RAJAR Q3 2012 – Headlines and Comment

A few headlines from this quarter’s RAJAR results…

• Magic 105.4 take number one spot in London, recording both the highest reach and the best audience share
• New digital only station Smooth 70s performs well in its first set of results
• Capital is the number one breakfast show in London, delivering higher reach than Chris Moyles in his final figures

And here is some comment…

The headlines this RAJAR are no doubt going to  Bauer Radio and Magic 105.4 in particular – and rightly so. Magic 105.4 in London have regained the number one spot in terms of reach, going above 2 million weekly listeners, and a huge increase in listening hours has seen them deliver an impressive market share of 7.3%. Given that this RAJAR period covered the Queen’s Jubilee and Olympics Games, could it be that people were tuning in to the station with its “more music, less talk” policy, to escape the hype?

The National Commercial radio breakfast shows also deserve a mention, after posting some strong figures. Simon Bates’ move from Classic FM to Smooth Radio UK (including Smooth 70s) has helped them post a strong audience, whilst John Suchet who took over the Classic FM morning show has maintained their figures. As they would say, “a big shout out goes to Rickie, Melvin and Charlie on Kiss” as they also posted some strong figures, showing that their show is just as popular outside of London as in it. (Unfortunately the shows are all at different times so it’s unfair to make a direct comparison but if you’d like the figures please do get in touch).

In regards to digital radio, this quarter has seen positive figures for commercial radio, with a record share of 30.7% of listening being via a digital platform – but overall there has been little change. New station Smooth 70s had a great first RAJAR and Jazz FM helped commercial radio’s figures with their highest ever reach (624,000), while Planet Rock retained their high listening hours to be named the ‘most listened to digital commercial station’.

And here is a final thought for you. Global Radio’s purchase of Real and Smooth Ltd looks all set to go through. If / 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!

(Source: RAJAR Q3 2012)

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

RAJAR Q3 2012 Review

Hi All,

Here’s my full RAJAR update for Quarter 3 2012 – if this is a little too much, check out my comments which I will be posting shortly.

Enjoy…

Magic 105.4 becomes the most listened to commercial radio station in London, whilst digital listening figures remain static.

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 a listener share of 43.3% versus the BBC’s 54.2%. On a local level, commercial radio completely dominates the BBC, delivering 26.4 million listeners compared to the BBC’s 8.9 million for local and regional services.

LONDON LISTENING: In the London marketplace the big news is that Magic 105.4 has taken over the number one spot in terms of reach, delivering over 2.1 million weekly listeners. Magic have also delivered in terms of listening share, showing strong quarter on quarter growth to take the top position with a massive 7.3%.  Going back to the reach table, Capital London have dropped to second position after a poor set of results, delivering 1,999,000.  A 12.2% quarter on quarter growth to 1,952,000 from Kiss 100 has helped them jump above Heart London (1,826,000), with LBC (927,000) also up 14% quarter on quarter taking fifth place, whilst poor results for Absolute Radio in London (832,000) saw them drop to sixth. Note: It is possible to measure Classic FM by its London only transmitter, which delivers 1,287,000.

LONDON BREAKFAST: The much talked about ‘battle of the breakfast shows’ has again been won by Capital Radio London, with 1,165,000 listeners to their show from 6-10am. This is the third 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 they will no doubt be proud of their continued reign at the top. Neil Fox’s Magic Breakfast Show (5-9am) has retained second place with improved figures up to 822,000 listeners, whilst Kiss Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin & Charlie (6-9am) have achieved third position with 717,000 weekly listeners – again beating Jamie and Harriet on Heart London (6-9am) who delivered 611,000 listeners.

NEW STATIONS: This is the first RAJAR for one new station and also a number of rebranded stations. Following the lead of Absolute Radio, decade-based stations are in vogue at present, with all the new stations carrying this theme. Smooth 70s, the National digital radio station owned by Real and Smooth Ltd, has delivered 749,000 listeners in its first set of results. Whilst Orion Media has taken the step of rebranding their Midlands-based Gold stations to Free Radio 80s. Previously reporting as Gold Birmingham & Black Country; Coventry & Warwickshire; Shropshire and West Midlands, the stations are now part of the Free Radio 80s Network. Whilst some stations struggle when they go through a rebrand, the Free Radio 80s stations have all had positive results. Covering Swansea and Port Talbot, 102.1 Bay Radio has also become an 80s station – extending the brand of its sister station Nation Radio to become Nation 80s – delivering a reach of 39,000, only slightly down on their previous reach of 40,000.

REGIONAL REVIEW: Briefly looking around the regions; in Norfolk, Norwich 99.9 FM have posted weekly reach figures of 54,000 listeners – 16% of the available population (slightly down from 57,000). In Doncaster (South Yorkshire), Trax FM has seen positive quarter on quarter growth, delivering 98,000 listeners (27%), up from 96,000 listeners (26%) previously, and in South West Wales Radio Pembrokeshire have posted a massive weekly reach of 50% (48,000 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 6.5 hours. Keeping a focus on the national analogue stations: talkSPORT held on to second place recording a reach of 3 million weekly listeners. While Absolute Radio (National + London) delivered results down 12.4% quarter on quarter to 1,544,000. 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 3.19 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 7.3 million listeners, closely followed by the Capital Network on 6.8 million listeners. Kiss UK has delivered 4.3 million, Magic UK 3.8 million, Smooth Radio UK 3.2 million, and Real Radio UK 2.3 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 remained static dropping down slightly to account for a 31.3% share of all radio listening, with 45.6% of people now listening to digital radio, either through DAB, DTV, the internet or ‘other’. The latest RAJAR figures recorded that 22 million adults (42%) claim to live in a household which has a DAB receiver. The number one commercial, digital only radio station in the UK remains Smash Hits Radio, with almost one million listeners (970,000). Absolute  80s have jumped up to second place with 895,000 weekly reach, going above The Hits which has dropped down to 893,000. Planet Rock also dropped off slightly reaching 864,000 listeners whilst in their first RAJAR Smooth 70s delivered impressive results of 749,000.

GROUP PERFORMANCE: The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (delivering a total of 19.2 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. Real and Smooth Ltd. (previously GMG Radio), who are now a part of Global Radio (subject to confirmation from the Competitions Commission) has delivered a 5.8 million weekly reach, whilst UTV Radio, owners of talkSPORT, reaches 4.2 million listeners.  Absolute Radio, and its network of decade-based stations, have dropped off slightly after their record listening figures of the previous quarter, and now deliver 2.9 million weekly reach figures. It is also worth noting that when Global’s purchase of Real and Smooth Ltd goes through, the group could be posting figures in the region of up to 25 million listeners.

TARGETED STATIONS: Premier Christian Radio, broadcasting in London on analogue and across the UK via digital (online and DAB) have dropped off slightly on last quarter’s reach, now delivering 164,000 listeners every week. There has also been a slight drop quarter on quarter for Sunrise Radio (London) who reach 282,000 weekly listeners.

MOBILE LISTENING: RAJAR shows that 18% of adults and 34% of 15-24’s now claim to listen to radio on their mobile phone, and nearly all the UK’s radio stations are providing smartphone apps to enhance the mobile listening experience. The UK’s online radio consolidation platform, RadioPlayer, has also released an iPhone app, with versions for other formats to follow. .

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 email me Simon@RadioWorks.co.uk

SOURCE: RAJAR Q3 2012

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

Radio Stations and Social Media

Here’s my first attempt at an Infographic… check it out…

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

RAJAR Q2 2012 – Headlines and Comment

A few headlines from this quarter’s RAJAR results…

• 46% 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 in terms of reach with Smash Hits and The Hits

And here is some comment…

The Digital Radio community are going to be very pleased with these RAJAR results as listening hours are up, now accounting for 31.5% of all hours listened. The listening reach is also up – 46% of adults listen every week. Digital only stations Planet Rock and Jazz FM both deserve a mention after posting reach increases and strong listening hours from Planet Rock see them crowned ‘the UKs most listened to commercial digital only station’. Whilst we’re talking about Digital, Absolute deserve a pat on the back as a massive 71% of the Absolute Radio Network listening is via a digital platform.

Overall growth for the Absolute Radio Network should be something the recently rebranded Free Radio stations can take heart from. Although it has been a difficult first quarter for the Free Radio stations they can look to the experience of Absolute who, after rebranding from Virgin Radio, took a while to rebuild their reach. So far the listener and advertiser feedback on Free Radio has been positive so now could be a good time for clients to explore the possibilities offered by these stations.

(Source: RAJAR Q2 2012)

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

RAJAR Q1 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 in Digital Listening with 311 million listening hours and 45% of the population tuning in to the radio via any digital platform.

RAJAR, the radio audience survey, shows that 90% of people in the UK listen to the radio every week. Commercial Radio reaches over 33 million listeners and achieves a listener share of 42.3% versus the BBC’s 55.4%. On a local level commercial radio completely dominates the BBC delivering 26.5 million listeners compared to the BBC’s 9.9 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 with a 4.1% year on year increase taking them to a reach of 2,269,000 listeners. Magic 105.4 has dropped off slightly in terms of reach down to 1,963,000. However, in terms of listening share Magic has grown their hours to take top position from Capital with a share of 6.1%. Going back to the reach table, strong improvements from Kiss sees them move above Heart London to take third position. The Sony Award winning station Kiss FM delivered a year on year increase of 7.5% to achieve 1,958,000 weekly listeners – a share of 5.1% and places them at third in the share table. With 1.9 million listeners per week Heart London is in fourth place in terms of reach but poor listening hours has seen the station drop to fifth place with a share of only 4.4%. After recent strong results, LBC have had a poor quarter, seeing their reach drop to 867,000 and the share drop to 4.6%. The national station Classic FM also reports London only figures and delivered 1.1 million listeners with a share of 3.5%.

LONDON BREAKFAST: The much talked about ‘battle of the breakfast shows’ has been won by Capital London, with 1,265,000 listeners to their show from 6-10. This is the first set of results for Capital London since a change to the line-up saw Dave Berry replace Johnny Vaughan as Lisa Snowdon’s co-host on the breakfast show, so they will no doubt be very happy to retain the number one position despite a slight drop over last quarter’s results. Neil Fox’s Magic Breakfast Show (5-9am) has retained second place with 793,000. Whilst Jamie and Harriet on Heart London (6-9am) have jumped up to third position with a reach of 759,000 weekly listeners. Kiss Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin & Charlie (6-9am) this week won a Sony Gold Award for their show but unfortunately failed to grow their audience, achieving only 750,000 weekly listeners. This is still some way ahead of the fifth and sixth placed London Breakfast shows, LBC (561,000) and Absolute Radio Network London (532,000).

REGIONAL REVIEW: Briefly looking around the regions; Liverpool appears to be the place to be if you want to listen to award winning radio. At this week’s Sony Radio Academy Awards – the radio Oscars – two local stations in the city both brought home Gold Awards. Radio City won the station of the year award for a population of over one million, and the micro station Juice FM won the station of the year award for a population fewer than one million. In terms of listening figures, they also delivered some strong results. Juice posted an increase of 9,000 listeners’ quarter on quarter to now reach 204,000 (21%), with Radio City reaching 447,000 (25%). And both stations showed an increase in listening hours. Outside of Liverpool there are a couple of stations whose RAJAR results that cannot be overlooked – Channel 103 & Island FM in Jersey and Guernsey respectively. This quarter, Island reached 49% of the population and Channel an amazing 58% reach of its available population – so if you want to advertise to people in the Channel Islands radio is a great way to reach the audience.

