RAJAR Q1 13 – Full Report

Hi all

Here’s my full RAJAR summary report, originally prepared for RadioWorks as an independent and unbiased analysis of this quarter’s radio listening figures.

In a quarter which saw Radio 1 and Nick Grimshaw lose listeners, commercial radio had a great set of results, increasing weekly reach quarter on quarter and year on year.

RAJAR, the radio audience survey, shows that over 90% of people in the UK listen to the radio every week. Commercial radio reaches 33.5 million listeners and achieves a listener share of 41.9% versus the BBC’s 55.7%. On a local level, commercial radio completely dominates the BBC, delivering 26.5 million listeners compared to the BBC’s 9.5 million for local and regional services. Digital listening now equates to a 34.3% share of all listening hours.

LONDON LISTENING: In the London marketplace the big news is that Capital London has become the largest reaching commercial radio station with 1.95 million weekly listeners.  Although they’ve seen a drop in reach to 1.86 million, Magic 105.4 has retained its number one position in terms of share of listening with 5.6% thanks to strong listening hours compared to their London rivals. Heart London has delivered improved reach on last quarter to reach 1.75 million weekly listeners meaning they’re ahead of Kiss 100, who slipped down to fourth position after delivering 1.6 million listeners – almost 200,000 less than the previous quarter. LBC 97.3 saw an increase in their figures to deliver 931,000 weekly listeners and there were also positive results across other London stations including Sunrise Radio, up a massive 53% to reach 348,000, Gold London (363,000) and XFM (574,000). Note: It is possible to measure Classic FM by its London only transmitter, which delivers 1,362,000.

LONDON BREAKFAST: The much talked about ‘battle of the breakfast shows’ has again been won by Capital London, with 1,067,000 listeners tuning in to their show from 6-10am. Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon will no doubt be very happy that they continue as ‘King and Queen’ of the breakfast airwaves, even beating Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, whose figures were down considerably. The news that Global Radio will be celebrating most is likely to be the strong performance of Heart London’s breakfast show (6-9am) which saw a jump of 125,000 listeners to 768,000 since Emma Bunton joined Jamie Theakston. Rickie, Melvin & Charlie on Kiss 100 (6-9am) saw their audience significantly drop off this quarter to deliver 651,000, meaning they were beaten into third place by Neil Fox on Magic 105.4 (5-9am) who reaches 765,000 listeners every week. Meanwhile, the multi-Sony Award winning Christian O’Connell has again shown audience growth on his breakfast show across the Absolute Radio Network, and in London, the show delivered a reach of 636,000 listeners.

NORTH WEST REGION: In the North West the largest reaching station by far is Smooth Radio, delivering 783,000 listeners. When looking at the reach percentage figures, it is the Isle of Man’s Manx Radio (53%), Carlisle’s C.F.M (37%) and The Bay in Morecombe which all stand out as performing well, whilst the best quarter on quarter improvement in the region is seen at Cheshire’s Silk 106.9, who posted a 16.7% increase to reach 21,000 weekly listeners. 

NATIONAL STATIONS: Classic FM remains the most-listened-to (single) commercial radio station in the UK. The station has gone above the 5.5 million listener mark for the first time since Q2 2011 and delivers average hours of 7.1, the highest since 2010. Keeping a focus on the national analogue stations: talkSPORT held on to second place, reaching 2.9 million weekly listeners. While Absolute Radio (National + London) delivered 1,687,000. Note: Kiss UK, who broadcast across the UK via online, digital TV, DAB,  plus three regional FM licenses, have achieved 4.1 million listeners; Smooth Radio, who also broadcast nationally on DAB and have several regional licences, (with local content in Scotland), have delivered figures of 3.1 million weekly adult listeners.

NETWORK STATIONS: The network radio stations, which have become a feature of the UK radio industry over the past couple of years, have again delivered some big numbers this quarter. The largest commercial radio network in the country is Global’s Heart Network, which delivers 7.2 million listeners, closely followed by the Capital Network on 6.9 million listeners. Kiss UK has delivered 4.1 million, Magic UK 3.4 million, Smooth Radio UK 3.1 million, and Real Radio UK 2.1 million.

Note: As the UK radio marketplace changes there is some convergence between national and network stations. Whilst the lines are becoming blurred, RadioWorks define network stations as those which have locally produced content, whilst national stations have the same output right across the country and are also available on a mainstream national transmitter (Analogue Radio or Digital Radio).

