Rajar Q3 2014: National stations and networks

Reach

Total Global Radio UK has maintained its dominance over the national stations and networks, recording very little change since the second quarter (-0.7%). The network has more than 21.2 million listeners, on average, each week. Over the last year the network has seen its reach grow 4.1%.

Still out-performing BBC Radio 2 for a third consecutive quarter after the acquisition of Absolute Radio at the end of last year, Bauer Radio’s total portfolio saw a slight gain of 1.8% from the second quarter, recording more 16.2 million weekly listeners. However, over the last 12 months, the network has seen a more substantial 13.3% growth rate.

With the inclusion of Orion – which Bauer sells on behalf of, but does not include in its portfolio – the weekly audience reach leaps to more than 17 million.

BBC Radio 2, almost neck and neck with the whole of Bauer’s network, has a little over 15 million weekly listeners, a slight drop of -3.1% since the second quarter.

The station, home to popular breakfast host Chris Evans and daytime debater Jeremy Vine, was up just 0.5% over the year.

The only real upset in the Q3 rankings saw BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra) improve its reach by 1.2% to overtake BBC Radio 1 (which dropped -2.5%).

In a triumph of politics and culture over pop songs and youth, BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra) has a weekly reach just shy of 11 million listeners. BBC Radio 1 has almost 10.6 million.

Elsewhere, a strong performance for Bauer’s Passion Portfolio – which has now added Absolute – saw a huge 35.5% rise over the last 12 months to reach over 10.2 million listeners each week. The portfolio was up 3.8 % quarter on quarter.

Heart Network (UK) also put in a strong performance over the year, up 20% (just over 9 million listeners), despite an almost static quarter with growth of just 0.1%. The overall performance is due to the re-branding of stations to Heart following the acquisition of Global Radio and Real and Smooth Limited.

Similarly, Smooth Radio Network – which re-branded Gold stations as Smooth – continues to count the benefits of the move after recording growth of 22.8% over the year. The network was up 2% in quarter three and now has a weekly audience of almost 4.7 million.

talkSPORT, after recording its highest audience ever in the second quarter, saw a -6.8% drop in Q3. However, the station was up 5.3% year on year and has a weekly reach of more than 3.1 million. Despite the quarterly dip, the flagship breakfast show, hosted by Alan Brazil, achieved its highest ever figures.

Total Absolute Radio Network, which saw some unwelcome drops in the second quarter, was back on form, recording yearly growth of 18.2% and a 6.5% QoQ growth. The station now has a weekly reach of more than 4 million.

After a summer of sport, BBC Radio 5 Live sports extra has seen quarterly growth leap 32.3% to over 1.2 million. However, the station was down more than 20% over the year.

Finally, in a signal that digital radio has a bright future, BBC 6 Music was up 5.4%, quarter on quarter, to over 1.9 million listeners. Over the year, the station witnessed a 15.2% increase.

Share

Total Global Radio (UK) dominated the total share of listening for national stations in the third quarter of 2014, up 0.3 percentage points quarter on quarter to secure an 18.1% share.

Despite a -0.7 percentage point decline, BBC Radio 2 maintained second position with a 17% share, followed by Bauer Radio Total (including Orion) with 14.2% and then Bauer Radio Total with 13.2%.

BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra) and BBC Radio 4 were both up 0.3 percentage points over the quarter, securing fifth and sixth place in terms of share of listening.

Most other quarterly increases and decreases were marginal.

Average hours

As usual there were mixed results for radio stations across the nation, with there being a fairly even split between those recording increases in average hours per listener and those recording declines.

Of the top five radio stations – in terms of hours listened to – BBC Radio 2 was the only station to record a decline over the quarter, down -0.9% and maintaining second place, behind BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra), which was up 0.8% QoQ with listeners tuning in for an average of 12 hours.

A 7% quarter on quarter increase saw BBC 6 Music climb one place to fifth to secure an average of 9.2 hours – a little behind BBC Radio 4 (11.5 hours) and Global’s LBC Network (10.7 hours).

While Bauer Radio Total (including Orion) and Bauer Radio Total saw no change in listening hours over the quarter, Bauer’s Planet Rock UK was up a significant 24.6%, increasing its average by 1.6 hours to 8.1 hours. Bauer’s The Hits also saw average listening hours increase significantly, up 37.9% from 2.9 hours in Q2 2014 to 4 hours this time round.

Radio’s sports-dominated stations continued to draw in fans, with talkSPORT securing an average listening time of 7.1 hours; while BBC Radio 5 live sports extra increased its time by 26.5% (QoQ) to 4.3 hours, but was down -20.4% over the year.

Elsewhere, Global’s Gold Network (UK) and Smooth Radio Network (UK) were down -4.9% QoQ and -3.8% QoQ, respectively, while Bauer Place Total (including Orion) and Bauer Place Total were down -1.3% QoQ and -2.6% QoQ, respectively.