NATIONAL STATIONS: Classic FM remains the most listened to (single) commercial radio station in the UK. Despite a positive quarter the station is down over 10% year on year, with a reach of 5.4 million adults. Keeping a focus on the national analogue stations – talkSPORT, another Sony Award winner (for Best Sports Programme) improved their reach again and now delivers over 3.2 million listeners, while Absolute Radio remained around the 1.6 million mark. The Total Absolute Radio Network, which this quarter added Absolute Radio 60s and 70s to its stable of decade stations, has improved their results quarter on quarter, and now deliver almost 3 million listeners (2,978,000).

NETWORK STATIONS: The network radio stations which have become a feature of the UK radio industry over the past couple of years have posted some good results this quarter. The largest commercial radio network in the country is Global’s Heart Network which delivers over 7.4 million listeners, closely followed by the Capital Network on 7 million listeners. Kiss UK has delivered 4.3 million, Magic UK 3.6 million, Smooth Radio UK 3.3 million, and Total Real Radio 2.5 million.

DIGITAL RADIO: Digital listening has grown to account for a 29.2% share of all radio listening, with a weekly reach of 45.1% of people listening to digital radio, either through DAB, DTV, the internet or ‘other’. The latest RAJAR figures recorded 22 million adults (44.6%) claiming to live in a household which has a DAB receiver. The number one commercial, digital only, radio station in the UK is now The Hits with over one million listeners (1,081,000). Also owned by Bauer, Smash Hits has dropped to second place with 991,000. Planet Rock increased their reach 6.2% quarter on quarter to take third position with a reach of 861,000; with Absolute Radio 80s reaching 857,000 to achieve fourth and Heat Radio delivering 716,000. This is the first set of results for the recently launched Absolute Radio 60s and Absolute Radio 70s, both stations helped the Absolute business to post their highest audience figures for almost 10 years with 60’s achieving 151,000 and 70s delivering 157,000 weekly reaching.

GROUP PERFORMANCE: The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (19.2 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. GMG Radio has delivered 5.5 million weekly reach whilst UTV Radio, owners of talkSPORT, reach 4,461,000 listeners.

TARGETED STATIONS: Premier Christian Radio, broadcasting in London on analogue and across the UK via digital (online and DAB) now achieves a reach of 153,000. And there have also been quarter on quarter increases across Kismat Radio and Buzz Asia in London, delivering 105,000 and 119,000 respectively. Sunrise Radio has seen a slight drop quarter on quarter to 457,000 weekly reach.

MOBILE LISTENING: Finally onto mobile listening – RAJAR shows that 16.9% of adults and 32.8% 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 provide advertisers with an additional point of contact. An upcoming RAB / Other Lines Of Enquiries study into mobile radio listening is expected to show some interesting results.

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 Q1 2012

RAJAR Q2 2011

This quarter radio continues to break through barriers, with record reach and listening hours!

The latest RAJAR results are out and 92% of the UK  population now tune in to radio every week, with over 1 billion listening hours of radio consumed each week! 47.6 million  adults listen to radio each week, up from 47.3 million adults in Q1, and  750,000 listeners more than were listening a year ago!

Commercial radio has  reported 4% growth in listening hours quarter on quarter, with just under half a billion hours of commercial radio  consumed each week, by 34 million adults!