DIGITAL RADIO (including mobile): Digital radio listening has benefited from a 14% year on year increase and now accounts for a 34.3% share of all radio listening, with 49.6% of people listening to digital radio either through DAB, DTV, the internet or ‘other’. The latest RAJAR figures recorded that 23 million adults (44%) claim to live in a household which has a DAB receiver. The number one commercial, digital only radio station in the UK is now Absolute 80s, with almost one million listeners (984,000). Smash Hits have been pushed in to second place with a weekly reach of 942,000, sitting above Bauer’s recent acquisition, Planet Rock, which added listeners to deliver 896,000. Bauer radio has also taken the fourth spot in terms of digital commercial radio as The Hits reached 877,000 listeners. Smooth 70s increased their listening hours this quarter to deliver an average of 7.4 hours per listener, however, their reach figures dropped off to 681,000, whilst Jazz FM maintained their strong figures from last quarter to deliver 604,000 weekly listeners.

GROUP PERFORMANCE: The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (delivering a total of 19.33 million listeners), thanks in part to the strength of its three core brands: Classic FM, Heart and Capital. Bauer Radio recently added to their Passion Portfolio with the purchase of Planet Rock, which helped them record strong performance figures and as a group (including the Place Portfolio) they recorded a total reach of 13.7 million adults. There appears to be continuing uncertainty at Real and Smooth Ltd. (formerly GMG Radio) since their purchase by Global Radio and that has been reflected in the figures, with the group reach down to 5.57 million from 5.85 million weekly reach; whilst UTV Radio, owners of talkSPORT, reaches 4.2 million listeners.  Absolute Radio and its network of decade-based stations have maintained their strong overall figures from last quarter, delivering 3.3 million weekly adult listeners. It is also worth noting that when Global’s acquisition of Real and Smooth Ltd is finalised, the group could be posting figures in the region of 25 million listeners.

 

Simon Pearce is the Client Insight Director at audio and radio advertising specialist RadioWorks

 

My comment on the latest radio listening figures – RAJAR Q4 2012

This quarter’s RAJAR results have been a mixed bag as we see losses on some stations, but big gains on others. In London the top five stations all dropped down quarter on quarter, whilst Choice FM, Smooth and XFM all showed really positive increases. In particular, XFM increased their reach almost 20% to deliver 445,000 weekly adults – and with a whole host of new names, including Jon Holmes taking over the Breakfast Show, there is a real positive buzz around the station.

After flat figures last time around, digital radio listening has fared better this quarter, with 33% of all radio listening now via a digital platform. These figures have been helped by strong performances from a number of stations on digital radio including Jazz FM, who delivered their highest ever hours of 3 million. The BBC’s digital only station, 6 Music, added 1.9 million to the digital listening figures. Bauer’s Heat Radio also helped, by increasing their reach 18% year on year to 767,000, whilst the Absolute Radio and Smooth Radio networks delivered 76% and 45% (respectively) of all their listening via digital platforms.

And I have to say a big well done to Absolute Radio who have improved results across both their main station and the network as a whole, helping them achieve an impressive 11-year high of 3.3 million listeners. It’s not easy to pin down the exact reason for the improvement from a programming point of view but listening figures for the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show have massively improved, whilst their decade stations Absolute Radio 80s, 90s and 00s have also shown year on year improvements. With a potential sale on the horizon, these figures could well increase Absolute’s value.

Here’s a final thought for you: Global Radio’s purchase of Real and Smooth Ltd looks all set to go through later on in the year. When it does, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Real Radio stations rebranded into the Heart network. If that were to happen we could be looking at a reach of almost 10 million weekly listeners!

If you’d like to read my full report on this quarter’s RAJAR it’s available here on the RadioWorks website. And I even got a little bit in MediaWeek / Brand Republic.

Thanks for reading

Simon

Simon Pearce is Head of Insight at radio advertising specialists RadioWorks and Maple Street Studios

RAJAR Q2 2012

Hi All,

Here’s my full RAJAR update for Quarter 1 2012 – if this is a little too much, check out my comments which I will be posting shortly.

Enjoy…

It’s been another good quarter for digital listening! This quarter saw an increase, with 326 million listening hours, and 46% of the population tuning in to the radio via any digital platform up from 45% last quarter.

