The Liveline is open . . . for a new sponsor. Joe Duffy's listener magnet is still on the hunt for a sponsor and, after nearly a year, the price has dropped to €350,000 for 12 months, though brands looking for a shorter commitment can opt for a six-month deal at €200,000.

As a new sweetener, there's a promotional package in which the show is given sponsor credited promos in six of the station's other top-rating programmes including Today with Sean O Rourke and Marian Finucane's weekend shows.

Lyons Tea bowed out last January having been the Liveline sponsor for a year, going in search of a younger audience to the KC Show on Today FM.

It's a sign of just how challenging the advertising market is that it has been nearly a year since RTÉ's second most listened-to programme – with a weekly listenership 413,000 – has had a sponsor. Before Lyons Tea, previous Liveline sponsors include Specsavers and Nissan.

While ministers' spin doctors, particularly those involved in education or health, are known to live in mild dread of what the daily avalanche of callers might bring, tech blogger Paul Conroy has put a figure on the Liveline effect. (Check out conroyp.com.)

In March, when the first tranche of property tax valuations popped through letterboxes, property website Daft launched a property tax calculator which Duffy mentioned on air. This led to a spike in traffic to Daft.ie from listeners with 10,000 new visitors logging on – a 95 per cent increase in visitors week on week.

“The ability to send around 2.5 per cent of their audience online in such a short space of time is pretty impressive,” says Conroy.

RTÉ continues to carve out new sponsorship opportunities within programmes. After putting together a package offering the opportunity to sponsor the time checks on Morning Ireland – for €110,000 for three months – Toyota has taken the bait and its brand name will be delivered along with the time from December.