National stations: Despite a slight dip in this RAJAR Classic FM is still the single largest  commercial station in the UK,  with weekly reach of 5.7m and 38m listening hours each week.  talkSPORT have had strong RAJAR with an audience of 3.2 million listeners each week, but  their listening hours are down QonQ to 20 million hours . With their exclusive  Rugby World Cup commentary fast approaching we expect to see further rises. Planet Rock, which recently won the  Arqiva award for “Digital Station of the Year”, have also reported record reach  with 857,000 listeners per week. Their audience is predominantly 25-54’s and  skewed to a male audience. Absolute  Radio’s 80’s, 90’s and 00’s stations have had a fantastic set of results as  detailed above, and Absolute Radio itself has reported a rise in reach with 1.6 million listeners each week, and a  significant rise in listening hours with just over 14 million per week! With  total reach across the Absolute Radio Network creeping up towards the 3 million mark, all we need to find out now is who their  new owners are going to be…

London: In  the ever competitive London  marketplace, this quarter’s winner is Bauer’s Magic 105.4, with a 6.1% market  share and the highest reach and listening hours amongst all its contemporaries.  It is followed by Heart London (5.1%), Capital London (4.8%), LBC (ILR) (4.5%)  and Kiss 100 (4.3%) is in fifth position. It’s always staggering to see how  strong Global Radio’s speech programming on LBC is, as each week their audience  is tuning in for an average of 10.6 hours – which is the highest hours per  listener in London (by a significant margin!).

So how are the groups doing? Well Global Radio now reports 20m listeners each week, delivering 172m  hours (up from 167m hours last quarter). Heart’s audience accounts for 7.7m  reach and 54m hours (and rising), Capital accounts for 6.9m reach and 45m hours  (and rising), Classic for 5.7m reach and 38m hours and Gold 1.5m reach and 13m  hours. Bauer reports 13.7m listeners  each week and 115m hours (up from 112m hours last quarter). Bauer’s Place  Portfolio accounts for 9m reach and 75m hours (up) and its Passion portfolio  for 6.6m reach and 40m hours (up). GMG now  have 5.5 million weekly listeners, listening for 47 million hours (up from  46.5m hours last quarter). Smooth Radio now accounts for 3.2m of those  listeners, and they’re listening for 24m hours (up from 23m last quarter). Whilst  Real Radio accounts for 2.5m listeners, consuming 21m hours of output each  week. UTV’s audience is now 4.5m, consuming  34.2m hours of radio. talkSPORT accounts for 3.2m of those listeners, who  consume 20m hours each week. Absolute  Radio Network have had a really strong RAJAR and are reporting 2.9m  listeners each week, whilst delivering 24m hours. This is a huge jump from 2.4m  listeners and 17.6m hours last quarter! Orion  Media have stayed steady with 1.4m listeners each week and 10m hours. Sunrise Radio Group is also steady with  0.6m listening each week and 5m hours. JazzFM is similar with 0.6m reach and 2.2m hours.

New station to RAJAR this quarter is Wales’  first national commercial station, Real  Radio Wales. In their first set of result they are reporting reach of  471,000 each week – which is already higher than BBC Radio Wales! That said  their audience in North and Mid Wales is still quite low, but from watching their  long term performance with other station launches we would expect this to  continue to rise in coming quarters.

Round the country with  over 300 stations we have to choose a selection of highlights for you, and this  quarter we thought we’d take a look at the stations with the highest percentage  reach each week. Radio Borders (The  Scottish Borders) and Channel 103 (Jersey) both reach a phenomenal 57% of their potential  audience each week. So to be clear 57% of those that could tune in do! Moray Firth (Inverness)  reaches 54%. Island FM (Guernsey)  reaches 51%, Manx Radio (no prizes  for guessing its coverage!) reaches 50% and West Sound (SW Scotland) reaches  49%. Stations delivering over 40% weekly reach also include CFM (Carlisle), Radio Pembrokeshire, Cool FM (Northern Ireland), Northsound One, Swansea Sound/The Wave and Spire FM. This is something commercial  radio does much better than the BBC, as commercial’s local services are much  stronger (local commercial reaches 53% of people each week, whereas local BBC  reaches 19%).

