RTL Radio in France is regaining its audience in 2001 reflecting the introduction of new programming in February. According to the latest audience poll published by Médiamétrie, the radio station enjoyed a cumulative audience of 13.6 per cent in the first three months of 2001. This is up from 13.2 per cent in the period November to December 2000. The other two members of the French RTL radio family, RTL2 and FUN Radio, also achieved excellent results with FUN Radio recording the best result since six years. The cumulative audience describes the share of people who listen to a station at least once a day.
The performance of RTL is all the more remarkable given that it only partially reflects the influence of new programmes such as „Quitte ou Double" and „Ca peut vous arriver", and the return of the popular programme „Les Grosses Têtes". These additions to the programme schedule only took place in February, the second month of the polling period.
„The results show that RTL Radio is back on track for growth and retains its long standing position as France’s most popular station", said Didier Bellens, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group. „We are now beginning to reap the benefits of the changes to management and programming undertaken at the end of last year. We are very confident about the future of the RTL stations and we fully support the management team of RTL’s Directeur Général, Robin Leproux."
RTL Radio has also announced that its sales house IP via its subsidiary IP Interactive, has signed a deal with the Vivendi/ Canal Plus affiliate Numédia to market their sites with a combined reach of more than 200 million page impressions per year. IP Interactive is part of RTL Group’s online sales network IP-Web.net. „This is another important step to build on our knowledge in media sales and online activities", said Didier Bellens.