RAJAR, the radio audience survey, shows that 89% of people in the UK listen to the radio every week. Commercial radio reaches over 33 million listeners and achieves an increased listener share of 43.3% versus the BBC’s 54.3%. On a local level commercial radio completely dominates the BBC, delivering 26.3 million listeners compared to the BBC’s 8.9 million for local and regional services.

LONDON LISTENING: In the London marketplace Capital London has held on to the number one spot in terms of reach; despite a drop in listener numbers they still deliver a reach of 2,072,000 adult listeners.  However, in terms of listening share it is Heart London which has shown strong quarter on quarter growth to take the top position with 5.3%.  Going back to the reach table, Magic 105.4 have maintained their reach from the previous quarter delivering 1,951,000, and Heart London (1,798,000) has held off Kiss 100 (1,740,000) to take third position. A 22.2% quarter on quarter growth to 974,000 from Total Absolute Radio (London) has seen them take fifth position in terms of reach with LBC (809,000) dropping to sixth. Note: It is possible to measure Classic FM by its London only transmitter, which delivers 1,269,000.

LONDON BREAKFAST: The much talked about ‘battle of the breakfast shows’ has again been won by Capital Radio London, with 1,156,000 listeners to their show from 6-10am. This is the second set of results for Capital Radio since a change to the line-up saw Dave Berry replace Johnny Vaughan as Lisa Snowdon’s co-host on the breakfast show, and although their reach has dropped slightly, they will no doubt be happy to retain the number one spot.  Neil Fox’s Magic Breakfast Show (5-9am) has retained second place with 760,000 listeners, whilst Kiss Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin & Charlie (6-9am) have managed to achieve third position with 735,000 weekly listeners – beating Jamie and Harriet on Heart London (6-9am) who achieved 734,000 listeners.

NEW STATIONS: This is the first RAJAR for a number of rebranded stations, with the biggest change being the Orion Media owned, Midlands based, Free Radio stations. Previously reporting as BRMB, Mercia, Wyvern and Beacon, the stations are now part of the Free Radio Network. We often see poor results when stations first rebrand, with listeners getting used to the new name and station and Free Radio has proved no different, dropping from a combined reach of 801,000 to 708,000. Exeter FM also dropped slightly in reach after their rebrand to Radio Exe,but going from 28,000 to 25,000 won’t phase them too much. Eagle Extra, previously County Sound, appears to have bucked the trend, increasing their weekly reach from 6,000 to 13,000. As have Heart Cornwall – previously 105-107 Atlantic FM – who joined the massive Heart Network and increased their weekly reach from 66,000 to 68,000.

REGIONAL REVIEW: Briefly looking around the regions; Isle of Wight Radio, recent winner of the Arqiva Station of the Year (for under 300,000 TSA), have posted strong weekly reach figures of 36,000 listeners, 30% of the available population. In Harrogate (North Yorkshire), Stray FM has seen positive quarter on quarter growth, delivering 47,000 listeners (33%) up 3,000 listeners on the previous results. And, if you’re heading down to Weymouth to see the Olympic Sailing, why not tune in to Wessex FM who have posted a weekly reach of 40% (47,000 weekly listeners).

NATIONAL STATIONS: Classic FM remains the most listened to (single) commercial radio station in the UK. The station has maintained its reach of 5.4 million adults with listeners tuning in for an average of 6.4 hours. Keeping a focus on the national analogue stations – talkSPORT held on to second place despite not being able to continue their record reach of previous quarters, achieving 2.9 million weekly listeners. While Absolute Radio (National + London) managed improved results, up 9.4% quarter on quarter to 1,763,000. Note: Kiss UK, who broadcast across the UK via online, digital TV and on a number of DAB transmitters plus three regional FM licenses have achieved 4.3 million listeners, while Smooth Radio, who also broadcast nationally on DAB and have several regional licences (with local content in Scotland), has delivered figures of 3.2 million weekly adult listeners.

NETWORK STATIONS: The network radio stations which have become a feature of the UK radio industry over the past couple of years have again delivered some big numbers this quarter. The largest commercial radio network in the country is Global’s Heart Network which delivers almost 7.4 million listeners, closely followed by the Capital Network on just under 7 million listeners. Kiss UK has delivered 4.3 million, Magic UK 3.7 million, Smooth Radio UK 3.2 million, and Real Radio UK 2.4 million.

Note: As the UK radio marketplace changes there is some convergence between national and network stations. Whilst the lines are becoming blurred, RadioWorks define network stations as those which have locally produced content, whilst national stations have the same output right across the country and are also available on a mainstream national transmitter (Analogue Radio or Digital Radio).

DIGITAL RADIO: Digital listening has grown to account for a 31.5% share of all radio listening, with 46% of people now listening to digital radio, either through DAB, DTV, the internet or ‘other’. The latest RAJAR figures recorded that 21.8 million adults (41.7%) claim to live in a household which has a DAB receiver. The number one commercial, digital only radio station in the UK is now Smash Hits Radio, with over one million listeners (1,011,000). Also owned by Bauer, The Hits has dropped to second place with 973,000. Planet Rock increased their reach again by 10.1% quarter on quarter to take third position with a reach figure of 948,000. Absolute Radio 80s delivered 864,000 listeners to achieve fourth place with Heat Radio delivering 713,000.

GROUP PERFORMANCE: The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (delivering a total of 19.3 million listeners), thanks in part to the strength of its three core brands Classic FM, Heart and Capital. Bauer Radio with their Place and Passion Portfolios is the second largest commercial group, with a total reach of 13.3 million adults. GMG Radio, who are now a part of Global Radio (subject to confirmation from the competitions commission)has delivered a 5.5 million weekly reach, whilst UTV Radio, owners of talkSPORT, reaches 4.3 million listeners.

TARGETED STATIONS: Premier Christian Radio, broadcasting in London on analogue and across the UK via digital (online and DAB) have improved their quarter on quarter reach and now deliver 172,000 listeners every week. There has also been quarter on quarter increases for Sunrise Radio (London) who reach 286,000 weekly listeners.

MOBILE LISTENING: RAJAR shows that 18% of adults and 35% of 15-24’s now claim to listen to radio on their mobile phone. Nearly all the UK’s radio stations are providing smartphone apps to enhance the mobile listening experience, and providing advertisers with an additional point of contact. A recent RAB / Other Lines Of Enquiries study into mobile radio listening showed 32% of 16-34 year olds have listened to radio via mobile (at some stage), and 20% listen at least once a week.

That’s it from me for now. If you have any questions on RAJAR, or if you would like any further information, please feel free to contact your RadioWorks representative or alternatively email meSimon@RadioWorks.co.uk

SOURCE: RAJAR Q2 2012

Simon Pearce is Head of Insight at radio advertising specialists RadioWorks and Maple Street Studios

RAJAR Q1 2012 – Headlines and Comment

A few headlines from this quarter’s RAJAR results…

• 45% of the population listen to Digital Radio every week
• Capital hold on to the number one spot in London, with their breakfast show also finishing on top
• Bauer take the top two digital only commercial station spots with Hits and Smash Hits

And here is my comment on some of the results…

It’s been a great week for radio in Liverpool with local stations Radio City and 107.6 Juice FM bringing home Gold from the Sony Radio Academy Awards and improving their listening figures. We’ve been listening in to Juice this week and can confirm it is a great station. Targeted at Liverpool’s young, hip and happening population it’s a station that doesn’t take itself too seriously whilst at the same time being able to provide great content. My favourite feature so far has been ‘Orange Wednesday’ which gives the tan loving ladies of Liverpool the opportunity to win a spray tan! Keep up the good work Juice!

Here at RadioWorks we’ve been talking a lot about Radio’s Digital Future via DAB, online listening and mobile listening. The BBC stations 4 Extra and UK station of the year 6 Music have been leading the way in terms of reach but Commercial stations are not too far behind. Absolute Radio are embracing all the digital platforms and have reported that 77% of their total listening is now via digital – against an industry average of 29.2% – and they are providing advertisers with new ways to target these digital listeners, including Absolute Radio inStream. Another digital only station, Jazz FM deserves to be mentioned here. Jazz have increased their reach 13.9% year on year to now deliver 546,000 weekly listeners and they now deliver 2.4 million listening hours every week.