Some of the biggest successes, looking at percentage growth  in audience quarter on quarter, include Absolute  Radio 80’s, 90’s and 00’s (up 37%, 39% and 21% respectively QonQ), NME Radio (up 24% QonQ, but still down  when looking YoY) and in London Kismat,  Sunrise and Premier Christian Radio have both reported significantly higher  audiences QonQ and YonY (58%, 25% and 100% respectively). At the other end of  the scale the “Gold format” stations feature heavily amongst stations reporting  a decline in reach QonQ.

Digital Listening             Listening to radio via a digital receiver has now reached  26.9% of all radio listening, that’s an increase of over 10% year on year! 22  million people now tune in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver (DAB, DTV,  internet) each week, for 289 million hours each week! DAB radio takes the  largest share of this listening accounting for 64% of all digital hours, with  DTV taking 18% and internet hours accounting for 12%. Listening to radio via a  mobile phone has increased 16% year on year with 14% of all adults saying that  they’ve listened in this way, and a massive 31% of 15-24 year olds saying they  have listened in this way.

Station’s who podcast their shows are also reporting some  good success stories. In particular Absolute Radio’s Frank Skinner Show posted  record figures of 5 million downloads in the first six months of the year, and  a million downloads in June alone, which for a station with 1.6 million  listeners at the latest count is a phenomenal number! No wonder they re-signed  him until May 2012!

RAJAR Q3 2011 In  the next wave of RAJAR, which is due out on 26th October, the  results will include responses via RAJAR’s new online radio listening diary.  The online survey mirrors the paper diary, allowing all data to be integrated  for reporting. RAJAR have been testing the diaries over the last few quarters,  and have seen very consistent results with the paper diary. This shouldn’t come  as a huge surprise as the questions are the same, but it has been an important  test for RAJAR to ensure that the online data is as robust and reliable as the  paper diaries. We believe around 16% of results in the next RAJAR wave will  have come from the online diary.

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

All the latest RAJAR Analysis can be found at http://www.radioworks.co.uk/rajar-analysis

RAJAR Q1 2011

This Quarter saw All Commercial Radio record its highest ever reach, delivering over 34 million adults every week

