Rajar Q2 2015: National stations and networks

Reach

The latest Rajar results for Q2 2015 show that Total Global Radio (UK) continues to dominate the national networks with a little under 21.2 million listeners on average, followed by Bauer Radio (Total) with 16.5 million (up 3.5% QoQ after the addition of 11 new stations).

BBC Radio 2 maintained third position with an average weekly reach of just over 15.1 million, while a healthy 7.6% increase on the previous quarter saw BBC Radio 1 near the 10.5 million mark after a rocky Q1.

While BBC Radio 5 live sports extra (21.4%) and BBC World Service (14.4%) were both up over the quarter, the BBC’s 5 Live (-7.6%), 4 Extra (-10%) and Radio 3 (-9.1%) all recorded declines in weekly reach.

Elsewhere, Bauer’s Kiss Network was up 6.8% QoQ, bolstered by a 29% increase in weekly reach for Kisstory and a 36.5% increase for Kiss Fresh, both new Kiss offspring stations – most likely a result of Bauer launching them on the London 1 DAB multiplex.

Lovers of 80s classics also ensured that Bauer’s Absolute 80s was up 10.7% over the quarter.

A 9.1% QoQ increase saw Global’s LBC Network (UK) reach almost 1.5 million listeners a week, while Capital XTRA (UK), also owned by Global, was up 13.1% to a little under 1 million.

In contrast, the group’s more popular Classic FM, reaching 5.3 million a week, was down -4.5% QoQ, while Global’s Heart Network (UK) was down -1.4% and Smooth Radio Network (UK) down -2.9%.

BBC 6 music, the largest digital-only station, saw little change at all over the period, down by just -0.4% to 2.06 million while recording a positive 8.7% increase in reach over the year.

Share

Total Global Radio (UK) continued to dominate the total share of listening for national stations in the second quarter of 2015; however, it was down slightly on the previous quarter – declining -0.5 percentage points to an 17.7% share.

A 0.5 percentage point increase over the period meant that BBC Radio 2 closed the gap even more between first and second place with a 17.6% share, while Bauer Radio (Total) maintained the third spot with a slight 0.3 increase.

BBC Radio 4 was down -1.1 percentage points over the quarter to secure a 11.7% share, while Heart Network (UK) was down just 0.5% and Radio 1 recorded no change at all.

All other quarterly increases and decreases were marginal.

Average hours

BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 continue to dominate the average hours listened rankings, recording 12.2 hours and 11.5, respectively.

When BBC Radio 4 includes its 4 Extra figures, it matches Radio 2 – a first for the station.

Other solid performances were recorded by Bauer’s Planet Rock, up 13.7%, quarter on quarter, and up 27.7% year on year. The station records a healthy 8.3 hours per listener.

BBC Radio 3 was also looking very strong – up 15% this quarter and up 23.2% year on year to 6.9 hours, whilst Absolute Radio was up 8.5% in Q2 to 7.7 hours.

It wasn’t such good news for Smooth Radio Network (UK), which recorded a -7.2% drop in the second quarter. However, the network still records 7.7 hours, on average, per listener.

There was also a solid performance from 1Xtra from the BBC – up a huge 27.9% in the second quarter to 5.5 hours.