13 May 10

Commercial radio loses share to BBC but widens reach

MediaCom lists some of the key highlights of the latest Rajar data released this morning for Q1 '10.

It''s been a really solid quarter for commercial radio - it's clear that investment in radio brands has paid off, with new talent, station-led promotions and large scale events keeping listeners tuned in. 

The penetration of new devices and technology has fuelled the growth of digital listening - with an impressive increase in reach and share across all platforms. This is set to continue with full Government backing of the migration to digital listening by 2015. Media owners have embraced the digital arena with many launching station-branded apps and new ways of connecting with their listeners in the digital space.

Commercial Radio:

• All commercial listening has remained static at 41.3% share, this is the same with the BBC at 56.5%
• Commercial radio reaches 32.2 million listeners per week (up 2.1% yr on yr) whilst BBC reaches 35 million listeners
• Radio listening reaches all time high as 46.5 million adults tune into radio each week

Digital:

• Listening to the radio via a digital platform in terms of weekly reach increased 15% year on year to 19.7 million people.
• Total digital listening hours for Q1 2010 now stand at 243 million hours per week, up an impressive 18% year on year.
• DAB ownership up 9% year on year to over 1/3 of the population
• DAB listening share is 15.1% (+20%)
• DTV listening share is 4% (+19%)
• Internet listening share is 2.9% (+29%)
• 6 Music being in the spotlight has no doubt helped it achieve its best results with Reach up 47.2% and hours up 106.7%!
• Planet Rock is up 19% in hours quarter on quarter giving them their biggest hours ever at 5.905 million.
• 47.8% of Absolute's audience listening via digital platforms.
• Mobile listening - 30.4% of 15-24 year old demographic claim to have listened to the radio in this way in the first quarter, with 14% saying they have listened via mobile once a week, while 26% they listen every day.

London:

• Capital has overtaken Magic as the number one station in London with 6% share (hours) closely followed by Magic with 5.9%, although Magic still reaches more listeners per week (2m)
• Heart is in third place (4.7%), Kiss now has 1.7 million listeners and has a 4.1% share.
• Capital also remains number one Breakfast show with 1.1 million listeners, Heart now has 798,000 and closely followed by Magic with 785,000
• Interesting stats.....29% of Magic listeners don’t listen to any other commercial station in London, Kiss station boasts more 15-44 listeners than any other station in London, including the BBC.

National

• Classic FM saw an increase of 7.4% in listening hours and 5.9% in reach, taking its weekly reach back to 5.5m
• The Heart Network is by far the biggest commercial network in the UK, reaching over 7.3m listeners each week
• Chris Evans has had a stormer, adding on an extra 1.1m listeners to Terry Wogan's old show. The show now reaches a staggering 9.5m listeners every week
• Talksport have had a bizarre dip of losing 20% of their hours - definitely a RAJAR anomaly - despite continuing investing in their coverage and programming

GMG

• The GMG radio group reaches over 4.7 million listeners a week.
• Total Real radio reaches almost 2.3 million adults a week
• Total Smooth radio reaches over 2.6 million adults listeners across the uk ever week
• Overall, the group had a disappointing release though with a drop in both hours and reach