Simon Pearce is Head of Insight at RadioWorks and Maple Street Studios

Absolute Radio: Redefining Radio

Had a very interesting morning today thanks to Absolute Radio who invited me and a few RadioWorks colleagues along to their Redefining Radio conference at Portcullis House, just across the road from the countries seat of power. Speakers for the event included Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications & Creative Industries, Karla Geci from Facebook, the BBC’s Tim Davie, Rohan Oomen from Xbox Live and Absolute Radio’s Clive Dickens, James Wigley, Geoff Lloyd and Dave Gorman.

If you don’t have time to read this full post skip to my summary at the bottom 🙂

The general message from all the speakers was that of positivity – radio listening is still growing and currently reaches 91% of the UK population was a stat rolled out by at least three of the speakers. Ed Vaizey told us how neither video or technology killed the Radio star, despite many predictions of its demise. Whilst Clive Dickens reminded us of how non-traditional radio is growing and commented on the changes the internet is having on the medium.

It seems to me that the World Wide Web really is ‘wide’ and can offer plenty of opportunities for Radio Output (or should that be Audio?). Radio stations are already making good use of Facebook in terms of listener interaction and services like Spotify and the UK RadioPlayer are telling all our friends what we’re listening to.

One of radio’s strengths is the sense of community that comes from being a listener. It is this sense of community that Xbox Live has developed with its users and what Facebook thrives off of. The challenge for radio, as defined by Absolute, is ‘Broadcasting one to many (to their community) whilst advertising one to one’. The answer? Well, according to Clive Dickens and James Wigley from Absolute, the answer is in-stream advertising. Encouraging listeners to sign up to an Absolute Radio account provides the station with rich listener data while the listener benefits from additional services and less, more relevant messages. RadioWorks are currently testing the in-stream advertising with one of our clients so if you’re interested in further information please contact us.

For me the best speaker of the morning was the BBC’s Director of Audio and Music, Tim Davie. Tim echoed the message of positivity around radio and mentioned that ‘listeners relationship with radio is the strongest of any media’. For further growth in the radio sector Tim pointed us towards improved creativity and innovations via partnerships – with the UK Radio Player cited as a good example of how this has worked in recent times.

The conference was wrapped up by writer, broadcaster and general funny man Dave Gorman who made two great points…

1. A conversation is an interaction between two people, it doesn’t matter if it’s through twitter or across the airways – engaging with your audience / your community and speaking with them is what works
2. People don’t care how they are listening (if it’s via the web, mobile, or AM) what they care about is that they are listening at all – and enjoying it (hopefully)

If you want to hear a great conversation in action I can definitely recommend his radio show, Sunday’s from 10am on Absolute Radio

So, in summary what have I taken away from this morning’s conference?

• Radio is currently in a very strong position and has continued to grow despite the rise of new technologies
• Radio needs to constantly adapt in order to have continued success – embracing creativity and technological developments whilst providing more targeted advertising opportunities
• Radio needs to remember its core strengths and not lose sight of where it’s come from. Retain the sense of community, engage with the audience and keep them entertained.

Thanks for your time.

Si

PS > More information and twitter feed from today’s conference can be found on Absolute Radio’s blog http://onegoldensquare.com/

RAJAR Q4 2010

Magic 105.4 remains London’s number one radio station, while talkSPORT increase their listening figures yet again to break through the 3 million mark

In the London marketplace Magic 105.4 has yet again won the battle for the top spot, while improved figures from Kiss 100 see’s them jump up to second place. By achieving both the highest reach (2,051,000) and the highest share of listening hours (6.3%), Magic can undoubtedly say they are the number one radio station in London against All Adults 15+. In terms of reach Capital were not too far behind them, delivering over 1.9 million listeners themselves (1,961,000), a figure which represents a year on year increase of 7.3%. Looking at share, Kiss 100 is in second place with 5% followed by Heart 106.2 and LBC who are both on 4.6%, poor hours from Capitalsee’s them drop to fifth place in the share table with 4.5%.Commercial Radio as a whole has dropped slightly verses the BBC as a whole, now achieving a share of listening of 42.5% verses the BBC’s 55.3%. It is on a local level that commercial radio delivers, with 26.4 million listeners compared to 9.8 million for the BBC’slocal and regional services. Returning to the London marketplace, the much talked about ‘battle of the breakfast shows’ has been won again by Johnny and Lisa on 95.8 Capital FM. The duo managed to bring in over 1 million listeners to their 6-10am breakfast show, that’s 97,000 more than Chris Moyles on Radio 1 achieves in London! Improved results from Neil Fox’s Magic FM breakfast show (5.30-9am) have seen him leap up to second place in the breakfast listening table with 853,000 listeners. Kiss 100’s Rickie, Melvin and Charlie (6-9am) have also posted improved figures, now delivering 777,000 listeners to take them into third position. Jamie and Harriet on Heart(6-9am) on the other hand have dropped from second position in the commercial breakfast show listings to fourth, as they talk to 728,000 listeners every week. Briefly looking around the regions; in Lincoln, Lincs FM reached 317,000 adults (35% of all available adults in their TSA – Total Survey Area). In Oxford the micro station Jack FM delivered 67,000 listeners (13%). Broadcasting across the South Coast areas of Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and Pool the regional station Wave 105 pulled in 387,000 (22%) and in Wolverhampton Beacon Radioachieved 257,000 listeners (20%). Focusing on the North West, the recently re-branded Capital Radio Manchester has performed well increasing its reach to a total of 575,000 listeners, up from 566,000 last quarter (more on that the rebrand later). The quarter has also been good for CFM in Carlisle as the station grew its reach by 6,000 listeners, now delivering 112,000 adults. Radio City in Liverpool however has fallen away slightly on last quarters figures, now reaching 423,000 (down 16,000). Preston’s Rock FM also lost listeners this quarter going from 317,000 to 311,000. Real Radio and Smooth Radio, which both cover off the whole North West region, had mixed results. Smooth remained stable achieving 858,000 listeners and Real Radio dropped down to 451,000. Classic FM remains the most listened to (single) commercial radio station in the UK with a reach of 5.7 million adults, showing a year on year increase of 11.4%. But when looking at the national stations it is talkSPORT that should take all the plaudits as they have again brought in record figures of almost 3.1 million listeners! The station has achieved a 23.7% year on year increase and was up on last quarter’s record figures. Unfortunately, Absolute Radio National has not been able to sustain their previous strong performances as they drop to a reach of 929,000. Staying with Absolute, the network as a whole is down slightly to reach 2.2 million despite improvements for their new digital stations; Absolute Radio 90s is up and now reaches 295,000, Absolute Radio 80s is also up (665,000), whilst Absolute Classic Rock improves slightly to 306,000. The group will also be able to add the launch of Absolute Radio 00s to their figures from next quarter so watch out for their performance. Digital listening has grown slightly to account for a 25% share of all radio listening, with a weekly reach of 40.5% of people listening to digital radio, either through DAB; DTV; the internet or ‘other’. The latest RAJAR figures recorded 18.5 million adults as claiming to live in a household which has a DAB receiver. Bauer’s digital stations continue to remain strong in the digital only UK market. The Hits and Smash Hits both achieved over 1 million listeners, making them the two most listened to commercial digital only stations. The independently owned, Sony Digital Radio Station of the Year, Planet Rock takes third position achieving year on year growth of 18.5% and now reaching 827,000 listeners. The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (19.7 million listeners), the owners of the Heart Network of stations which delivers 7.7 million listeners across the UK. This January saw Global Radio rebrand a number of their station’s to Capital Radio, backed by a star studded TV commercial Capital really are going after the Radio 1 audience. The stations haven’t yet been measured under the Capital brand so we will have to wait for next quarter’s RAJAR results to get their true figures, prior to the rebrand the stations were attracting a combined reach of 6.3 million (for more information on this rebrand please feel free to contact a member of the RadioWorks team). Bauer Radio is the second largest commercial group, with a 13.2 million reach. GMG Radio who recently launched Smooth on to the National DAB platform will expect to see increased figures from this in their next set of results, but for now they reach just short of 5.2 million people. UTV Radio, including talkSPORT, delivers 4.1 million reach. This is the first set of RAJAR results for the Oxford based station Glide FM which achieved 13,000 adults. The station, previously called Oxford’s 107.9 FM, hit the headlines last year when they named themselves Glee FM (after the hit TV programme). The Q4 2010 RAJAR results also show a change in how the Heart radio stations report. Previously the Heart stations recorded their listening figures within their historical areas, i.e. Heart Plymouth (which was Plymouth Sound). From this RAJAR however, the stations are being recorded as their new ‘superstation’ areas, meaning the Heart Plymouth figures are now included in the Heart Devon results, which also includes Heart North Devon, Heart Exeter and Heart Torbay. To find out how this affects your radio campaigns please do feel free to contact your RadioWorks representative on 0207 90-70-6-70, or alternatively email Simon@RadioWorks.co.uk Sunrise Radio, which broadcasts in London on analogue and across the UK via digital (online and DAB) has shown a year on year increase of 1.9% and now achieves a reach of 371,000. Panjab Radio delivered 128,000 listeners nationally, while Buzz Asia and Premier Christian Radio (both in London) delivered 113,000 adults and 164,000 adults respectively. Finally, listening to the radio via a mobile phone should also be mentioned as 13.3% of adults and almost 31% of 15-24s claim to listen in this way. Many radio stations are now providing smartphone apps to enhance the mobile listening experience, and a recent RAJAR study has found that 20% of all Smartphone owners have a radio app. While podcasts are also proving very popular – Absolute Radio alone had 3.4 million podcasts downloaded in December 2010. That’s it from me for now. If you have any questions on RAJAR or if you would like any further information please feel free to contact your RadioWorks representative or alternatively email Simon@RadioWorks.co.uk SOURCE: RAJAR Q4 2010 Paul Kennedy, Research Director at RAJAR, has written a quick guide explaining the measurement tool on the BBC Radio blog, available by clicking here.

RAJAR Q3 2010 – Comment

At a time when iPods, iPhones, and iPads seem to be taking over the world this quarter’s RAJAR results have been great for Radio as almost 91% of the entire population are tuning in every week! And this growth has mainly been boosted by the Commercial Radio sector as stations grow their audience.
talkSPORT have helped to drive this growth with an outstanding performance during quarter three. Their highest ever set of figures of almost 3 million weekly listeners were no doubt boosted by the World Cup finals but it would be great to see the station sustain the figures into the next quarter. Absolute Radio have also delivered their best set of figures since the re-brand from Virgin, aided by Absolute 80s bringing in over half a million listeners.
And here’s a thought for you…. today it was announced that ITV’s Daybreak show achieved 530,000 viewers. Did you know that there are six stations in London alone whose breakfast shows have more listeners than that!

RAJAR Q1 10 – Comment

The headlines this quarter have to go to Chris Evans for his performance on the Radio 2 breakfast show but as for the commercial sector 95.8 Capital FM should be commended as they secured the number one spot in London and their breakfast show, hosted by Johnny and Lisa, delivered over 1 million listeners. Although overall Absolute has not performed as well as they would have liked the station group deserve praise for what they have been doing in the digital radio marketplace. Absolute Classic Rock has increased its reach by 37% over the last year and Absolute 80s has had a brilliant first RAJAR, delivering over a quarter of a million adults. Whilst fellow digital radio station NME has also performed well, up 27.7% quarter on quarter.  LBC’s continued strong performance deserves a pat on the back as does Kiss 100 in London – number one against that all important 15-44 year old market across the whole of London, even beating the BBC!

RAJAR Q1 10

Commercial Radio has had a good RAJAR with listening increasing year on year and quarter on quarter, with 32.1 million people now tuning in to commercial radio every week.

In the London marketplace Capital Radio and Magic 105.4 have battled it out for the top spot. Magic have achieved the highest reach (2,005,000) whilst Capital have delivered a higher share of the hours with 6%, so watch out for those conflicting stories on who is number one. Magic have come a close second to Capital in terms of share, delivering 5.9%. Strong hours again from LBC, along with an improved reach, have helped the station to achieve 5.1% share pushing it into third position. Heart is fourth with 4.7% share, and Kiss fifth on 4.1%

Commercial Radio as a whole will be very happy with this quarter’s set of figures, particularly on a local level where 26 million listeners tune in to commercial services compared to just 9.9 million for the BBC local and regional services. Across all stations, the ‘Chris Evans effect’ has helped the BBC to slightly improve on their share, with the figures now at 41.3% for Commercial Radio and 56.5% for the BBC. Note: Chris Evans has added a further 1.1 million listeners (13.1%) to the Radio 2 breakfast show he took over from Terry Wogan, helping Radio 2 to their highest ever reach of 14.6 million listeners.

