BBC radio continued to improve its overall share of listening, at the expense of commercial stations, according to the latest figures released by RAJAR this morning. All BBC improved its share by a further 0.3% points in the final quarter of 2000, while All Commercial slipped 0.7% points.
Amongst commercial stations losses were most acute across local stations, which fell 0.8% points in a period on period analysis. The listening share held by national commercial stations remained static during the three month period ending December 2000.
BBC meanwhile made gains across all categories with the exception of BBC Network Radio, which slipped 0.7% points. Local and Regional stations were the best performers over the period, adding 0.9% points to their overall listening share.
In a year on year analysis the picture was much the same, with BBC Local and Local/Regional stations both improving their share of listening by 1.2%; Local Commercial meanwhile fell 0.7%. BBC Network Radio took the greatest tumble overall however, losing 0.8% points.
In terms of reach, all categories of commercial radio saw falls during the period, the greatest bite being taken from national commercial stations, which fell 3.6%. Overall however, commercial stations’ reach made gains on those of the BBC; commercial radio reaches 30,87m people compared to 30,82m for the BBC.
The weekly reach of All Radio declined slightly during the period and now stands at 43.37m.
A year on year reach analysis was more favourable to commercial stations, with Local and All commercial making slight gains. National commercial stations saw the most significant decline, however, losing 5.2% of its reach. The weekly reach of BBC stations fell 0.3%, with BBC Local Radio reporting the greatest losses, down 1.4% in a year on year analysis.
The average hours per listener for all radio increased by 1.7% in a year on year analysis and now stands at 24 hours. All categories made gains with those from BBC Local and Local/Regional and Other Listening by far the most impressive. BBC Local stations were up 13%, Local Regional improved by 14.4%, while Other Listening was up 15%.
