Adam Bowie gives a brief whizz through the latest RAJAR results…

James Cridland, managing director of Media UK and a radio futurologist, says radio continues to change and the new listening figures make this ever more clear…

Absolute Radio posted an impressive performance in the latest RAJAR release for Q2 2012 – particularly in the London market where other stations struggled to hold on to listeners, and with the popularity of its Christian O’Connell breakfast show.

Listening to radio via a digital platform in terms of weekly reach has increased by 10% year on year, with 24.2 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver (DAB, DTV, internet) each week (up from 22.1 million in Q2 2011).

Radio listeners in the UK continue to favour Chris Evans’ BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, which enjoyed a 3.3% YoY rise in weekly reach in Q2 2012. However, the show slipped below nine million listeners after a -3.0% QoQ decline. Evans picked up Music Radio Personality of the Year at the Sony awards in May.

In what was a poor set of results for London stations, only six stations in our analysis (out of 17) recorded a QoQ increase, while just three stations witnessed an uplift compared with the same period last year.

The latest RAJAR figures for Q2 2012 show that All Radio’s reach has dropped slightly compared with the same period last year, keeping it just below the 47 million listener mark, which it hit for the first time ever in Q1 2011. However, All Radio’s reach is up 0.2% QoQ.

Total Global Radio (UK) heads up the nationals and networks once again, though it recorded a -3.4% YoY decline in reach to 19.3 million. It was up 1.0% QoQ.

Steve Parkinson, managing director of Magic and Kiss, on today’s RAJAR release…

Digital radio put in a strong performance once again. Listening to radio via a digital platform in terms of weekly reach has increased by 5% year on year, with 23.5 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver.