BBC Radio 2 Weekly Reach Declines But Still On Top

RAJAR figures for Q2 2008 show that BBC Radio 2 had the highest weekly reach of all of the national stations, at around 13 million listeners, although it was down both period on period and year on year, by around 4.7% and 0.9% respectively.

BBC Radio 1’s weekly reach now stands at around 10.7 million listeners following a year on year dip of just over 1.7%.

BBC Radio 4 managed to increase its reach slightly in Q2, by around 0.6% year on year, taking its total to more than 9.5 million listeners.

BBC Radio FIVE LIVE also bolstered its weekly reach with a year on year increase of almost 1.9%, giving it a total of six million listeners.

Commercial chat and sport station talkSPORT saw its reach rise by 0.5% year on year, to take its total to almost 2.4 million listeners.

At the end of June, talkSPORT announced the launch of a digital magazine aimed at extending its brand beyond radio (see talkSPORT To Launch Digital Magazine).

Classic FM now has a weekly reach of nearly 5.5 million listeners, following a year on year downturn of 4.1%.

There was a large year on year fall in reach for GCap Gold Network UK, down by around 37.8%. However, it was up by almost 3.1% period on period, leaving it with a total of 941,000 listeners.

There was better news for Total Smooth Radio, which after an upswing of around 18.1% year on year now has a weekly reach of 2.7 million listeners.

Also enjoying a year on year rise in weekly reach in Q2 was Total Kiss Network, which now has almost 3.2 million listeners per week following growth of around 7.6%.

Total Magic was up 1.9% year on year, to more than 3.4 million listeners, while Total Heart (UK)’s weekly reach is also just over 3.4 million after growth of 4.8% year on year.

BBC Radio 2’s share of listening now stands at 16% following an increase of around 2.6% year on year, while BBC Radio 4’s share rests at 12% after a year on year rise of 7.1%.

There was a large period on period increase in share for classical station BBC Radio 3, up by around 33.4% to 1.2%, following its poor performance in the previous quarter.

Commercial station Classic FM’s share of listening fell by 2.5% year on year, although it was up period on period, by 5.4%, to take its total share to almost 4%.

talkSPORT was up by around 5.6% year on year, taking its share of listening to 1.9%, while BBC Radio FIVE LIVE enjoyed a year on year boost of around 9.5%, giving it a share of 4.6%.

It was a good quarter for Total Smooth Radio, which saw its share of listening grow both year on year and period on period, by 25% and 19% respectively.

Total Smooth Radio now has a 2.5% share of listening, slightly higher than that of Total Heart (UK) which remained static both year and year and period on period.

There was strong period on period growth for Galaxy Network UK, up 12.5%, although it was static year on year with a 1.8% share of listening.

Also enjoying an increase in share of listening was Total Magic, up by around 19.1% period on period and 4.1% year on year. It now has a 2.5% share of listening.

GCap Gold Network UK has a total share of listening of just under 1% following a fall of 27.3% year on year.

Total Kiss Network recorded a share of listening of 1.7% in Q2, up from 1.6% in Q1 2008.

Following a year on year increase in its average hours per listener figure, BBC Radio 4 had a total of 12.8 hours in Q2.

This was just ahead of BBC Radio 2 on 12.5 hours per week, which was static both year on year and period on period.

BBC Radio FIVE LIVE was also static period on period, at 7.9 hours per listener, as was talkSPORT with eight hours.

Chill recorded impressive growth both period on period and year on year, up 47.6% and 19.2% respectively. It now has an average hours per listener figure of 6.2.

Also on the up in the first quarter were Total Choice UK, which reported a year on year increase of 10.3% and The Arrow (UK), which grew 5.9% year on year.

Total Choice UK now has a total average hours per listener figure of 7.5 hours, while The Arrow (UK) has an average of just over seven hours.

Galaxy Network UK was down year on year, by around 8.1%, although it saw its average hours rise by 7.9% period on period, giving it a total of 6.8 hours.

There was a 24.1% dip year on year in average hours for Q, which was also down 26.7% period on period, to 2.2 hours per listener.

Total Real Radio also suffered a year on year decline in average hours per listener, of 12.8%, leaving its total at 9.5 hours.

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

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