MORE LISTENERS FLOCK TO TODAY FM WITH ALL DAYTIME SHOWS GAINING AUDIENCE
Thursday, 14th May: The latest JNLR report (JNLR/Ipsos 2026-1) for the 12 months to the end of March 2026 shows that 3.46 million Irish adults now tune in to radio every weekday. Today’s results showed huge wins for Today FM across all key audience metrics of market share, weekly and daily reach.
Today FM now entertains a weekly audience of 954,000 listeners (+13,000 BoB, +40,000 YoY) retaining its crown as Ireland’s most listened to commercial radio station. Today FM also saw its daily listenership grow to 520,000 (+16,000 BoB / +54,000 YoY) as well as a sizeable jump in market share to 9.6% (+0.6% BoB / +1.7% YoY).
The big winners for IMRO ‘National Station of the Year’ include The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show (06:00-09:00), who recorded his highest ever listenership of 232,000 listeners (+8,000 BoB / +28,000 YoY).
Meanwhile, The Last Word with Matt Cooper achieved his highest audience result in over 15 years, jumping to 192,000 listeners (+8,000 BoB, +29,000 YoY).
This is the fifth audience survey in a row where The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show has seen growth, maintaining his position as the most-listened-to show on commercial radio.
Celebrating today’s results, Ian Dempsey said:
“To reach our highest audience ever is incredibly special. We set out every morning to give listeners a great start to their day, and we’re so thankful that more people than ever are joining us each morning.”
Commenting on his record audience figures, Matt Cooper said:
“From all of us on The Last Word team we’re so thankful to be celebrating our largest audience result in over 15 years. We’re delighted to see our variety of show content from news, sports, culture and business is appealing to new listeners and a special thanks to our loyal ones as well.”
Dave Moore on Today FM (09:00-12:00) saw impressive growth in his mid-morning audience as he now entertains 206,000 listeners (+3,000 BoB / +13,000 YoY). Today’s results will have Dave Flying Without Wings right up to his live show with Westlife this Friday 15th May as he welcomes Nicky, Shane and Kian for a live show in front of an audience of Westlife superfans.
Louise Cantillon, (12:00-14:00) also saw increases in her lunchtime listeners as she grew her audience to 135,000 (+5,000 BoB / +28,000 YoY). A stellar year for Louise as she added an additional 28,000 listeners to her show, while also taking home Music and Entertainment presenter of the year at the most recent IMRO Radio Awards.
Ray Foley (14:00 – 16:30) in the afternoons grew his audience to 166,000 listeners (+7,000 BoB, +13,000 YoY). Ray is just off the back of hosting a live show in Whelan’s with some of Ireland’s most talented musicians including Bell X1, Aslan, Mary Black and The Coronas as he announced the winner of Today FM Top 100 Irish Songs to a live captive audience.
There was also a lot to shout about for Today FM evenings and weekends with Paula MacSweeney (19:00-22:00) growing her evening audience to 36,000 (+1,000 BoB / +7,000 YoY) while Dec Pierce welcomed 4,000 new dance fanatics to his Block Rockin’ Beats show which now stands at 44,000 listeners (+4,000 BoB / +5,000 YoY).
Today’s performance comes off the back of a hugely successful Irish music campaign for the national station – Today FM’s 100 Greatest Irish Songs. The campaign which encouraged listeners to vote for their favourite Irish songs of all time received over 80,000 votes from listeners with The Cranberries – Zombie taking home gold.
Commenting on the results, Today FM Managing Editor Nathan Murphy said:
“It’s been a phenomenal performance from the entire Today FM team with significant increases on every prime-time show. Ian Dempsey is an icon of Irish radio and we’re all incredibly proud to see Ian achieve his highest ever listenership figure. While Matt Cooper continues to drive listeners to The Last Word, delivering record growth over the past year. Today FM’s success has always been built on a strong connection with listeners across Ireland and we’re delighted to have more of them tuning in every day.”