Continuous decrease in radio listening for national channels – but increase for NRK in January

In January NRK experienced growth in both daily and weekly listeners and in listening time. Daily listeners increased from 37,4 percentage in December 2017 to 38,9 percentage in January 2018, while weekly listeners increased from 60,3 to 61,0 percentage. Listening time increased from 45 to 49 minutes.

–  NRK has had the largest decrease in radio listening throughout 2017. We believe that the main reason behind this is that NRK switched off their FM broadcasts prior to the commercial channels in several switch-off regions. When the digital switchover now is completed, it appears as if NRK is regaining some of the listeners they lost during the switchover, says Mari Velsand, director of the Norwegian Media Authority.

Still a decrease for the national channels

Bauer Media experienced minor adjustments during the last month, while P4’s listening figures decreased. For P4 daily listeners decreased from 26,1 percentage in December 2017 to 20,6 percentage in January 2018.

–This decline is probably related to the FM switch-off for commercial channels in the Oslo region and in the counties of Troms and Finmark in December, says Mari Velsand.

In total the decrease in radio listening for national channels continues. Eleven listening minutes are lost since January 2017. During the past month, the drop in listening time was three minutes, from 74 to 71 minutes. Daily listeners on national channels has been reduced with 10,9 percentage points from January 2017 to January 2018. Weekly listening is more stable, with a 1,8 percentage points decrease during the same period.

We don’t listen to radio as often as we did before

– When there is a larger decrease in daily listeners than weekly listeners, people don’t listen to radio as often as they used to. A probable cause is that some people haven’t replaced all the FM-radios they used before. It will take some time for the radio listening to stabilize and we can see the real effect  of the digital switchover, says Velsand.

The traditional channels increased their daily listener share from 42,1 to 43,6 percentage last month compared to the niche channels from NRK, P4 and Bauer Media.

The listening figures The Norwegian Media Authority presents this week are produced by Kantar TNS. Quarterly listening figures for local radios were published by The Norwegian Media Authority in January. 

Main Points in the PPM Survey for January 2018 (pp. = percentage points)

Daily listeners to national channels decreases by 10,9 pp from January 2017 to January 2018. The last month, from December 2017 to January  2018, daily listeners decreased from 59,4 to 56,9 percent, which constitutes 2,5 pp. Weekly listeners to national channels decreased by 1,8 pp from January 2017 to January 2018. The last month, from December 2017 to January  2018, weekly listeners decreased from 85,1 to 81,4 percent, which constitutes 3,7 pp. From December to January NRK experienced a listener growth, Bauer Media had fairly stable figures (except weekly listeners) while P4 experienced a decrease in listeners. Listening time on national channels decreased from 82 minutes in January 2017 to 71 minutes in January 2018. From December to January the decrease was three minutes, from 74 minutes to 71 minutes.

Overview of listening figures from NMA - January 2018

Overview weekly radio coverage from Kantar Media (excel)

Overview of listening figures from NMA - 4th quarter 2017

Pressrelease 1/2017: Decline in Radio Listening Figures after the Digital Switchover

Pressrelease 2/2017: Stable Radio Listening Figures since September

Pressrelease 3/2017: Significant Change in Radio Listening Habits after Digital Switchover

Pressrelease 4/2017: Local Radio Listening Up by 20 Percent