Talking of breakfast the 95.8 Capital FM breakfast show has again retained its position as the number one commercial radio breakfast show in London, with Johnny and Lisa reaching 1,182,000 listeners (6-10am). Jamie and Harriet on Heart (6-9am) remain slightly ahead of Neil Fox on Magic (6-9am) with figures of 798,000 and 785,000 respectively. Rickie and Melvin on Kiss 100 (6-9am) came in fourth 656,000, and Nick Ferrari on LBC (7-10am) delivered a year on year increase of 37.4% to reach 597,000 listeners with his breakfast show.

Briefly looking around the regions… in Carlisle, CFM reached 99,000 adults (40% of all available adults in their TSA – Total Survey Area). In Hull the micro station KC FM delivered 76,000 listeners (18%). Broadcasting across South Wales the regional station Real Radio pulled in 406,000 (18%) and the East Midlands station, Heart 106, achieved 350,000 listeners (16%).

Focusing on Scotland, the success story there again comes from Galaxy Scotland (formerly XFM). Galaxy now reaches a total of 391,000 listeners, a 100% increase year on year! This quarter has been better for Total Clyde Radio (Clyde 1 and Clyde 2) in Glasgow as the two stations managed a combined increase on their reach, now delivering 664,000 adults (36%). Smooth Radio in Glasgow also had a little resurgence with its performance figures improving quarter on quarter, up 2.3% to now achieve 220,00 listeners (12%). There was also some good news for Radio Borders, which covers the Selkirk, Berwick, Peebles and Eyemouth areas, as the station increased their reach by 12.2% year on year to now reach 52% of its TSA (total survey area). Real Radio suffered in their performance a little with listener numbers dropping 5.1% year on year.

Classic FM remains the most listened to commercial radio station in the UK with a reach of 5.5 million adults, showing a quarter on quarter increase of 7.4%. Listening figures for talkSPORT have fallen off in the last quarter, dropping 5.1% quarter on quarter, now delivering a reach of 2,368,000 across the UK. Absolute Radio has again lost out on listeners dropping down 6.5% quarter on quarter to reach 1,396,000 adults 15+ across the UK. It’s not all bad news for Absolute though as their total hours across the whole network of stations (including Classic Rock) is up 12.1% quarter on quarter to 14 million. Absolute, always one to be ahead of the game in terms of technology, are to be the first radio station to publish the total number of hours of on-demand content served to listeners on a monthly basis (not via RAJAR) – in April the figure was 744,000.

Digital listening has grown to account for a 24% share of all radio listening, with 38.5% of people claiming to listen to digital radio, either through DAB, DTV, the internet or ‘other’ (e.g. smartphone applications). The latest RAJAR figures recorded 34.5% of adults claiming to live in a household which has a DAB receiver, up from 32% last year. Bauer’s digital stations continue to remain strong in the digital only UK market. The Hits achieves just over 1 million listeners and Smash Hits Radio 853,000 listeners, making them the two most listened to commercial digital only stations. The independently owned, Sony Digital Radio Station of the Year, Planet Rock takes third position achieving year on year growth of 3% and now reaching 694,000 listeners.

The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (18.5 million listeners), the owners of the Heart Network of 33 stations which delivers 7.3 million listeners across the UK. Bauer Radio is the second largest commercial group, with 12.3 million reach, GMG Radio reach just short of 5 million people and UTV Radio, including talkSPORT, delivers almost 3.6 million reach.

This will also be the first RAJAR for some new stations… the digital only 80s music radio station, Absolute 80s, is reporting on RAJAR for the very first time and has managed a very respectable reach of 264,000 adults. Star North East, the station created as Durham, Northallerton Radio and Alpha came together, achieved a reach of 52,000 (14%). In Bristol Jack FM, formerly known as Original, achieved a reach of 21,000 (4%) and Peterborough’s Connect FM, formerly Lite FM, achieved a reach of 18,000 (10%).

Sunrise Radio, which broadcasts in London on analogue and across the UK via digital (online and DAB) has shown a year on year decrease of 6.1% to achieve a reach of 444,000. In their first RAJAR reporting as a national DAB radio station Panjab Radio delivered 172,000 listeners.

Finally, listening to the radio via a mobile phone should also be mentioned as 12.6% of adults and over 30% of 15-24s claim to listen in this way. Many radio stations are now providing smartphone apps to enhance the mobile phone listening experience. While podcasts are also proving very popular – Absolute Radio alone had 1.8 million podcasts downloaded in April.

SOURCE: RAJAR Q1 2010