Digital Radio Continues National March

Digital radio once again stole the crown in RAJAR figures for the fourth quarter of 2005, with sizeable gains in weekly reach seen across the sector.

The BBC saw a healthy increase in its drama and comedy station, BBC7, pushing its weekly reach up by 53.45% year on year and attracting an audience of 600,000. BBC6 Music saw a similar rise, up by 48.75% year on year.

Digital success was mirrored in the commercial sector, with Capital Life enjoying the largest growth in Q4, rising by an impressive 347.37% year on year. Emap’s Heat, rose by 80% year on year, while The Arrow shot up by 78.38%.

Not all digital stations saw success however, with Virgin Radio Groove dropping by 50% year on year, despite launching a mobile internet radio service to push the station and allowing users to tune into internet radio feeds via a 3G mobile phone (see Virgin Hails Success Of Mobile Internet Radio).

The BBC national stations to notch up weekly reach increases however, with BBC Radio 3 dropping by 6.05% year on year and Radio Five Live declining by 4.35%.

Despite weekly reach falling by 0.40% year on year, BBC Radio 2 maintained its position as market leader, with a healthy audience of 13,252.

Total Virgin Radio managed to push its weekly reach up by 2.56% year on year, while rival XFM saw a downwards turn of 9.81% in Q4 2005.

Period on period, however, few stations managed increases, with the exceptions being Capital Life and BBC6.

BBC Radio 2 remained the nation’s most listened to station in terms of share of listening, despite suffering a 0.4% year on year decline. The station now commands a share of listening of 16%, with BBC Radio 4 taking second place with a share of 11.8%. BBC Radio 1 saw the highest year on year increase up 1% point to take third place.

The Corporation’s digital stations, BBC 6 Music, BBC 7 both saw increases of 0.10% year on year, respectively, during the quarter. BBC Radio FIVE LIVE saw share of listening drop by 0.10% year on year to command a total share of 4.2%.

Turning to commercial radio, Magic lost out in Q4, losing 0.20% year on year, taking its share of listening down to 1.9%.

Meanwhile, share for Total Virgin Radio (AM/FM) rose by 0.20% year on year, gaining a total share of 1.6%. Total Smooth Network, also proved successful, pushing its share up by 0.10% year on year.

The largest share of listening in the commercial sector went to Classic FM which, despite suffering a drop of 0.10% year on year, enjoyed a share of 4.3%.

Digital radio also proved popular in the last quarter of 2005, with some substantial gains in hours per listeners seen across the spectrum.

The BBC enjoyed a large increase in listening hours with its BBC Asian Network, rising by an impressive 23.81% year on year, with the stations average hours now standing at 7.8 per listener.

Ethnic stations also performed well in the commercial sector, with Yaar Radio experiencing massive growth, with average hours rising by 312.50% year on year.

BBC Radio 4 pushed its average hours up, by 3.88%, year on year, knocking BBC Radio 2 off the top stop is has held throughout 2005. Radio 2 suffered a drop of 0.78% in Q4, pushing its average hours down to 12.8.

Commercial stations continued to thrive, with Total LBC pushing its average listening up by 10.68% year on year, while Sunrise Radio National increased its listening hours up by a massive 68.33. The stations now commanding average hours of 11.4% and 10.1% respectively.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis’ Core enjoyed a strong performance in average hours with an impressive 84.62% growth. The stations’ average hours per listener now stands at 4.8.

RAJAR: 0207 903 5350 www.rajar.co.uk