Radio: general audiences in decline, France Inter still dominates and Ici drops out

The results of the Médiamétrie survey for the April-June period were revealed this Tuesday, July 8, without much surprise, except for the confirmed decline in interest in the media as a whole.

Between April and June, 37.6 million people still listened to the media daily, a drop of half a million listeners compared to last year. (Jean-Marc Barrere/Hans Lucas.AFP)

by Adrien Franque and AFP

A season finale that confirms the momentum of the past few months. Médiamétrie unveiled the radio audience results for the April-June period this Tuesday, July 8th, morning. France Inter retains the top spot, Europe 1 continues its rise, the Ici network (formerly France Bleu) is collapsing again... and listeners are increasingly fleeing radio as a whole. There were 37.6 million individuals still listening to the media daily between April and June, a decline of half a million listeners compared to last year. Worrying.

The end of the season was hectic behind the scenes at France Inter with the departure of Léa Salamé , the arrival of Benjamin Duhamel , and the discontent of the teams with the changes decided by the director Adèle Van Reeth. Behind the TV, however, they were always more numerous: 7 million and some over the period, or 150,000 more listeners than a year ago. This gives a cumulative audience of 12.4% (+0.2%), far ahead of that of its competitors.

And in particular the M6 group station, RTL, which has also been very active in the transfer market for presenters in recent weeks, with the recruitment of Marc-Olivier Fogiel , Anne-Sophie Lapix and Augustin Trapenard for the next school year. Over the April-June period, the radio station, now run by Jonathan Curiel (former number 2 at France Inter), gained a handful of listeners, 50,000, and reached 5.1 million loyal listeners for 9% of the cumulative audience. This stagnation has taken place after several years of seeing its audience tirelessly erode.

Nearly 200,000 more listeners gained in three months: Europe 1 ends its season with 2.5 million loyal listeners and a 4.5% cumulative audience share. Will Vincent Bolloré's station maintain this good form next fall, with Cyril Hanouna's departure for Fun Radio ? Pascal Praud is taking over his position between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., while Christine Kelly will now be anchoring the mornings. If Europe 1 continues on this path, the station could threaten RMC, which is no longer so far behind with its 2.8 million listeners and a 4.9% cumulative audience share, a net decline of 300,000 loyal listeners at the end of the season compared to last year.

Among the rest of the public stations, France Info, whose audiences always fluctuate depending on the news, this time gained some 160,000 listeners to reach 4.8 million loyal listeners and 8.4% of cumulative audience. It remains the third most listened to radio station in France. It is less glorious for the local radio network Ici (formerly France Bleu) whose audiences continue to plummet: 350,000 listeners down over the period, compared to 2.15 million listeners currently and 3.8% of cumulative audience. Behind, France Culture remains a little below 2 million listeners with 3.5% of cumulative audience.

Aside from M Radio, which gained 50,000 listeners, all purely music radio stations lost ground at the end of the season compared to last year. NRJ lost more than 200,000 listeners but still retained more than 4.1 million loyal listeners and a cumulative audience of 7.3%. Meanwhile, the powerful Skyrock and Nostalgie also lost ground. In reality, only music radio stations that also offer comedy are winning over new audiences. This is the case for Rires et chansons (+75,000 listeners), which has nearly 1.5 million loyal listeners. And Radio Nova in particular, which ended a revival season with 888,000 daily listeners between April and June, for a cumulative audience of 1.6%.