Commercial radio celebrated another milestone in this year’s Q3 RAJARS as it continued to chip away at the BBC’s slice of the radio pie, and took the bulk of national/network weekly reach for the first time.
This quarter also saw commercial stations reach their biggest ever audience share, at 56% of the 50m+ people who listen to the radio every week.
Overall, commercial radio as a whole reached 39.7m weekly listeners for the quarter, up slightly from 39.5m in Q2, compared to the BBC’s 30.9m, down by the same amount from 31.1m in Q2. Nationally, the figure was almost even, with decimals required to separate the two, but here too commercial edged things slightly, snatching the national crown the BBC had still held onto in the Q2 figures with 28.414m weekly listeners (+0.4m) to the BBC’s 28.382m (-0.2m). Finally, locally the commercial stations really came into their own, reaching a weekly 26.3m listeners compared to the BBC’s 6.7m, although it goes without saying that syndicated greatest hits channels with the name of a city tagged on the end and an occasional local news bulletin are in an infinitely more commercially viable proposition than the genuine community broadcasting the Beeb partakes in (which does also exist in the commercial sector, just at a much smaller level).
Among the commercial broadcasters, Global probably had greatest cause for celebration with another strong set of results to keep its place as the UK’s most listened-to commercial radio group, and posted and record-breaking results for Q3. The broadcaster recorded its highest ever share (28.1%) and record hours (286m), with 29m people tuning in every week across its radio brands.
Global’s Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand with 12.79m weekly listeners – a title it took from BBC Radio 2 back in May – although it held on by a whisker this quarter, with Radio 2 on 12.789m listeners, and both stations slightly down on last quarter. Main rival Bauer was no shirk here either, with its Hits Radio Portfolio, which includes both the Hits and Greatest Hits stations, pulling in 12.782m.
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Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK with just under 4.1 million weekly listeners, while Radio 2 still reigns supreme here, with relative newcomer Scott Mills drawing 6.16m.
Global holds the top three commercial radio brand spots nationally by weekly audience, with Heart, Capital and Smooth.
Ashley Tabor-King CBE, founder and executive president of Global said: “I’m so proud to see Global once again delivering record-breaking results, with more people listening for longer than ever before and commercial radio once again extending its lead. Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand, in a very competitive landscape, which overall shows an incredibly healthy radio market.
“As Radio X marks its 10-year anniversary, it has enjoyed a bumper summer, benefitting from the epic Oasis-reunion. It’s also rewarding to see that Capital Anthems, Classic FM Calm, Smooth Relax and Capital Chill are, amongst others, continuing their growth. The strong listening figures we see are testament to the incredible work of every globaller, and we are so grateful to the millions of listeners who choose our brands every single day.”
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James Rea, chief broadcasting and content Officer at Global, added: “It’s fantastic that so many people still love spending time with radio, and to see record hours and share for Global is wonderful recognition for our teams who work so hard to deliver for audiences. During a summer in which we saw the return of Oasis it’s great to see Radio X score its highest ever audiences as it marks ten years on air.”
It was a solid quarter for the other main commercial player, Bauer, too. Ken Bruce remains commercial radio’s most listened to daytime show on Greatest Hits Radio, while a refreshed line-up at Magic Radio, including Gok Wan and Harriet Scott at Breakfast, Gaby Roslin, Mel Giedroyc and Nicki Chapman, combined with a high-profile marketing campaign from TV to billboards, helped attract even more listeners, with audiences up 8.8% YoY.
Meanwhile, Absolute Radio, Kerrang! Radio and Planet Rock show that guitar music is continuing to strike the right chord with audiences. Absolute Radio has grown its main station audience (+4.9% YoY) as well as digital spin offs Absolute Radio 00, 10s and Country, which all increased reach by around 20% each. Planet Rock also grew, reaching 1.1 million weekly listeners (+11% YoY), while Kerrang! Radio has recorded its strongest performance in years, growing by more than a third year on year (+36.4% YOY and +8.9% QoQ).
Simon Myciunka, CEO for Bauer Media Audio UK, said: “Entertaining audiences is at the heart of everything we do, and that scale and connection is what makes Bauer such a powerful partner for advertisers. With broadcast remaining our focus, the growth of connected listening enables us to deliver even more targeted campaigns through our digital advertising proposition audioXi.”
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Gary Stein, director of audio at Bauer Media Audio UK, added: “Our radio stations continue to be the go-to soundtrack in people’s lives, connecting audiences to the biggest moments in music and culture. From Taylor Swift dropping into Hits Radio and Coldplay’s exclusive on Rayo, Britpop Summer on Absolute and Magic Radio growing audience, these results are a real testament to the creativity and passion of our teams across the UK.”
Over at the BBC, things were looking good for its digital service BBC Sounds, which registered an 8.5% yearly increase in plays across all content. The Beeb also remained the UK’s number one radio brand overall, with 31m people tuning in each week for live output across BBC’s radio stations, and a share of 42%.
Radio 2 continues to be the nation’s biggest single radio station and actually saw an increase in listeners this quarter, with 12.8m tuning in (up 1.3%) as it brought audiences Radio 2 In the Park and hosted some of the world’s most loved musicians in the Piano Room. The BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show presented by Scott Mills continues to be the UK’s biggest breakfast show with 6.2m listeners and Vernon Kay’s daytime show remains the UK’s most listened to radio show with 6.6m listeners, an increase of 32,000 listeners on the previous quarter.
In terms of platforms, 74% of all listening now takes place digitally, with DAB the most popular format on 42%, and websites or apps the third most popular overall platform on 18%. In between these two in second place, good old fashioned AM/FM still pulled in 26% of listeners. Intriguingly, it was here were the gulf between the BBC and the commercial broadcasters was most pronounced, with 33.2% of BBC listeners still tuning in thos way, compared to just 20.2% of commercial audiences – an interseting footnote as the BBC increasingly moves its services to a digital first position.
