BBC Steals Greatest Share In Latest RAJAR Figures
BBC Radio has taken a greater share of listening than commercial radio in the latest radio audience figures released by RAJAR this morning. The new survey shows commercial radio slumping back in both share of listening and weekly reach between the June and September RAJAR survey periods. Overall BBC Radio reports increases in share and weekly reach.
All Commercial’s share of listening dropped by 1.4% points between the June and September surveys, to 47.8%. Meanwhile, All BBC Radio increased its share by 1.3% points to take 50.3% of all listening. The remaining 1.9% of listening is accounted for by stations not included in the RAJAR survey.
Both National and Local Commercial contributed to commercial radio’s overall drop in share, with national share down 0.5% points and local down 0.9% points. Meanwhile, the BBC strengthened its share across its local and regional radio stations.
| September 1999 RAJAR Share Of Listening (%) Comparisons | ||||
| Station | Survey Period | Ending Jun 1999 | Ending Sep 1999 | % Point Ch |
| All BBC | (Q) | 49.0 | 50.3 | 1.3 |
| All BBC Network Radio | (Q) | 38.9 | 38.9 | 0.0 |
| All Commercial | (Q) | 49.2 | 47.8 | -1.4 |
| All Local Commercial | (Q) | 40.1 | 39.2 | -0.9 |
| All National Commercial | (Q) | 9.1 | 8.6 | -0.5 |
| All Radio | (Q) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 |
| BBC Local Radio | (Q) | 9.6 | 11.1 | 1.5 |
| BBC Local/Regional | (Q) | 10.1 | 11.4 | 1.3 |
| Other Listening | (Q) | 1.8 | 1.9 | 0.1 |
| September 1999 RAJAR Weekly Reach (000s) Comparisons | ||||
| Station | Survey Period | Ending Jun 1999 | Ending Sep 1999 | % Ch |
| All BBC | (Q) | 30,437 | 30,555 | 0.4 |
| All BBC Network Radio | (Q) | 26,325 | 26,349 | 0.1 |
| All Commercial | (Q) | 31,757 | 30,644 | -3.5 |
| All Local Commercial | (Q) | 26,971 | 25,998 | -3.6 |
| All National Commercial | (Q) | 11,846 | 11,035 | -6.8 |
| All Radio | (Q) | 42,989 | 42,548 | -1.0 |
| BBC Local Radio | (Q) | 7,653 | 7,635 | -0.2 |
| BBC Local/Regional | (Q) | 9,887 | 9,796 | -0.9 |
| Other Listening | (Q) | 2,612 | 2,459 | -5.9 |
All Radio has a weekly reach of 89% (down 0.1% points on last period), or 42.6 million listeners. This is down slightly on June’s weekly reach, which came in at just under 43 million listeners. The loss of listeners is mainly from the commercial radio sector.
The commercial sector is attracting fewer listeners according to these figures, with average weekly reach down by 6.8% for National Commercial, down 3.6% for Local Commercial and dropping back 3.5% overall for All Commercial. Commercial radio had an average weekly reach of 30.6 million listeners during this period; BBC Radio commanded just slightly less than this, but was up 0.4% on the previous period.
The fact that BBC Radio has a slightly lower reach but greater share than commercial radio is because, whilst there may be slightly fewer people tuning in to BBC Radio, they are, on average, listening for longer periods of time. All BBC Radio takes 16.2 hours’ per listener per week on average. All Commercial’s average hours per listener is 15.4.
| September 1999 RAJAR Average Hours Per Listener Comparisons | ||||
| Station | Survey Period | Ending Jun 1999 | Ending Sep 1999 | Change |
| All BBC | Q | 16 | 16.2 | 0.2 |
| All BBC Network Radio | Q | 14.7 | 14.5 | -0.2 |
| All Commercial | Q | 15.4 | 15.4 | 0 |
| All Local Commercial | Q | 14.8 | 14.9 | 0.1 |
| All National Commercial | Q | 7.6 | 7.7 | 0.1 |
| All Radio | Q | 23.1 | 23.2 | 0.1 |
| BBC Local Radio | Q | 10.2 | 11.8 | 1.6 |
| BBC Local/Regional | Q | 10.1 | 11.5 | 1.4 |
| Other Listening | Q | 7 | 7.5 | 0.5 |
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