Rajar Q1 2014: Round-up

National stations and networks

Total Global Radio UK has maintained its dominance over the national stations and networks, recording a healthy 7.3% quarter on quarter (QoQ) increase in weekly reach, taking its total to an average of 21.4 million.

The network was also up 10.8% on the previous year – thanks to its acquisition of Real & Smooth. Meanwhile, Global’s Heart Network UK celebrated a quarterly increase of 25%, netting an extra 1.8 million weekly listeners.

A big change since the last reported results – and one that has impacted the latest figures – is Bauer’s acquisition of Absolute Radio at the end of last year.

The addition of Absolute Radio, formerly owned by Times of India, took Bauer’s audience for its national Passion Portfolio – which includes Kiss, Kerrang! and The Hits – to over 9.5 million listeners.

The move also saw Bauer Radio Total Portfolio overtake BBC Radio Two – which was named Radio station of the year earlier this week at the annual Radio Academy awards – to claim the second spot and secure a weekly reach of 16.1 million. Up 11.7% on the last quarter, the network also recorded a 17.4% increase YoY.

Elsewhere, Bauer’s Passion Portfolio celebrated a significant 31.9% boost in average weekly listeners, overtaking Heart Network (9.1 million) with a total of 9.5 million.

A small 0.4% QoQ increase in listeners, compounded by Bauer’s growth, meant that BBC Radio 2 slid down to third position to record an average of 15.6 million listeners each week.

Despite BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra), BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 1 taking the next three spots, each station recorded small quarterly declines – down -2.2%, -2.2% and -4%, respectively – as well as BBC Radio 5 live (including sports extra), which was down -3.1% QoQ.

Slightly better news for BBC Radio 3, however, which saw a 4.8% QoQ lift in weekly listeners, taking its total to just over the two million mark.

Click here for the full breakdown.

Digital

Listening to radio via a digital platform has played a key role in the increase, with weekly reach up by 4% year on year (YoY). 27.1 million people now tune in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver – DAB radio, digital TV and online – up from 26 million in quarter one 2013.

In total, 25 million adults have access to a DAB receiver, up 10% year on year.

However, it is the capital that is seeing the strongest shift to digital, which Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, said is partly due to strong digital growth by stations including LBC with their popular Radio Academy award-winning Ask Boris phone-in, Heart, Kiss, Smooth and Magic.

Nationally, analogue radio listening share is at its lowest ever, at 57.8% of all listening hours.

In terms of digital listening hours across the UK, the start of 2014 has witnessed a 7% increase over the last year to 379 million hours.

DAB radio is still the most popular device when it comes to listening digitally, accounting for 65% of all digital hours. Listening via a digital television represents 14% and listening online 17% of all digital listening hours.

Click here for the full breakdown.

Breakfast

National

BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show has once again seen its listener figures drop, losing an average of 440,000 weekly listeners (-7%) in Q1 2014, compared with the previous quarter, which recorded a healthy 12.7% boost.

In the previous results, 6.3 million listeners tuned in for the breakfast slot, which features Call or Delete and The Nixtape, signalling that the previously struggling Breakfast Show – which saw a huge chunk of listeners flee along with Chris Moyles in 2012 – may be on the road to recovery. However, the overall listener figure has now dropped to less than 5.9 million.

Meanwhile, BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show continued to lead the ranks with an average weekly reach of 9.8 million – holding steady with a slight 0.2% increase QoQ.

BBC Radio 3 recorded an impressive 24.2% increase in average weekly listeners, although its total audience remains small at only 673,000.

Elsewhere, BBC Radio 4 was down -1.1% QoQ, however remained comfortably behind Radio 2 with an average weekly reach of 7 million, while a -8.9% QoQ decline saw BBC Radio Five Live finish the quarter at just under 2.4 million weekly listeners.

In contrast to last quarter’s -3.3% loss, a 6% QoQ increase took talkSPORT to an average weekly reach of almost 1.5 million, while Global’s Classic FM lost just under 70,000 average weekly listeners compared with the previous quarter.

London

As is usual, Global’s Capital London came out on top in the first quarter of 2014 with an average weekly reach of 923,000, however the station recorded a significant -22.4% QoQ loss in weekly listeners, and -13.5% over the year.

While the network suffered elsewhere, with both Capital XTRA (-38.6% QoQ) and LBC News (-21.8% QoQ) down significantly, Heart London celebrated a 27.7% rise in weekly listeners over the quarter, and XFM London was up 15.5% QoQ.

Q1 saw mixed results for Bauer, with Magic London – which has changed time from 05.00-09.00 to 06.00-10.00 – up 9.3% over the quarter to record just under 900,000 weekly listeners, while Kiss FM dropped -3% QoQ to take its weekly reach to just under 800,000.

Global’s Smooth Radio (London) celebrated the biggest quarterly increase, up an impressive 36.7% to take its weekly reach from 166,000 in Q4 2013 to 227,000 in Q1 2014.

Elsewhere, Total Absolute Radio Network (London) was up 17.4% QoQ, while BBC London was down -22.3% QoQ.

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