Magic FM Boasts Biggest Weekly Reach In London

Magic FM (London) proved to have the highest weekly reach of the main London stations, despite a year on year dip of more than 3%.

Quarter 1 2007 RAJAR figures show the station to have a weekly reach of around 1.8 million, down year on year but up slightly from last period.

Magic, which recently launched a £1 million TV advertising campaign (see Magic 105.4 To Launch TV Ad Campaign), saw its share of listening drop year on year by more than one percentage point (up 0.40 percentage points from last period), to leave its reach at almost 6%.

Londoners are also tuning in to the station for longer than the other main frequencies, sticking with Magic for an average of seven hours, down 1% from Q1 2006.

Heart 106.2 FM saw its share of listening fall, with the station now reporting a share of 5.4%, down 1.7 percentage points from the previous quarter. The station’s weekly reach was also down, by more than 8% period on period. Heart now reaches almost 1.7 million Londoners a week, up marginally year on year.

People in the capital are sticking with the station for an average of 6.8 hours, down from 8.3 hours in Q4 2006 and 7.3 hours for Q1 2006.

Radio listeners in the big smoke are dedicating an average of 6.2 hours of their time to Kiss 100 FM, up 0.1% year on year. The station’s share of listening had also risen, by 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period in 2006. However, its share has remained static period on period at 3.9%.

Year on year Kiss has bolstered its weekly reach, by more than 5%. However, a 6.2% drop from last period sees the station’s reach now standing at more than 1.3 million.

95.8 Capital Radio, which recently rebranded from “Capital Radio” backed by a huge marketing campaign (see Capital Radio Gets Name Change And Ad Campaign), pushed its weekly reach up almost 11% from Q4 2006, despite a year on year dip of 5.64%.

GCap Media’s flagship now reports a weekly reach of just over 1.6 million and a share of listening of 4.6%, down marginally year on year and period on period.

Listeners are sticking with the station for slightly less time, however, at 6.1 hours on average compared to 6.9 last quarter and for Q1 2006.

Virgin 105.8 FM London recorded a drop in average hours per listener of 2.3% year on year, to leave the time spent with the station at 5.2 hours. Its share of listening was also down, by 1.2 percentage points year on year, to leave its share at 2.2%. Its reach fell by almost 4% for Q1 2007 compared to Q1 2006, now reporting a weekly reach of 919,000.

London’s Total Virgin Radio (AM/FM) reported a weekly reach of just over 1.1 million.

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