Commercial Radio Increases Reach Across All Demographic Groups

The weekly reach of all commercial stations grew during Q2 2007, by over 2.6% period on period and more than 4.1% year on year for all demographic groups.

The BBC recorded a period on period decline in weekly reach across all demographic groups of over 0.6%. However, it was up year on year by 1.2%.

The only year on year decline in weekly reach felt by commercial stations was in the 4-14 age group, down almost 3.5%. The BBC, meanwhile, suffered slight year on year declines in the 45-64 and main shoppers demographics, of 0.5% and 0.1% respectively.

The biggest year on year increase in reach for the commercial stations was in the 25-44 demographic, of over 5%. The biggest period on period rise for the BBC was children 4-14, of over 14%.

Commercial stations enjoyed an increase in their share of listening across all demographic groups of 3.3 percentage points period on period, to 43.5%, whilst BBC stations fell by over 3 percentage points period on period, to just over 54%.

Children 4-14 declined by nearly six percentage points period on period for commercial listening, to 67.7%, whilst the BBC reported a rise of around 14.3 percentage points for the same age group.

Commercial stations saw average hours per listener fall by more than 17.3% year on year and 7.5% period on period for the 4-14 age group, although the 15-24 group was up over 3.8% period on period.

Overall, commercial stations saw their average hours per listener rise by over 2.1% period on period, whilst BBC stations were down by over 1.1% over the same time frame.

The largest fall in hours per listener for the BBC was in the 4-14 group, which was down by 5% both year on year and period on period.

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