Q2 RAJAR Figures: Commercial Radio Edges BBC

According to RAJAR figures released today, BBC Radio listening has decreased over the first two quarters in 1996 from 50% to 48.6%. Commercial radio now has 49.6% of the share which is only slightly more than BBC Radio. Weekly reach between the two sectors is also close with the BBC at 58% and Commercial at 60%. However, Commercial Radio’s average broadcast per week is approximately 406 million hours and the BBC is 400 million hours.

Sue Farr, head of marketing and publicity for BBC Network Radio commented : “…BBC Radio’s reach and share have remained strong, despite the introduction of a new national network and 30 additional local services now being listed by RAJAR. This is a remarkable achievement given a decline in total radio listening of 24 million hours over the same period.” Despite this positive approach it does not account for the year on year drop from 59.9% in 1993 which saw Commercial Radio dominating the market in 1995.

Compared to Quarter 4 1995, Radio One has increased by 1% to 13% *(Radio 1 Rajar Improvements) to its target audience of 15-24 year olds. Radio 2 and 3 remain steady with reaches of 8.5 million and 2.4 million listeners respectively. Radio 4 and BBC Local/Regional have both shown decreases. Radio 4 had a 0.4% drop from the Quarter 1 and Local/Regional has decreased from 10.1% to 9.4%. BBC radio assure a stable future for Radio 4 and were not disappointed with Local/Regional as it is said to be a quiet time for this area.

Radio 5 Live has maintained its reach of 3.1% which the BBC sees as a good figure for the time of the year. Euro ’96 was a strong influence accumulating an audience of over 6 million as the tournament progressed.

Commercial Radio’s dominance in Quarter 2 (49.3% share for all commercial) was welcomed but cannot be taken for granted because of the small gap between Commercial and BBC.

Talk Radio has increased its weekly reach by 1% to 5% but Atlantic 252 has decreased from 10% to 8%. Apart from this, there is very little change from last years figures. The total commercial weekly reach has reduced from 64% last year, to 60%. Local Commercial radio stations seem to be the main factor in the increase of Commercial Radio’s overall listening share although this is less compared to last year (see Local Commercial review for more details).

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