RAJAR figures show 90% of UK adults listen to radio every week
A snapshot of the current state of play in Britain’s radio industry has been provided courtesy of the latest set of RAJAR audience figures for the first quarter of 2013 – showing that 90 per cent of the UK adult population tuned into their selected radio stations over the period.
They detail the winners and losers in terms of audience share with the BBC reporting something of a mixed bag with BBC Radio 1 host Nick Grimshaw shedding 900,000 listeners to just 5.8m regulars on his Breakfast Show with its overall reach dropping from 11.09m in the previous quarter to 10.26m.
BBC Radio 2 fared rather better however with Chris Evans’ breakfast show now reaching more ear lugs than ever before, 9.8m to be precise, representing a 600,000 increase year-on-year. The stations overall reach is now 15.27m, up from 14.6m in the last quarter.
Amongst the networks to record growth was Absolute Radio which saw its audience rise by 274,000 over the year to hit 3.3m, increasing its listening hours in the process from 23.5m to a highest ever 25.7m.
Absolute Radio Content Director, Tony Moorey commented, “The Absolute Radio Network has seen consistent and strong growth since its launch in 2008 and has now achieved record listening hours. Our strategy is one of steady growth and consistently high reach and best ever share is testament to a Sony Award winning year for The Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show and a strong quarter of new music relevant to our brand.”
Bauer Radio meanwhile reported a total audience of 13.7m listenersand a strong performance from isocial media with 6m connections through app, Facebook, Twitter and websitetouchpoints.
Dee Ford, group managing director radio, Bauer Media Group, said: “This is another strong RAJAR performance for the Bauer Media Group and we’re delighted to see an increase in our total audience reach, hours listened and share. Our local and national strategy of continued investment and innovation in great radio products has led to a strong overall performance of the Place Portfolio led by Clyde1 and Metro Radio, and also sees the Passion Portfolio recording its highest ever reach, hours and share.”
Elsewhere Real and Smooth Radio saw 5.57m listeners tune in each week, giving them a total of 47.3m audience listening hours – up one million year-on-year.
Group programme director John Simons commented: “After the last two quarter’s extraordinary success, the group finished 2012 on an extremely high watermark with record audience figures, therefore Quarter 1 was always going to be a challenge; with over five and a half million listeners tuning in to our stations every week, I think we’ve met the challenge head on. Smooth Radio continues to hold a strong position and proves that digital listening is not just a preserve of younger listeners.”