RAJAR Q1 09: BBC & Commercial
All Commercial radio enjoyed a year on year rise in weekly reach in the three months to the end March, according to the latest RAJAR figures.
Its share of listening was down 0.6 percentage points period on period, although it was up year on year.
Share of Listening
All Commercial saw its share of listening rise 0.5 percentage points year on year in the first quarter, taking its total to almost 42%. However, it suffered a period on period fall of 0.6 percentage points.
Within this, All Local Commercial (National TSA) was also up over the same time-frame, by 1 percentage point to 31.3%.
All National Commercial did not perform quite as well, however; it fell to 10.2% following a year on year dip of 0.5 percentage points.
Moving on to the BBC, All BBC radio was down 0.5 percentage points year on year, leaving its total share of listening at 56.3%, while BBC Local/Regional was down by the same amount, to 9.4%.
All BBC Network Radio remained static year on year at 47%.
| Q1 2009 RAJAR Share Of Listening (%) Comparisons | |||||||
| Ending Mar 08 | Ending Jun 08 | