The market is still dominated by traditional radio
In the last four years, listeners of traditional radio stations accounted for between 82 and 88 percent of all radio listeners, according to a new study adopted by the Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (Media Authority) at its last meeting. The Council imposed a fine on a service provider for incorrect age rating, warned a service provider for broadcasting advertisements too loudly and forwarded a notification to the Romanian partner authority.
People listen to the radio mostly at home
The Council adopted a document examining the locations and platforms of radio listening between the end of 2018 and the end of 2021, which shows that people are most likely to listen to the radio in their homes: 70-80 percent do so. The car is the second typical location for radio listening – 45-60 percent – and the third is the workplace, at 20-30 percent. Women are more likely to use the radio at home and men are more likely to use it in cars, with the former group ranging between 72 and 82 percent and the latter between 55 and 65 percent over the period examined. The older people get, the more they use the radio in their homes: the main reason for this is that retired people do not go to work on a daily basis or travel as much. Listening to the radio in the car is most popular among middle-aged people (30-59 years old). As far as the figures are concerned in general, it is evident that the second quarter of 2020 and the emergence of the pandemic brought a spike in radio use. Among radio listening platforms, traditional radio is by far the most popular with 82-88 percent, but the share of people who also listen to the radio online is stable at between 35 and 40 percent. In 2020, 7.61 million people tuned in every week, of which 778 thousand chose online radio. The study is available on the website of the Media Authority.
Media Supervisory Decisions
The operator of Duna was fined HUF 100 thousand by the Council for broadcasting an episode of the programme titled Inspector Rex - Death by Internet, not with an age rating of 16 and not in the time slot between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., but with an age rating of 12 and before 8 p.m., despite the sexual and violent content of the contested programme.
The Council warned Magyar Sláger TV for having broadcast six excessively loud advertisements in the third quarter of 2021. In order to protect viewers, the Media Act clearly stipulates that the average volume or the volume perceived by the viewer or the listener of advertisements, teleshopping and previews, and that of the acoustic notice indicating the broadcasting of advertisements or teleshopping or previews may not be higher than the volume of adjacent programmes.
Following a notification, the Council inspected the programme “Body Fixers" aired on FEM3 channel and referred the case to the Romanian Partner Authority (CNA), as the provider of FEM3 is under Romanian jurisdiction. The sexuality related content of the programme and its content presenting plastic surgery in detail should have been broadcast between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. instead of 7 p.m. and should have been rated 16 under Hungarian law.
The full agenda of the Media Council's weekly meetings can be found on the Council’s website, as can the Minutes of the meetings and all decisions and resolutions – the most recent of which will be made public after the necessary authentication and administrative lead time.