Radio audiences: France Inter remains firmly in the lead, Europe 1 continues its rise

The waves pass and look the same. From January to March 2024, France Inter remained largely the leading radio station in France, setting a new historic record at 7.18 million daily listeners, according to figures from Médiamétrie published this Thursday. General public radio gained 144,000 daily listeners over one year to achieve a cumulative audience of 12.8% (0.2 points). “There have never been so many French people listening to France Inter. No radio station has quite simply ever brought together so many people every day over the last twenty years,” said Adèle Van Reeth, director of France Inter, to Le Figaro.

Also readAdèle Van Reeth: “France Inter is a progressive radio station and it embraces it”

Beyond France Inter, the CEO of Radio France Sibyle Veil praised the performance of all of the public group's airwaves: "The French favor media that seek to produce quality, in all areas: on the information as well as culture. Our listeners are sending us the message to continue not to give in to the buzz and the caricatures,” she declared.

In the detail of the group's radio stations, France Bleu is progressing (2.775 million listeners, 45,000 in one year), as is France Culture (1.918 million listeners, 245,000 in one year). But, despite the busy international news, Franceinfo is in decline with 4.761 million listeners, or 165,000 fewer over one year.

Driven by the morning show of Nicolas Demorand, Léa Salamé and Sonia Devillers, Inter is well ahead of its private competitor RTL, which brings together 5.375 million listeners, down 233,000 over one year. In detail, note that “The RTL morning guest”, an interview conducted by Amandine Bégot every day between 7:45 a.m. and 8 a.m., is in decline (-246,000 listeners over a year; -157,000 over a wave).

Very far behind, in 9th place, Europe 1, controlled by Vincent Bolloré, who has undertaken to bring it closer to CNews with co-broadcast programs, continues to recover, experiencing its third consecutive quarterly increase. Radio nibbles 0.4 points to 4.3% audience share. On average, Europe 1 attracts 2.387 million daily listeners (223,000 over one year). One of the drivers of this growth is Pascal Praud, poached from RTL last summer, on its morning and midday slots.

“For the third time in a row, Europe 1 is finding its audience and achieving the strongest growth in the market” in audience share, rejoices Constance Benqué, president of the Lagardère News group, to which the station belongs. “The efforts to stabilize the schedule are paying off, with all the appointments of the day increasing,” she adds. We will continue to constantly question ourselves to come back even more to the forefront.”

The station passes in front of RMC (Altice group) between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. On RMC, “Apolline matin” brought together an average of 469,000 listeners this fall between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. “In a turbulent context for the radio media, RMC is going up step by step,” comments Karim Nedjari, general director of RMC. With a cumulative increase of 16,000 listeners, and an audience share which increased by 0.3%” He underlines the very strong popularity of his After Foot program from 10 p.m. to midnight among 25-40 year olds.

Overall, the radio medium is suffering again, with 38.73 million people tuned in every day, all airwaves combined. That’s a million fewer listeners over a year. On the advertising side, however, radio stations are taking advantage of the major promotion fair in brand communication, in the face of the purchasing power problems of the French. Often perceived as a local and clearance media, radio is experiencing an increase in its advertising investments.