Thursday, August 7: In the latest JNLR results, – JNLR/Ipsos 2025-2 (July ’24 – June ’25) published today, Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder has powered ahead with an additional 12,000 new listeners, building on its growing reputation as “must listen” drivetime radio. Presented by Kieran Cuddihy, the show offers a blend of engaging news reporting and analysis, discussions on the issues of the day and lively debates about topics that matter to its now bigger 165,000 audience.
There’s even better news for Off The Ball in the latest JNLR figures which reports a bump in listeners seeking their daily dose of sports news and analysis to 59,000, an increase of 8,000, BoB. This represents a joint record for the evening show and underlines the appeal of presenter Eoin Sheahan. New records were set for weekends with Saturday’s Off The Ball drawing 158,000 listeners (+ 1,000 BoB) while Sunday’s Off The Ball attracted a bigger 155,000 following (+ 9,000 BoB.)
Both Newstalk and Off The Ball live programme of events proved a huge hit at last weekend’s All Together Now festival in Curraghmore Estate, Waterford. From spoken word to guest panel chats, audience gameshows and wellness, festival goers soaked up a wealth of conversation and entertainment.
Across Ireland, Newstalk’s national market share stands at a firm 8.2% at a time when almost 4million (3.973m) adults are tuning into Irish radio each week.
Reflecting its position as a “go to” station, Newstalk now has a weekly reach of 871,000 (+10,000 BoB) and almost half a million listeners daily (498,000 listeners, -2,000 BoB).
Daily Listening
The Pat Kenny Show remains the most popular programme on commercial radio with 216,000 listeners (-8,000 BoB). With a reputation as a strong but fair inquisitor, Pat covers a vast array of subjects on his Monday to Friday show with a keen intelligence and the very best discussion and debate on the events of the day, in Ireland and internationally.
Meanwhile, 165,000 listeners (no change BoB) tune in daily to Newstalk Breakfast with Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman for the conversations that count for their day, be it the cost of living, parenting advice or the best gigs to attend this summer.
Andrea Gilligan’s Lunchtime Live is always on topic with an audience of 124,000 listeners (-10,000 BoB). Moncrieff offers 108,000 listeners (no change BoB) a brilliant patchwork of subjects and interviews that always inform and amuse.
Weekend Listening
Weekend programming extends the daily appeal of what Newstalk has to offer. And in this JNLR report new records are being set as increasing numbers tune in to their favourite shows on Saturday and Sunday.
In addition to the previously mentioned record new numbers on Saturday and Sunday for Off The Ball, The Anton Savage Show (Saturday) delivered a record high, boosting numbers considerably adding 6,000 new listeners BoB, to deliver an audience of 139,000.
Also on Saturday, everyone’s favourite tech host grew continues to be a strong draw with 50,000 listeners tuning in to Tech Talk with Jess Kelly (-1k BoB, up 13k YoY) while not to be outdone, Screentime with John Fardy added big numbers with an additional 3,000 listeners BoB to reach a record audience of 30,000
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Futureproof, presented by Jonathan McCrea now draws 71,000 listeners (+4,000 BoB).
Eric Moylan, Managing Editor of Newstalk, said: “For those seeking the very best chat, discussion and debate on everything from news to lifestyle to entertainment to the stories that stay with you, Newstalk is a natural home. We put our audience at the centre of everything we do and today’s figures and the growth we see across the board are testament to that fact.
With record numbers tuning in for Off The Ball and The Anton Savage show plus The Hard Shoulder with Kieran Cuddihy powering ahead and expanding its audience, we’re excited for the remainder of the year and having conversation that counts.”