All BBC Radio Sees Weekly Reach Growth

The latest RAJAR figures, for Q1 2008, show that All BBC radio saw a year on year and period on period increase in weekly reach.

All Commercial, meanwhile, reported a year on year decline in reach, although it was up period on period, by 1%.

All Commercial also experienced a year on year decline in share of listening, while All BBC radio’s share grew around 1.4 percentage points year on year.

Share of Listening

All BBC radio enjoyed a period on period rise in its share of listening, of around 2.5%, taking its share to just under 57%.

All Commercial’s share fell both period on period and year on year, by around 2.4% and 3.1% respectively. Its total share now stands at just over 41.1%.

All Local Commercial was also down, by 3.5% year on year, leaving its share at just under 30.5%.

All National Commercial’s share remained static year on year, although it was down by around 5.3% on the previous quarter, giving it a share of just over 10.5%.

It was also a tough period for BBC Local/Regional, which now has a share of just under 10%, after suffering a downturn of 6.6% year on year.

It was a happier story for All BBC Network Radio, with an upturn of 3.5% year on year, taking its total share to 47%.

Weekly Reach

The first quarter of 2008 saw All Commercial radio enjoy period on period growth of almost 1% in its weekly reach, although it was down 0.5% year on year.

All Commercial radio now has a total weekly reach of 31 million listeners, not far behind All BBC’s total of 34.2 million, up 2.3% year on year.

There was a big increase in reach for All National Commercial, up almost 3.2% year on year to 14.1 million listeners.

However, All Local Commercial fell almost 1.4% year on year, taking its total reach to just under 25 million listeners.

BBC Local/Regional’s reach remained relatively static year on year, with 10.3 million, while All BBC Network Radio’s reach rose more than 2.8% over the same period to give it a reach of 30.3 million.

Average Hours Per Listener

All BBC stations suffered a year on year decrease in average hours per listener, although this was up from the previous quarter.

Listeners are now sticking with All BBC stations for an average of just over 17 hours per week, a year on year fall of 1.7%.

All Commercial now has a total average hours per listener figure of 13.7, following a decline of more than 2.8% year on year.

All Local Commercial and All National Commercial were also down year on year, by around 3.1% and 3.6% respectively.

All Local Commercial’s average hours now stands at around 12.5 hours, while All National Commercial’s stands at just under eight hours.

There was a big year on year downturn in average hours for BBC Local/Regional, of more than 8.3%, leaving its total at around 10 hours.

While there was also a year on year fall for All BBC Network Radio, of 0.6%, it was up almost 1.3% on Q4 2007, to take its total to 16 hours.

New RAJAR specification introduced in Q2 2007. Please use caution.

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