.7%). Carles Francino’s La Ventana, also leader in this slot, lost 14,000 listeners (-1.4%) and Aimar Bretos regained the lead with Hora 25 -which he lost in the previous wave to Ángel Expósito on COPE-, despite losing 43,000 listeners (-4.1%).
The ‘star programmes’ of the main generalist channels are losing listeners.
Of La SER’s main programmes, the one that has lost the most audience share is Hora 14, just a year after the appointment of Javier Casal as presenter, replacing the long-standing in-house journalist José Antonio Marcos. The midday news programme has lost 7.2% of listeners, and this time slot is dominated by COPE, with more than 200,000 more listeners.
In the traditional weekday night sports battle, the EGM snapshot of this wave shows a victory for Manu Carreño’s El Larguero on La SER with 719,000 listeners, over Juanma Castaño’s El Partidazo on COPE with 674,000.
COPE has 3,380,000 listeners in this wave (-5%). The flagship of the Ábside Media station, Herrera en COPE, also lost audience share, although to a lesser extent than its generalist competitors. Specifically, it registered 2,603,000 listeners (-1.6%). In the afternoon, 420,000 listeners (-1.9%) and Ángel Expósito’s La Linterna, 892,000 listeners (-21.5%).
Like its competitors, Onda Cero also suffered a drop in audience share. In total, 1,822,000 listeners listened to it (-8.8%). This decline was also due to the fall recorded by its main programmes. Más de Uno with Carlos Alsina obtained 1,337,000 listeners (-4.3%), Julia en la Onda, 564,000 listeners (-1.9%) and La Brújula de Rafa Latorre 393,000 listeners (-8.4%).
RNE loses the least market share
The public broadcaster, Radio Nacional de España, maintained its fourth position and the barrier of one million listeners, being the main station that lost the least audience share (-1.3%). Las Mañanas de RNE with Íñigo Alfonso registered 775,000 listeners (-7.7%) and Josep Cuní’s 24 Horas – on the verge of its first anniversary – obtained 256,000 listeners (-13.5%), despite having recorded exponential growth in the first wave of the EGM study.
RNE has good news for its evening programme, Tarde lo que tarde, which improved its audience share by 5.4%, and for its early morning programme, Gente Despierta, which grew by 10.2%, an anomalous increase in that time slot.
