01 Nov 10

Radio listening at record high

Radio Champion, Craig McDonald, summarises the latest RAJAR results.

According to the latest RAJAR, the radio audience measurement body, radio listening has surged to its highest levels for more than a decade in the three months to the end of June, with stations such as BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live and TalkSport enjoying record audiences over a period that included the general election and the football world cup. An average of 46.8 million adults tuned into their favourite stations each week during the Q3 2010 period, equating to 90.6% of the UK population aged over 15.

The average weekly radio audience (reach) has increased by nearly 500,000 year on year and 300,000 quarter on quarter. This is the highest weekly reach for UK radio listening since RAJAR introduced its current research methodology in January 1999.

Overall, the BBC's share of the audience declined from 56.5% to 54.6%, meaning commercial radio increased its share from 41.3% to 43.2%. The commercial radio trade body the Radio Centre said that this represented the highest commercial reach in the past decade, with the number of listeners growing by 905,000.

Full article taken from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/05/radio-4-5-live-talksport-rajars