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The session covered two things: upgrades to Ireland’s radio currency (JNLR) and top-line findings from the new Irish Audio Report.

JNLR innovation
After industry consultation, Ciarán Cunningham, CEO Radiocentre Ireland reported that the JNLR remains widely trusted and central to planning, but buyers want a holistic view of audio that separates broadcast (FM/DAB) from digital/IP listening. JNLR will run a proof of concept from early 2026 that:

• Combines current audience data with IP log data, then
• Applies modeling to infer demographics behind IP listening,
• Integrates with the existing JNLR system, so the trading currency stays consistent and stable.

Practically, you’ll still get a total audio view, but also clear breakouts for broadcast vs streaming, aligned to the same currency.

Irish Audio Report 2025 highlights

Karen Hall, Ipsos B&A reported that the Irish audio Report 2025 shows that audio engagement is near-universal: 96%+ of people 15+ listened to some audio in the past week (~4.2m adults). Live radio remains dominant:

• 88.6% listened to live radio in the past week.
• 55.7% used on-demand online audio (aggregate).
  • Within on-demand weekly: Music streaming 40%, YouTube Music 31%, Podcasts 22%, Own music 16%, Listen-back to Irish radio 6%.

On time spent yesterday (among users of each format), live radio commands the longest listening, nearly double music streaming, reflecting radio’s continuous, curated nature versus the more episodic profile of playlists and podcasts. That flows through to share of audio time: live radio holds 73.8% of total audio minutes.

From a commercial lens (removing ad-free minutes like paid streaming and “own music”), radio’s advantage grows: Live radio rises to 87% of ad-available listening time; YouTube Music (free) 4.8%, Music streaming (free) 3.6%, Podcasts 4.2%, Listen-back 0.4%. In short, when you focus on addressable minutes, live radio overwhelmingly delivers the buyable ears.

Demographically, live radio leads across all ages, though on-demand skews younger. Device/location splits and deeper trends will follow in November webinars (a highlights session and a detailed read-out), with Ipsos and Radiocentre Ireland unpacking more granularity (e.g., where people listen and on what devices).

The currency is evolving to reflect modern listening while keeping trading stable; and the latest usage data confirms radio’s scale and time advantage.

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