Radio 2 Records Rise In Weekly Reach

The latest RAJAR results for Q2 2007 show that BBC Radio 2 once again had the highest weekly reach of the national stations, of more than 13.1 million listeners, up almost 1.3% year on year.

Radio 1 saw its reach rise by 4.3% year on year, taking it to almost 10.9 million listeners, whilst Radio 4 rose by more than 3.2% year on year, giving it a reach of almost 9.5 million.

1Xtra, the BBC’s urban music station, enjoyed a year on year increase in weekly reach of 66.5%, to give it a total of 473,000.

Digital only station BBC6 Music also posted a strong year on year increase in weekly reach, of over 33%, although it suffered a very slight period on period drop, of nearly 1.3%, leaving it with a total of 471,000.

Classic FM was down both period on period and year on year, by around 5.4% and almost 2.2% respectively. Its weekly reach in Q2 now stands at around 5.7 million listeners, down from more than six million in Q1.

In June, Classic FM launched a 20-week programme in partnership with Ford, Ford Galaxy of Stories, to run every Sunday afternoon. Celebrities narrating the stories have included Harry Enfield and Richard E Grant (see Classic FM Secures Massive Multi-Media Campaign).

The Hits recorded another good quarter of growth, up almost 15.2% period on period, to take its reach to more than 1.3 million.

Two Virgin stations also saw fairly sizeable increases in their reach for the period, with similar percentage rises for both Virgin Radio Classic Rock and Virgin Radio Groove.

Virgin Radio Classic Rock was up almost 43.6% period on period, whilst Virgin Radio Groove grew almost 45.6% over the same time-frame, with the stations now boasting reaches of 234,000 and just under 100,000 respectively.

Other big increases in Q2 were enjoyed by Total Smooth FM, which was up by more than 54% year on year and 53.3% period on period, to take its weekly reach to nearly 2.3%, and Total Kiss Network, which reported a year on year rise of over 23.9%.

It wasn’t such good news for Total Capital Gold Network UK, which suffered a year on year downturn of 20.6% which saw its total fall from over one million to more than 925,000.

Digital station The Arrow, which specialises in adult orientated classic rock, saw a very large increase in its weekly reach, growing by a massive 100% year on year, with a period on period increase of more than 33.3% taking its total to very nearly 125,000.

BBC Radio 2 recorded the highest share of listening of the national stations, at just over 15.6%, however this was down slightly from the first quarter.

Radio 4’s share of listening dropped 8.2 percentage points period on period, leaving it to rest at 11.2%, whilst Radio 3’s share also fell, by 8.3 percentage points period on period.

There was a big climb for Five Live Sports Extra, albeit from a low base, of 50 percentage points year on year and period on period, with the sports station’s share reaching 0.3%.

Classic FM now has a 4% share of listening after a decline of almost 4.8 percentage points both year on year and period on period.

It was a mixed bag for talkSPORT, which was up almost 5.9 percentage points year on year, yet down 10 percentage points period on period. Its share now rests at 1.8%.

The dance music focused Total Kiss Network saw a healthy increase of over 33 percentage points year on year, to a 1.6% share, whilst Total Smooth FM grew nearly 82 percentage points period on period, taking its share to 2%.

Everyone’s favourite hard rockin’ station, Planet Rock, had a most excellent period, boosting its share of listening by 50 percentage points to 0.3%.

With regards to average hours per listener, BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4 were neck and neck at 12.5 hours each.

Radio 2 stayed static period on period and enjoyed a slight year increase of 0.8%, whilst Radio 4 fell 5.3% period on period, although it climbed almost 2.5% year on year.

BBC Radio FIVE LIVE now has an average hours per listener figure of over 7.5 hours, following a year on year decline of just over 2.5%.

Meanwhile, Five Live Sports Extra enjoyed a big increase, with its total of 3.4 hours up nearly 42% from Q1.

Life saw very good growth, of 90.7% year on year and just under 22.4% period on period, taking its total figure to 8.2 hours.

Listeners to Chill are tuning in for more than 20.9% longer than they did in the same period last year, with the station’s total rising to 5.2 hours per listener.

There was also a good period on period rise for Virgin Radio Groove, with growth of 20% taking its total average hours per listener to 5.4 hours.

Fans of Smooth FM are now sticking with the station’s mix of music from the past five decades for even longer, with a period on period climb of 24%.

Total Kerrang!’s hours rose over 9% period on period, which returned its total average to the figure it was at a year ago, 4.8 hours.

RAJAR: 020 7292 9040 www.rajar.co.uk