More than ever the most listened to the country, France Inter dominates a media that has lost in attractiveness in September and October.
by Aude Dassonville
The last delivery of radio audiences provided by Médiamétrie, Thursday, November 17, includes its share of historical records. The first of them sets the tone: never, for twenty years, a return to school has resulted in audiences so weak for the media. Even if 70 % of French people continued to listen to it every day in September and October (71.1 % cumulative audience), they are, for the first time, less than 40 million (39.3 million) in S ‘Be connected to a station, a leak of 1.3 million in one year (74.2 % and 40.6 million). No program category (musical, generalist, thematic, or independent radios) escapes this disaffection.
Under these conditions, France Inter realizes, with 12.3 % cumulative audience (+ 0.4 point), “the second best start” in its history, can flatter its new director, Adèle Van Reeth. “La Matinale”, elongated half an hour to end at 9:30 a.m., brings together 4.6 million listeners, or 319,000 more over one year. “I am delighted, because it was an important change in the back-to-school grid”, breathes the manager.
Another removal of the slump, RMC also sees its cumulative audience increase: to 5.8 % (+ 0.2 point). “A gain of 150,000 listeners in a market that loses 1.3 million is a feat,” rejoices his director, Karim Nedjari, who welcomes he “refocused the station on the concerns of the French”. Now provided by Apolline de Malherbe, the morning political interview would make better scores than those of Jean-Jacques Bourdin in 2021.
RTL under the symbolic bar of 10 % cumulative audience
On the side of other general practitioners, the performance is historically negative. With 9.9 % cumulative audience (- 0.8 point over a year), RTL, which chose to multiply humor pastilles in its morning, goes under the symbolic bar of 10 % for the first time since 2002 . At 5.1 %, a floor score for her, France Bleu accuses a fall of 1.1 points, the strongest on the market. As for Europe 1, it continues to attend the inexorable flight of its listeners: with 3.7 % cumulative audience, it loses 0.7 point in one year.
In this context, everyone finds satisfaction where they can. “Our market share [which combines volume and listening duration] has never been so high,” defends Régis Ravanas, the director general of audio activities of the M6 group (RTL, RTL2, Fun Radio), which recalls the interest in advertisers in this criterion. The advertising market, he concedes, however, does not promise the happiest end of the year.
“The digital imprint of France Bleu is good, notes Laurence Bloch, now director of the antennas and the editorial strategy of Radio France. We must find how to convert these visitors to the site into listeners, and bring back A public CSP- which is the one that moves the most from the traditional media, considered as institutional “.
At the head of Franceinfo, down 0.3 % (8.7 % cumulative audience), Jean-Philippe Baille also rejoices that she is no longer just a radio: “We are happy with Having positioned multi-support, “he admits, referring to digital and television developments that have been launched. As for the anxiety -provoking climate which pushes part of the public to turn away from information, he says that “[the] answer must be to explain, to analyze, because when you understand things better, you are less afraid” . With 3.1 % cumulative audience (+ 0.2 point), France Culture has never known a more promising return.