BBC Radio Retains Dominance Despite Losing Listeners

BBC radio networks managed to broaden their share of listening UK wide in Q2, despite a decline in the local and regional BBC stations’ share of listening, according to latest Q2 2006 RAJAR figures.

The BBC overall lost listeners, with a smaller weekly reach in this quarter, and saw its listeners tune in for slightly less time each week. The Corporation’s dominance in the radio market came under fire recently, after a report questioned whether certain BBC stations could be deemed a public service (see Privatisation Call For BBC Radio Stations).

All commercial radio dropped percentage points from its share of listening for this quarter, as well as shedding weekly reach and average hours per listener per week. The commercial radio sector now has a share of listening of 42.9% compared to the BBC’s 54.7%.

However, commercial radio’s share of listening grew slightly year on year, despite a year on year dip in local commercial radio, which holds a greater audience share than the BBC at more than 32% compared to BBC local radio’s 10.3% share. However, the average hours that audiences listen to commercial radio overall remained static in Q2.

Share of Listening

The BBC broadened its listening share in Q2, despite local and regional BBC radio dropping 0.2% points from its share of listening.

BBC network radio’s share of listening grew by 0.9% points year on year, whilst the BBC overall managed to increase its audience share by 0.7% points year on year.

All commercial radio combined lost 1.1% points of its listening share, leaving all commercial radio with a 42.9% share of listening, compared to the BBC’s 54.7%.

Following a year on year dip of 1.6% points, local commercial radio now commands more than 32% of the share of listening for local radio, whilst the BBC’s local stations have a 10.3% share.

Weekly Reach

All BBC and all commercial radio lost listeners in Q2, with combined local commercial stations suffering the biggest dip in weekly reach, of 2.75% year on year, leaving it with an audience of 24.8 million.

All BBC saw its weekly reach decrease by 0.11% year on year, to give it a total audience of almost 33 million, while BBC network radio has an audience of 28.7 million after shedding 0.25% of its weekly reach in the same period.

BBC local radio and BBC local/regional also recorded declines in weekly reach, of 1.37% and 1.11% respectively.

The overall decline for commercial stations, of 1.46%, was due to the underwhelming performance of local stations, which recorded a drop of 2.75% year on year, compared to the 2.49% increase seen by all national commercial in the same period.

Other listening saw the largest year on year growth, of 14.46%, to give it a weekly reach of 3 million.

Average Hours Per Listener

The BBC also saw its listening hours fall, by 0.57% year on year, with BBC local radio suffering a more than 4% dip in its listening hours year on year.

The BBC averages the highest number of listening hours per week in the UK, with 17.4 hours per week across all stations, with local BBC radio averaging more than 11 hours of listening time each week.

All commercial radio stations saw overall decline in average listener hours, seeing a 3.31% drop year on year to leave an average weekly figure of 14.6 hours.

Local commercial radio saw a decline of more than 4%, now standing at 13.6 hours a week, whilst all national commercial radio remained static.

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