Over half of the listeners to Bauer’s radio stations now tune in via digital channels, the latest RAJAR results have revealed.
The total of 50.8% is the group’s highest ever figure and well above the industry average of 36.8%.
Its total portfolio – include Key 103 in Manchester, Metro Radio in Newcastle and Liverpool’s Radio City – reached 16.8m people in the second quarter, a 12% increase year-on-year.
Bauer’s Dee Ford
Bauer’s group managing director radio, Dee Ford, said: “This landmark achievement reaffirms our confidence and commitment to DAB and a strong and healthy digital future. In addition, we have seen stellar performances from many of our national and local brands across the UK.”
Global Radio recorded its highest ever audience, up to 23.2m, with share of listenership at Smooth stations up to 6.6% from 6.2% last quarter and the Heart network up from 6.2% to 6.4%.
Ashley Tabor, founder and executive president of Global, said: “It’s an immensely special day for the team at Global with our best RAJAR ever, leading the pack in the fiercely competitive London market with Capital, Heart and Smooth all enjoying phenomenal success.”
UTV-owned talkSPORT also recorded its highest ever audience figure, 3.4m, largely thanks to its coverage of the World Cup.
MD Calum Macauley said: “We continue, through brilliant sports content, to attract a young and very upmarket audience with an ABC1 male profile higher than 5 Live. We have also seen our position in the London market grow significantly. It’s great news for the station and our advertisers.”
Meanwhile, BBC Radio 6 Music’s listening figures have overtaken BBC Radio 3 for the first time.
The MediaCityUK-based station, which was almost closed down by the BBC in 2010 before a public outcry forced a rethink, recorded an average weekly audience of 1.89m over the last quarter, a 5.5% increase on the same period last year.
Radio 3’s weekly reach was just behind on average 1.88m, down 5.6% year-on-year.
| 2014 Quarter 2 Summary 31 Mar- 22 Jun |
2014 Quarter 1 Summary 30 Dec- 30 Mar |
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| Survey | Pop’n | Total Hours | Share of | Pop’n | Total Hours | Share of | |
| Period | ‘000 | ‘000 | Listening % | ‘000 | ‘000 | Listening % | |
| BBC Radio FIVE LIVE | Q | 6276 | 42408 | 4.1% | 6174 | 42940 | 4.1% |
| BBC Radio FIVE LIVE (inc SPORTS EXTRA) | Q | 6442 | 45554 | 4.4% | 6327 | 44989 | 4.3% |
| FIVE LIVE SPORTS EXTRA | Q | 919 | 3145 | 0.3% | 817 | 2048 | 0.2% |
| BBC Radio Cumbria | H | 123 | 1126 | 13.9% | 121 | 973 | 11.7% |
| BBC Radio Humberside | H | 211 | 1982 | 12.0% | 205 | 2481 | 13.4% |
| BBC Radio Lancashire | H | 197 | 1594 | 7.0% | 212 | 1909 | 7.6% |
| BBC Radio Leeds | H | 207 | 1441 | 5.0% | 222 | 1440 | 4.9% |
| BBC Radio Manchester | H | 189 | 1689 | 4.0% | 201 | 1439 | 3.6% |
| BBC Radio Merseyside | H | 339 | 3888 | 11.4% | 368 | 4063 | 12.2% |
| BBC Radio Newcastle | H | 278 | 2276 | 9.1% | 334 | 2742 | 10.4% |
| BBC Radio Sheffield | H | 254 | 1856 | 7.3% | 242 | 1911 | 7.7% |
| BBC Radio Stoke | H | 127 | 1253 | 9.7% | 156 | 1512 | 11.7% |
| BBC Radio Tees | H | 138 | 1013 | 7.0% | 134 | 1062 | 7.3% |
| BBC Radio York | H | 88 | 649 | 6.4% | 88 | 727 | 7.3% |
| Gold Network (UK) | H | 857 | 6959 | 0.7% | 772 | 6069 | 0.6% |
| Heart Network (UK) | H | 9069 | 66251 | 6.4% | 9126 | 63575 | 6.2% |
| talkSPORT | Q | 3376 | 22726 | 2.2% | 3196 | 20502 | 2.0% |
| Smooth Radio Brand UK | H | 4602 | 36872 | 3.6% | 4311 | 33422 | 3.2% |
| Bauer Rock Portfolio | H | 1845 | 10878 | 1.1% | 1959 | 11780 | 1.1% |
| Bauer Place Portfolio – North East | H | 720 | 5780 | 14.5% | 712 | 6348 | 15.4% |
| Bauer Middlesbrough | H | 214 | 1572 | 10.5% | 227 | 1561 | 10.4% |
| Bauer Newcastle | H | 508 | 4208 | 16.4% | 487 | 4787 | 17.6% |
| Bauer Place Portfolio – North West | H | 1413 | 10382 | 10.1% | 1540 | 11218 | 11.0% |
| Bauer Liverpool (inc. City Talk) | H | 521 | 4296 | 11.2% | 529 | 4183 | 11.0% |
| Bauer Liverpool | H | 494 | 4066 | 10.6% | 500 | 4008 | 10.6% |
| Bauer Manchester | H | 611 | 4174 | 8.9% | 733 | 5509 | 12.3% |
| Bauer Preston | H | 319 | 2142 | 7.5% | 321 | 1701 | 5.7% |
| Bauer Place Portfolio – Yorkshire | H | 843 | 7016 | 11.4% | 915 | 8067 | 12.5% |
| Bauer Hull | H | 274 | 2204 | 11.2% | 282 | 2473 | 11.6% |
| Bauer Leeds | H | 167 | 1367 | 7.5% | 195 | 1617 | 8.5% |
| Bauer Sheffield | H | 416 | 3487 | 13.8% | 446 | 4029 | 16.0% |
| FM Bauer Place Portfolio North East | H | 589 | 4227 | 10.6% | 591 | 4443 | 10.8% |
| Metro Radio | H | 436 | 3311 | 12.9% | 417 | 3633 | 13.4% |
| TFM Radio | H | 154 | 916 | 6.1% | 175 | 811 | 5.4% |
| C.F.M (Bauer Carlisle) | Y | 111 | 1044 | 20.4% | 111 | 1050 | 20.9% |
| Bauer FM Liverpool | H | 468 | 3438 | 9.0% | 480 | 3454 | 9.1% |
| Total City Talk/Magic 1548 | H | 138 | 1088 | 2.8% | 135 | 905 | 2.4% |
| City Talk 105.9 | H | 68 | 230 | 0.7% | 62 | 175 | 0.5% |
| FM Bauer Place Portfolio North West | H | 1281 | 8728 | 8.7% | 1398 | 9397 | 9.6% |
| Radio City 96.7 | H | 439 | 3208 | 8.4% | 447 | 3278 | 8.6% |
| Key 103 (Manchester) | H | 558 | 3535 | 7.5% | 660 | 4593 | 10.2% |
| 97.4 Rock FM | H | 293 | 1985 | 7.7% | 306 | 1525 | 6.0% |
| FM Bauer Place Portfolio Yorkshire | H | 663 | 4685 | 8.5% | 720 | 5304 | 9.2% |
| 96.3 Radio Aire | H | 99 | 566 | 5.0% | 114 | 675 | 5.6% |
| Hallam FM | H | 346 | 2528 | 10.0% | 386 | 2956 | 11.7% |
| 96.9 Viking FM | H | 226 | 1592 | 8.1% | 224 | 1674 | 7.8% |
| Magic Network – North | H | 622 | 5538 | 2.7% | 664 | 6488 | 3.1% |
| Magic Network – North East | H | 193 | 1554 | 3.9% | 203 | 1904 | 4.6% |
| Magic 1152 (Newcastle) | H | 102 | 898 | 3.5% | 122 | 1154 | 4.2% |
| Magic 1170 (Teesside) | H | 92 | 656 | 4.4% | 83 | 750 | 5.0% |
| Magic Network – North West | H | 183 | 1654 | 1.6% | 188 | 1822 | 1.8% |
| Magic 1548 (Liverpool) | H | 79 | 858 | 2.2% | 81 | 729 | 1.9% |
| Magic 1152 (Manchester) | H | 73 | 639 | 1.4% | 83 | 916 | 2.0% |
| Magic 999 (Preston) | H | 32 | 157 | 0.7% | 23 | 176 | 0.7% |
| Magic Network – Yorkshire | H | 246 | 2330 | 3.8% | 273 | 2763 | 4.3% |
| Magic 828 (Leeds) | H | 83 | 801 | 4.4% | 98 | 942 | 4.9% |
| Magic AM (Sheffield) | H | 105 | 959 | 3.8% | 96 | 1073 | 4.2% |
| Magic 1161 (Hull) | H | 66 | 612 | 3.1% | 84 | 800 | 3.7% |
| Total Cheshire Radio | Y | 64 | 415 | 5.8% | 67 | 482 | 6.6% |