Commercial Radio as a whole has performed well verses the BBC, now achieving a share of listening of 42.6% verses the BBC’s 55%. It is on a local level that commercial radio delivers, with 27 million listeners compared to 10 million for the BBC’s local and regional services. Across the board UK Radio has every right to be happy, as a new record of 91.6% of the population tune in to listen every week, delivering over 1,000 million hours.In the London marketplace Capital London has regained the number one spot after a strong set of figures that saw them reach 2,179,000, an increase of 11% on last quarter. Capital also improved on their listening hours to award them with the highest listening share in London, 6.1%. After four consecutive quarters as London’s number one station Magic 105.4 has now come in at second place in terms of share with 5.3% (1,998,000 reach). LBC’s consistently strong hours have helped them finish third in the London share table with 5.1%. Like Capital, Heart London also improved on their last quarter results increasing their reach by 19% to 2,107,000 and achieving a share of 4.9%, making them the fourth placed London station. Sticking with share Kiss 100 come in at fifth place with 4.7% (1.8 million listeners) a long way ahead of their next closest rival. Note, Classic FM in London  delivered over 1.4 million listeners with a share of 5%. The much talked about ‘battle of the breakfast shows’ has been won again by Johnny and Lisa on Capital Radio London. The duo managed to bring in over 1.2 million listeners to their 6-10am breakfast show ensuring they keep a strong grip on their number one spot. Improved results from Jamie and Harriet on Heart London (6-9am) sees them climb up to second place with 860,000 listeners. Whilst Neil Fox’s Magic FM breakfast show (5-9am) has dropped off slightly to third with 839,000 listeners. Kiss 100’s Rickie, Melvin and Charlie (6-9am)have also seen a slight drop, now delivering 761,000 listeners leaving them in fourth position. Briefly looking around the regions; in York, Minster FM reached 86,000 adults (28% of all available adults in their TSA – Total Survey Area). In Weston-Super-Mare the micro station Nova Radio delivered 19,000 listeners (14%). Broadcasting in Glasgow Clyde 1 FM, which is a part of the new Bauer Place Portfolio, pulled in 579,000 (31%) and in Blackpool Radio Wave 96.5 FMachieved 80,000 listeners (33%). Focusing on the North East, the recently re-branded Capital North East has seen a drop in performance as it delivered a reach of 565,000 listeners, down from 604,000 last quarter (more on that rebrand later). Metro Radio (366,000), Star North East (42,000) and the regional station Real Radio North East (347,000) have all increased their reach quarter on quarter. Whilst TFM and the third regional station, Smooth Radio North East have remained static with 191,000 and 374,000 respectively. Classic FM remains the most listened to (single) commercial radio station in the UK with a reach of 6 million adults, showing a year on year increase of 10%. But when looking at the national stations it is the Sony Award winning UK station of the year talkSPORT that should take all the plaudits as they have again brought in record figures of 3.2 million listeners! The station has achieved a 37% year on year increase and was up on last quarter’s record figures. Rumours persist about the possible sale of Absolute Radio and these latest figures, which show a slight overall improvement on last quarters, may make them more attractive to potential suitors. Total Absolute Radio have improved their reach slightly to almost 1.4 million and the Absolute Radio Network as a whole is up to 2.3 million thanks to the inclusion of Absolute Radio 00s which delivered 170,000. Their range of digital stations have had mixed results; Absolute Radio 90s is up and now reaches 317,000, Absolute Radio Classic Rock is also up (342,000), whilst Absolute Radio 80s dropped off slightly to 624,000. Digital listening has grown slightly to account for a 26.5% share of all radio listening, with a weekly reach of 43.1% of people listening to digital radio, either through DAB; DTV; the internet or ‘other’. The latest RAJAR figures recorded 19.7 million adults (38%) 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 Planet Rock takes third position achieving year on year growth of 14.8% and now reaching 797,000 listeners. The UK’s largest commercial radio group is Global Radio (19.6 million listeners), the owners of the Heart Network of stations which delivers 7.4 million listeners across the UK. This January saw Global Radio rebrand a number of their stations to Capital Radio, backed by a star studded TV commercial Capital are really going after the Radio 1 audience. This is the first set of RAJAR figures to measure the stations since the rebrand and surprisingly there has been little change with the results, as the stations still have a combined reach of 6.7 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 13.4 million reach. GMG Radio who recently launched Smooth on to the National DAB platform achieving a reach of 3 million, have seen their overall reach increase to 5.3 million. UTV Radio, including those impressive results from talkSPORT, delivers 4.4 million reach. This is the first set of RAJAR results for a number of stations including Absolute Radio 00s (170,000), GEM 106 in the East Midlands (470,000) and all the newly rebranded Capital Radio stations. Overall the Capital stations have remained static (as shown above) but there have been some notable results: – Capital Birmingham (was Galaxy) now reaches 459,000 (up from 416,000); Capital South Wales (was Red Dragon) has dropped to 310,000 (from 340,000); Capital Manchester has also dropped to now 505,000; whilst Capital Scotland has increased to 460,000. For a full list of all the changes and results affecting the new Capital stations please feel free to contact your RadioWorks representive 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 5.6% and now achieves a reach of 469,000. Colourful Radio delivered 27,000 listeners, while Buzz Asia and Premier Christian Radio (both in London) delivered 111,000 adults and 135,000 adults respectively. Finally, listening to the radio via a mobile phone… 11% of adults and almost 29% of 15-24’s 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 3.6 million podcasts downloaded in March 2011 (with Frank Skinner’s show achieving 883,000). 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 Q1 2011 All the latest RAJAR Analysis can be found at http://www.radioworks.co.uk/rajar-analysis

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!