Mixed Fortunes For Overall Radio Market

The latest RAJAR figures, for the third quarter of 2008, show that All BBC radio experienced a year on year increase in weekly reach of 0.3%, while All Commercial radio suffered a year on year dip of 0.2%.

However, comparing to the previous quarter, All BBC’s reach declined by 1%, while All Commercial enjoyed a 0.6% period on period rise during Q3 2008.

Share of Listening

All Commercial radio saw its share of listening increase quarter on quarter by 0.7 percentage points, though it was down year on year by 0.2 percentage points. Its share now stands at just over 43% of all radio listening in the UK.

All Local Commercial radio experienced period on period and year on year increases, of 0.8 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points respectively. It now has a total share of listening of around 32% in the UK.

However, All National Commercial radio now has a total share of listening of 11%, following a year on year decline of around 0.6 percentage points and a period on period dip of 0.2 percentage points.

There was a year on year rise in share of listening for All BBC, up by nearly 0.5 percentage points, though it was down period on period by around the same figure, leaving its total share at almost 55% of all listeners.

Q3 saw All BBC Network radio grow its share of listening by 0.5 percentage points year on year, though it also experienced a period on period decline of the same amount, leaving it with a total of around 45.5%.

BBC Local and Regional saw its share of listening drop both year on year and period on period to around 9.3% in total.

Weekly Reach

Within the commercial sector, All Commercial radio saw a period on period increase in its weekly reach of around 0.6%, however, it reported a year on year dip of 0.2%.

All Commercial radio now has a total reach of just over 31 million listeners each week.

Both All National Commercial and All Local Commercial radio were up period on period, by around 1.3% and 0.5% respectively, though All National Commercial radio reported a year on year decline of around 2%.

All BBC’s reach was up by around 0.3% year on year, though it was down on last period, by around 1%. Its total weekly reach now stands at just under 33 million listeners.

However, both All BBC Network radio and BBC Local and Regional radio fell period on period, down by nearly 1% and 2.2% respectively.

All BBC Network radio now has a total weekly reach of more than 29.3 million listeners, while BBC Local and Regional stands at just under 9.3 million.

By comparison, All National Commercial radio has a total weekly reach of nearly 14 million listeners, whereas All Local Commercial has a weekly reach of over 25 million.

Average Hours Per Listener

All BBC was down both year on year and period on period, by the same 1.2% figure, leaving it with a total 16.7 average hours per listener.

Meanwhile, All Commercial radio saw its average hours per listener fall around 1.4% year on year, but remained static period on period, giving it a 13.9 hour average.

All Local Commercial experienced a year on year decline of 0.8% but also saw an increase of the same figure period on period, taking its average hours to almost 13 per listener.

It was a similar story for BBC Local and Regional radio, which was up 1% year on year but dipped 1% period on period, taking its average hours to just over 10 per listener.

Q3 saw All National Commercial fall by 4.8% both year on year and period on period, while All BBC Network Radio also declined by 1.3% both year on year and period on period.

Other listening, meanwhile, suffered a large year on year fall of around 15%, leaving it with an average of 6.8 hours per listener.

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