Ad Revenue Follows Weekly Reach Down At Capital 95.8 FM

Leading London radio station Capital 95.8 FM saw advertising revenue fall by almost 15% year on year during the first quarter of 2003, according to figures compiled exclusively for NewsLine by Nielsen Media Research.

The fall from £9.3 million to just below £8 million coincides with the 10.5% year on year drop in weekly reach seen at station in the latest set of RAJAR results.

In comparison, other London-based stations saw ad revenue surge in the three months to March, with Emap’s Magic 105.4 recording a healthy 14.9% increase to £3.6 million and Jazz FM London seeing adspend rocket by 62% to £1.1 million.

Capital 95.8 FM’s arch rival, Heart 106.2, saw its advertisng revenue slip by 2.7% year on year to just below £4 million. However, the station increased its weekly reach by 10.1% during the same period, meaning that it now has just 600,000 fewer listeners than 95.8 FM.

Virgin 105.8 FM also performed poorly during the first quarter, adding a 22% year on year decline in ad revenue to a 14.3% drop in weekly reach. It seems that the station’s recently launched a £3 million advertising campaign to promote changes to its DJ line-up and music policy, is yet to pay dividends.

Chrysalis-owned LBC 97.3 and LBC News 1152 saw ad revenue slip by 26% and 33% respectively in the three months to March. However, the stations, which were acquired last year from GWR and subsequently relaunched, performed well in terms of weekly reach, which was seen up by a respective 4.8% and 16.4% in year on year analysis.

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Despite its seening both ad revenue and weekly reach decline, Capital 95.8 FM continues to lead the field in London. The station recently ended months of speculation by confirming that its lynchpin DJ, Chris Tarrant, is to see out his contract,