| Cheshire’s Silk 106.9 | Y | 26 | 196 | 5.5% | 22 | 142 | 4.1% |
| Chester’s Dee 106.3 | Y | 39 | 219 | 6.2% | 44 | 340 | 8.8% |
| Total CN Radio | Y | 263 | 1995 | 12.8% | 269 | 2220 | 13.8% |
| The Bay | Y | 107 | 905 | 15.5% | 109 | 979 | 16.2% |
| Lakeland Radio | Y | 148 | 1037 | 10.9% | 21 | 163 | 13.6% |
| Heart Yorkshire (was Real Radio Yorkshire) | H | 370 | 3323 | 5.7% | 332 | 2579 | 4.4% |
| Heart North Wales (was Real Radio Wales (North)) | H | 67 | 281 | 1.8% | 63 | 419 | 2.7% |
| 106.1 Real XS Manchester (was 106.1 Rock Radio) | H | 148 | 676 | 1.2% | 186 | 853 | 1.6% |
| Smooth Radio North East | H | 443 | 3519 | 8.7% | 398 | 3365 | 8.0% |
| Smooth Radio North West | H | 1165 | 9366 | 8.6% | 1035 | 7821 | 7.3% |
| Capital Manchester | H | 526 | 3324 | 5.9% | 627 | 3704 | 7.0% |
| Capital North East | H | 473 | 2727 | 6.9% | 421 | 2742 | 6.7% |
| Capital Yorkshire | H | 1044 | 7747 | 8.9% | 1019 | 7568 | 8.5% |
| Gold Manchester | H | 66 | 576 | 1.0% | 90 | 419 | 0.8% |
| Smooth Radio North West and Wales (was Gold North West and Wales) | H | 31 | 249 | 1.2% | 14 | 128 | 0.6% |
| Capital North West and Wales (was Heart North West and Wales) | H | 198 | 1155 | 5.7% | 212 | 1365 | 6.4% |
| XFM Manchester | H | 231 | 1437 | 2.6% | 166 | 577 | 1.1% |
| Lincs FM Group Yorkshire | Y | 305 | 2574 | 7.9% | 317 | 2642 | 8.1% |
| Dearne FM | Y | 50 | 379 | 8.6% | 55 | 410 | 9.0% |
| KCFM 99.8 | Y | 89 | 775 | 7.5% | 85 | 764 | 7.3% |
| Ridings FM | Y | 43 | 366 | 5.6% | 42 | 412 | 6.6% |
| Rother FM | Y | 35 | 269 | 6.1% | 47 | 321 | 7.2% |
| Trax FM | Y | 89 | 785 | 9.9% | 89 | 735 | 9.1% |
| The Local Radio Company Group Total | Y | 533 | 4306 | 10.9% | 535 | 4595 | 11.6% |
| 2BR | Y | 58 | 545 | 15.6% | 62 | 586 | 16.4% |
| Minster FM | Y | 62 | 401 | 6.9% | 69 | 566 | 9.7% |
| Star North East | Y | 51 | 385 | 5.2% | 50 | 378 | 5.0% |
| Star NE – North (was Durham FM) | Y | 17 | 119 | 2.9% | 16 | 98 | 2.3% |
| Star NE – South (was Alpha 103.2) | Y | 34 | 266 | 8.1% | 34 | 280 | 8.6% |
| 97.2 Stray FM | Y | 49 | 321 | 10.2% | 51 | 350 | 11.2% |
| Sun FM | Y | 72 | 560 | 11.5% | 69 | 618 | 12.5% |
| Yorkshire Coast Radio | Y | 53 | 493 | 19.9% | 51 | 499 | 20.0% |
| Radio Mansfield 103.2 | Y | 38 | 326 | 9.7% | 44 | 383 | 11.4% |
| Heart North West (was Real Radio North West) | H | 531 | 3825 | 3.5% | 505 | 3533 | 3.3% |
| Heart North East (was Real Radio North East) | H | 243 | 1534 | 3.8% | 249 | 1364 | 3.3% |
| Heart North Wales (was Real Radio Wales (North)) | H | 67 | 281 | 1.8% | 63 | 419 | 2.7% |
| Heart Yorkshire (was Real Radio Yorkshire) | H | 370 | 3323 | 5.7% | 332 | 2579 | 4.4% |
| 96.2 The Revolution | H | 25 | 222 | 2.3% | 33 | 349 | 3.8% |
| 107 The Bee | Y | 52 | 497 | 6.1% | 52 | 494 | 5.9% |
| 107.6 Juice FM | H | 228 | 1895 | 8.5% | 230 | 1744 | 8.0% |
| Peak 107 FM | Y | 106 | 973 | 11.0% | 100 | 813 | 9.3% |
| Radio Wave 96.5 FM | Y | 75 | 655 | 13.8% | 81 | 780 | 16.8% |
| 102.4 Wish/107.2 Wire/107.4 Tower FM | Y | 159 | 926 | 4.4% | 158 | 898 | 4.3% |
| 107.4 Tower FM | Y | 45 | 307 | 4.0% | 49 | 290 | 3.9% |
| 107.2 Wire FM | Y | 51 | 237 | 4.6% | 49 | 239 | 4.4% |
| 102.4 Wish FM | Y | 63 | 383 | 4.3% | 60 | 368 | 4.2% |
