Behind its big sister, stronger than ever, the continuous news station is barely overtaking RTL and ranks as the second most listened to radio station in France, according to the results revealed by Médiamétrie on Thursday November 14 for the September-October period.
Several audience records fell on Radio France on Thursday morning, after the announcement of the Médiamétrie results for the September-October period. And firstly on the side of the ultra-leader France Inter, more than ever in the lead by exceeding 7 million listeners for the first time in its history (+265,000 listeners in one year), reaching 12.8%. cumulative audience over the period. Figures never seen before for any radio station, confirming the power of the antenna directed by Adèle Van Reeth. This, despite the internal tumult in recent months, with the dismissal of Guillaume Meurice or the eventful return of Patrick Cohen to the morning show. Without forgetting the recurring criticisms of a supposed political orientation that is too left-wing. “France Inter is a radio that unites, not divides, tweeted Léa Salamé in reaction to these excellent audiences. Inter is a popular radio station, not reserved for a few. Inter has never brought together so many listeners in the history of radio.”
Always last, Europe 1 raises its head
But it is the neighboring station France Info which perhaps achieves the historic performance of this wave of audiences, by grabbing second place and thus overtaking RTL. Narrowly: the public antenna brings together 4.97 million people every day on average, for a cumulative audience of 8.9%. It gained some 18,000 additional listeners compared to last year. While RTL loses a lot: 300,000 faithful lost in one year, for 4.90 million listeners on average and 8.7% of cumulative audience. Even if it remains second in audience share at 10.7% (the measure most watched by the advertising market), the M6 group station continues to see its Médiamétrie results plummet in recent months. However, for once, it had announced several new features on its back-to-school schedule: the arrival of Thomas Sotto in particular to present the morning show, replacing Yves Calvi, relegated to the end of the day. Insufficient, in the short term at least.
RTL seems to have its audience sucked in by the hyper offensive (and very right-wing) strategy of Europe 1. After Pascal Praud, the arrival of Cyril Hanouna in the afternoon with his hyper divisive show We walk on our heads contributes to the good shape of the station. The Bollorized antenna gained 347,000 listeners over the period compared to last year, for 2.48 million faithful on average and 4.4% of cumulative audience – it still remains, however, last among general radio stations. In this category, RMC falls just as badly. The station now owned by Rodolphe Saadé, however, remained fairly stable in recent years. It lost 330,000 listeners in one year, to settle at 2.9 million listeners on average and 5.2% of cumulative audience.
France Culture passes 2 million, Nova shows up
Behind, in the series of records of the Round House, we have just passed an important step on the side of France Culture too. With the mark of two million listeners, never reached until now, and largely exceeded during this September-October period. An average of 2.11 million faithful listened to the public broadcast, 267,000 more than last year, for a cumulative audience of 3.8% (+0.5 points in one year). There, Guillaume Erner’s morning show (his tenth season on the air) is attracting more and more ears, with 942,000 listeners on average (+154,000 in one year).
France Musique also broke a record with its 1.26 million daily listeners (206,000 more than last year) for 2.3% of cumulative audience. “France Musique, what else?” exclaims its director Marc Voinchet, praising to Liberation the merits of“a “radio-passion” which offers real drops of pleasure and well-being in this gray environment“. It was more or less the slogan for the start of the school year in the Round House, “Radio France therapy”, advocated by Sibyle Veil to forget an eventful 2023-2024 season. Even France Bleu, which has struggled in recent years, is taking part in the party with 2.6 million listeners on average over the period, or 70,000 more than the previous year. The local radio network, soon renamed Ici, saw its schedule turned upside down this summer, with fewer broadcasts from Paris and more local and music, in an attempt to rejuvenate an aging audience.
Finally, on the music station side, surprise: an appearance. That of Radio Nova, which joins the Médiamétrie ranking thanks to its cumulative audience point and its 563,000 listeners on average. A Guillaume Meurice effect? The comedian, who arrived with his band to host the show the Last on Sunday evening, even allows Nova to be neck and neck with stations like Europe 2 on weekends. At the top of the music rankings, NRJ remains leader (4.1 million listeners on average), but is being titillated by its sister radio station Nostalgie. The variety station achieved a surprising performance this fall, with 374,000 additional listeners, for an average of 3.69 million followers. Above all, it ranks first in music in terms of audience share, with 5.7% audience share, compared to 5.4% for NRJ. Elsewhere, we will note the huge dropouts of Skyrock (-428,000 listeners) or Europe 2 (-351,000 listeners), the latter falling squarely below the million listener mark.
Dropouts that follow that of radio as a whole: the media has lost another 295,000 followers in one year. There are now 37.8 million French people listening to the radio daily.
