All Commercial Boosts Share Of Listening Whilst All BBC Records Decline

All Commercial narrowed the gap with All BBC stations, seeing year on year and period on period upturns in its weekly reach and share of listening, according to the latest RAJAR data for Q2 2007.

Weekly reach rose to around 32 million with share of listening jumping to 43.5% for All Commercial, whilst All BBC recorded declines in share of listening, but a year on year boost to its reach of 1.2%.

BBC Local/Regional recorded a slide across the board in terms of weekly reach, share of listening and average hours per listener, whilst All Local Commercial performed well, with the exception of a year on year drop of around 3% for average hours per listener.

Share of Listening

All Commercial increased its share of listening during the second quarter of the year, bolstering its share by almost 1.5 percentage points year on year and 3.3 percentage points compared to Q1, with its share now at 43.5%.

It was a solid performance from All Local Commercial also, with a slight increase year on year and an almost three percentage point boost period on period. All Local Commercial now commands a share of more than 32%.

BBC Local/Regional, which now holds a share of less than 10%, dropped a substantial 8.4 percentage points year on year, and more than 7.5 from the first three months of 2007.

Meanwhile, All BBC’s share fell by around three percentage points in Q2 compared to Q1 2007, with a marginal decline of less than one percentage point compared to the same period in 2006.

However, All BBC holds the lead against All Commercial in terms of share of listening, captivating more than 54% of all listening.

Weekly Reach

All BBC saw a slight fall in its weekly reach in Q2 compared to the first quarter of 2007, but a 1.2% increase year on year, whilst All Commercial was up around 2.6% from Q1 to Q2.

All Commercial also saw a 4.1% hike in its weekly reach year on year, now reaching around 32 million listeners compared to All BBC’s 33.2 million.

It was a productive period for All Local Commercial also, rising almost 2.4% from the previous quarter and just shy of 4% year on year, with a weekly reach now resting not far off 26 million.

BBC Local/Regional recorded a decline in its reach, however, dipping 4% from Q1 but under 1% year on year. Its reach now stands at just under 9.9 million.

Average Hours Per Listener

Compared to the first three months of 2007, listeners were sticking with All Commercial stations for 14.4 hours on average in Q2, up from 14.1 hours for the previous period.

However, year on year this has decreased by around 1.4% from 14.6 hours in Q2 2006.

Listeners are staying with All BBC for an average of 17.3 hours, despite a period on period downturn of more than 1%. Year on year this figure had fallen slightly, with listeners tuning in to All BBC stations for 17.4 hours in Q2 2006.

Listeners also chose to spend less time with BBC Local/Regional, with average hours per listener falling almost 3% in Q2 from Q1. The stations also recorded a decrease of more than 6% year on year, with average hours per listener now at 10.5 hours, compared to 11.2 hours in Q2 2006.

All Local Commercial saw around a 3% slide year on year in terms of hours per listener. However, this was higher in Q2 than Q1, with listeners now sticking with the stations for an average of 13.2 hours.

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