Beat 102-103 continues to trounce its national radio rivals in the South East. With a record breaking market share among All Adults of 17.4%; that’s more than 2FM and Today FM combined with their market shares at 5.9% and 10.8% respectively in the region.
Ireland’s first regional radio station remains Number 1, ahead of all locals and nationals including Radio 1 across its target market of 15-34 year olds but also in the crucial demographic of 20-44 year olds in terms of daily and weekly reach. Market share among its core demographic in prime time 7am to 7pm is up 10% year on year and is more than triple that of its local radio competitor in every single county of the South East: Wexford, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary.
Chief Executive and Programme Director with Beat 102-103, Gabrielle Cummins says consistency is key “We don’t have huge budgets to make sweeping changes so we monitor trends very closely and most importantly we listen, listen and then listen again to what our audience wants. People’s tastes and needs change so often and we as a brand have to be willing to adapt accordingly. I was part of the original licencing team of Beat 102-103 and Beat today is a far different offering than back then. Today, Beat is more than a radio station, it’s a multi-platform offering with a variety of touch points where our loyal and valued 153,000 weekly listeners can access our content."
Head of Station Sound Niall Power adds that “We started 2016 with a bang introducing a new logo, new website and a new sound on air. Clearly our audience is liking what they hear and see because they are now choosing to stay with us for longer across the day which is really satisfying to see. It makes all the hard work put in by all the team worthwhile so a big thanks to everyone who chooses Beat on a daily basis. We have set the bar high with such a busy first quarter but already the summer is looking exciting. We’re in the middle of our latest promotion “Cash for the Summer” with Credit Unions across the five counties. This is going down a storm with our listeners and we’re excited about bringing new promotions, currently in development, to the region over the coming months. We never sit still at Beat; that’s for sure” concluded Waterford native Niall Power.
The station is celebrating significant gains across a number of shows but Beat Boss Gabrielle Cummins says she is particularly pleased about the night time shows the Top 7@7 and The Takeover presented by Waterford’s Emma Nolan, “this night time slot has attracted a further 4,000 listeners in the last 12 months and we now have almost 50% market share at night time too. These shows are aimed specifically at our younger audience who are not as radio loyal as teenagers ten years ago so to still be achieving such strong numbers at this time definitely shows that Beat is working hard to remain a relevant medium among Under 18s which is vital for the future viability of radio in Ireland.”
These latest JNLR stats incorporate increases for every single weekend show on Beat when compared with the same results 12 months ago; the most significant being a rise of 16,000 for Saturday Sportsbeat with Chris Ward on Saturday 3-5.30pm and The Sunday Spin 6-8pm with Emma Nolan and Mark O’Connor which has jumped a massive 11,000 in the 12 month period.
These results cover the period April 2015 to March 2016
Source: JNLR IPSOS MRBI South East 2016-1 South East Region.
