This is the verdict of the radio re-entry.
Médiamétrie publishes this Thursday morning, the radio audiences for the period from September to October 2021. On the one hand, France Inter had hardly touched its grid.
On the other hand, Europe 1 had completely upset him for the fifth consecutive return.
In the middle, RTL had held a crest line with many adjustments but in continuity.
As a result, France Inter retains its leadership position both in cumulative audience (which measures the power of the station) with 11.9% and in audience share (which measures the loyalty of listeners) with 12.6%. However, this cumulative audience shows a drop of 0.6 point, or 328,000 listeners less than a year ago.
"But last year, France Inter had signed an extremely high audience
" underlines Laurence Bloch, the director of the station. The latter is delighted that Nicolas Demorand's morning show posted its historic record with 17.2% audience share.
RTL, well ahead at the end of last season, succeeded in reducing its gap with France Inter with 10.7% cumulative audience and 12.3% audience share.
“All the new products
aired
in September worked very well,”
explains Régie Ravanas, general manager of the audio activity of the M6 group.
Europe 1 clears the room
However, the penalty is very heavy for Europe 1. The departure of Nicolas Canteloup, that of many other voices from the station including Julie and Matthieu Belliard, and the arrival of a new team from CNews including Dimitri Pavlenko in the morning have "emptied the room" as the saying goes.
Europe 1 now only displays a cumulative audience of 4.4% and an audience share at the lowest 3.7%.
"
We finally have time to rebuild listening habits"
pleads Constance Benqué, president of Lagardère News.
The RMC station cannot take off again despite a new grid made more readable and despite the success of the After Foot.
Its cumulative audience reached a low of 5.6%, against 6.1% a year ago.
If the generalist radios continue to look gloomy, the specialized stations are in good shape. Franceinfo with 9% of cumulative audience gains 93,000 listeners. “
Franceinfo has had its best comeback in 16 years! We are consolidating our position as the 3rd radio station in France and are making progress on all indicators. The morning show worn by Marc Fauvelle has recorded its best audience for 9 years,
”explains Jean-Philippe Baille, director of franceinfo
.
France Culture, despite strikes and changes of host, remains at its highest at 2.9% of cumulative audience. France Bleu gained 0.4 point in audience share to 6.4%, which marks the loyalty of listeners.
"
In total, the Radio France group with the diversity of its branches and the seriousness of its information brings together 15.2 million listeners every day, which is a response to attacks against the public service"
explains Dana Hastier, director of antennas and of the group's editorial strategy.
Shy feedback from listeners
Beyond audience variations, all radio bosses were anxiously scrutinizing the return of the French to radio after a season marked by confinements and curfews.
The Covid crisis had driven 3 million listeners away from their radios.
At the end of June 2021, there were only 39 million French people to listen to the radio against 42.3 million at the end of 2019. Relieved, the bosses discovered that their media gathered 40.6 million listeners every day between September and October 2021. It's better, but we will still have to win back many pairs of ears.