Commercial and BBC stations have been commenting on this morning’s radio listening figures.
Global says it has achieved its best-ever reach, hours and share, with “record-breaking listening figures on all metrics.”
It’s gained 1m listeners over the quarter, with 27.6m and its listening hours were 266m.
The operator has the top two biggest commercial brands – Heart and Capital.
“What an incredible day!! To have added a million listeners and achieve record reach, hours and share, hitting over 27 million listeners for the first time ever (27.6m) is a real moment,” said Ashley Tabor-King CBE, Founder & Executive President of Global.
“For connected listening to overtake analogue listening is testament to Global Player and all those who have worked so hard to create that platform. We are forever grateful to the millions of people who listen to our radio stations, and we will always work tirelessly to make everything our listeners hear the very best it can be. I’d like to acknowledge the continued work of every talented Globaller who truly deliver on our mission to make everyone’s day brighter!”
Bauer, the operator of Greatest Hits Radio, Absolute Radio and Magic Radio also recorded record weekly listeners – 24m, which is up 6.9% year on year.
Greatest Hits Radio is close to breaking through the 8m listener mark, while Simon Mayo has the biggest commercial drivetime show and Rossie at Breakfast has a record 2.9m listeners (+39% YoY).
“It’s great to see another record performance for Bauer Media Audio UK, reflecting the ambition and confidence of the business as it continues to evolve. We are committed to driving even further growth as evidenced by significant recent investment in Hits Radio; delivering even more value for our advertising partners,” said Simon Myciunka, CEO for Bauer Media Audio UK.
The period marks a year since Ken Bruce moved from the BBC to Greatest Hits Radio, with 3.8m listeners – up 73% year on year.
Ben Cooper, Chief Content & Music Officer, Bauer Media Audio UK added:
“A year of Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio has changed the landscape of our industry, with huge gains in audiences for the station and Bauer as a whole. Listeners are loving our range of talented broadcasters across the portfolio with record results for Absolute Radio and Magic Radio Networks.”
News Broadcasting and the talkSPORT network report also witnessed an increase in listeners.
The talkSPORT network delivered its largest-ever audience of 3.7m listeners, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year. Listening was for 22.5m hours – up 10.8% year-on-year
“News Broadcasting delivers another set of record-breaking results, demonstrating once again the amazing engagement our on and off air talent develop with their audiences,’ stated News UK EVP, President of Broadcasting, Scott Taunton.
BBC
The BBC has continued to lead its reaction to the Rajars on its much higher performing BBC Sounds, rather than traditional radio.
During the same period as the Rajars, the platform had a record quarter with a weekly audience of 4.97 million users across the app, website and voice activated devices, and for the first time, a peak of 5.1m.
BBC Radio had 31.3m people tuning in each week, with a share of 43.4% of all radio listening in the UK.
“Whilst listening habits continue to evolve, the latest quarterly figures demonstrate the power of breakfast radio, bringing people together in all four corners of the UK, with more listeners choosing to start their day with music from across the BBC’s radio networks,” explained Charlotte Moore, BBC Chief Content Officer.
“We want to offer audiences more choice and help them discover distinctive, high quality audio content from the BBC whenever they want to, and I’m delighted to see continued growth of BBC Sounds which has achieved a record 643 million plays of all content across radio, podcasts and music mixes. BBC Sounds has peaked at over 5 million users for the first time this quarter, which is a fantastic achievement for the platform in its 5th year. Our speech networks continue to provide listeners with top quality on-demand programming and podcasts.”
