Rajar Q1 2015: National stations and networks

Reach

Despite both quarterly and yearly declines – though marginal – Total Global Radio (UK) maintained its dominance over the national networks with a little under 21.2 million listeners on average, followed by Bauer Radio (Total) with 16 million.

As per usual, the BBC claimed the next three spots with Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio 1; however, just Radio 4 recorded any increase over the quarter, up 1.2%, while Radio 1 was down -7% QoQ and -7.9% YoY.

Elsewhere, BBC stations performed particularly well, with Radio 4 Extra up 26.2% over the quarter and 30.5% over the year, while Radio 5 live sports extra boosted its weekly reach by a massive 103.8% QoQ, most likely thanks to the Six Nations Rugby.

BBC 6 Music, the largest digital-only station, was down -1% on the previous quarter but up 7.1% YoY to reach a little over 2 million, while BBC 1Xtra saw weekly reach decrease by almost a quarter.

Bauer Radio’s Magic Network performed well in Q1, up 31.2% QoQ to reach 3.6 million listeners on average, alongside the network’s Absolute Radio, up 16.5% QoQ.

Bauer suffered elsewhere, however, with The Hits down -16.3% QoQ and Absolute Radio 90s down -12.7%.

Global continued to perform well away from the top spot, with Heart Network UK and Capital Network, despite both recording declines, ranking sixth and seventh in terms of weekly reach.

Smooth Radio Network (UK) just missed out on making the top 10 with a weekly reach of a little under 4.8 million; however, the network has increased its reach by 10.7% over the year.

Global’s LBC Network (UK) was also up 2.3% QoQ and 10.4% YoY.

Share

Total Global Radio (UK) continued to dominate the total share of listening for national stations in the first quarter of 2015; however, was down slightly on the previous quarter – declining -0.4 percentage points to an 18.2% share.

A 0.3 percentage point increase over the period meant that BBC Radio 2 closed the gap even more between first and second place with an 18.1% share, while Bauer Radio (Total) maintained the third spot with no change at all.

BBC Radio 4 was up 0.9 percentage points over the quarter to secure a 12.8% share, while Heart Network (UK) and BBC Radio 1 were down -0.1 and -0.2% percentage points, respectively, cementing fifth and sixth place.

All other quarterly increases and decreases were marginal.

Average hours

2015 kicked off with a mixed bag of results for average hours listened with a slight change in the top ranked radio stations – however this is largely due to a new Rajar reporting format which has seen a reduction in the number of groups reported on.

BBC Radio 2 is currently in top place with a quarter on quarter (QoQ) rise of 2.5% – matched year on year (YoY) by the same amount. The station records an average 12.2 hours per listener.

BBC Radio 4 is in second position with 12 hours, up a healthy 7.1% QoQ and 3.4% YoY, whilst in third place with 9.4 hours is LBC Network (UK), down -9.6% QoQ and -13.8 YoY.

Elsewhere, Bauer’s Absolute recorded a healthy 14.1% QoQ rise, whilst the group’s Absolute 80s was up 10.3% during the same period – and up 25.5% YoY.

Some consolidation of smaller stations has seen Bauer’s The Hits leap 23.8% QoQ and a huge 85.7% year on year. The station records an average of 5.2 hours.

After recording one of the worst declines in Q4 2014 (-13%) BBC 6 Music put in a better performance – up 5% QoQ to 8.4 hours. However, the digital-only station was down -5.6% year on year.

One of the worst performances for the quarter was recorded by 1Xtra from the BBC, which was down -21.8%, dropping more than an hour.

In contrast, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra recorded a 40.9% boost, QoQ, no doubt helped by a healthy season of live sport, including the Rugby Six Nations. The station was up almost an hour per listener.