Radio 1 ratings slide gathers pace as 800k listeners tune out
Radio 1’s remorseless slide in the ratings is continuing unabated with the station shedding more than 800,000 listeners over the past year, taking its total audience to below the psychologically significant 10m mark over the first quarter.
Figures published by Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAH) show that just 9.7m listeners turned their dials in Radio 1’s direction between 5 January and 5 April, an 8 per cent fall on the same period last year.
Accounting for the drop-off is an exodus of those aged over 30, with over 90 per cent of departing audiences falling into this category. The BBC is unlikely to be too troubled by the numbers however as it has been its explicit policy to target those aged between15-29.
Elsewhere the BBC’s suite of digital stations fared rather better with Radio 4 Extra adding 500,000 listeners over the period whilst stablemate Radio 6 Music rising from 1.93m listeners last year to 2.06m this year.
This was reflected in a slight uptick in listeners at BBC Radio as a whole over the quarter, increasing from 34.87m to 35.31m.