The number of people listening to radio continued to grow in Q3 2026, with 51m people across the UK tuning in each week. This was up 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and 2% year-on-year, according to the latest Rajar figures.
Commercial radio accounted for 55.7% of listening share, down from 56% in Q3 2025. The BBC’s share increased to 41.9%, up from 41.7% a year earlier.
Listening hours for local radio declined across both the BBC and commercial stations, falling by 244,000 hours for the former and 567,000 for the latter. However, BBC Network Radio and national commercial radio recorded increases of 42,000 and 273,000 hours respectively.
Radiocentre’s CEO Matt Payton said: “Radio’s record-breaking reach proves that audio remains an essential part of daily life for millions of people across the UK. As listening habits continue to evolve, commercial radio is thriving, attracting 40m listeners and growing its listening hours due to more digital consumption and the resilience of broadcast platforms. These results are a testament to the enduring appeal of great content, trusted stations and the ability of radio to deliver both scale and targeting for brands.”
Here are the other takeaways from the Q3 Rajar figures:
Mixed results for Bauer as Global’s reach grows
Bauer recorded contrasting results across its national brands, with declines at Hits Radio (-4.3% year-on-year) and Greatest Hits Radio (-5.6% year-on-year) offset by growth at KISS (+12.2% year-on-year) and several specialist music stations.
Global’s Heart remains the UK’s most listened-to commercial radio brand, reaching 13m listeners, up 1.8% year-on-year. Capital and Smooth saw year-on-year declines of 2.6% and 1.9%.
News UK’s radio portfolio recorded year-on-year growth, with total weekly reach increasing 2.8% to 6.5m listeners. In particular, talkSPORT grew its weekly reach by 8.9% year-on-year following a summer of major sporting events.
James Rea, chief content officer at Global, said: “It’s fantastic to see an all-time high for radio listening in the UK and how it continues to be such a big part of so many people’s lives. I’m incredibly proud of the Global team for delivering this amazing set of results. It’s brilliant to see Heart, Capital and Smooth are the top three commercial radio brands in the UK. There’s also impressive growth for some of our newer stations, such as Classic FM and Calm, which is celebrating record numbers.”
>> 40m people tune into commercial radio each week
KISS Breakfast continues to grow year-on-year
BBC Radio 2 Breakfast grew its weekly reach by 4% year-on-year and 1% quarter-on-quarter to 6.4m listeners, remaining the leading programme in the breakfast slot. Sara Cox took over the programme on 6 July.
Meanwhile, Global’s Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden fell below the 4m mark. Its weekly reach declined by around 1.9% year-on-year and 4.5% quarter-on-quarter.
Bauer’s KISS Breakfast, hosted by Tyler West and Chloe Burrows, continued to outperform its year-ago figures, growing 29% year-on-year to 561,000 listeners. However, reach fell 16% quarter-on-quarter. West and Burrows took over the show in February as part of a wider KISS rebrand.
Gary Stein, director of Audio at Bauer Media Audio UK, said: “It’s been a great quarter across the portfolio. KISS has had a brilliant year since its relaunch, and Tyler and Chloe have made Breakfast fun, unpredictable and genuinely part of their listeners’ mornings.”
>> Radio 2 Breakfast grows as Heart Breakfast slips below 4m
Digital listening supports commercial radio growth
Online listening reached a record 30.8% of all radio listening in Q3 2026, up 1.1 percentage points year-on-year.
Smart speakers accounted for 18.7% of listening, while websites and apps grew to 12.2%. Digital platforms overall made up 76.4% of radio listening, with AM/FM continuing to decline.
Commercial radio’s online listening share also increased, rising 0.6 percentage points year-on-year to 34.1%, driven by growth in listening via websites and apps.
>> Online listening reaches record 30.8% share
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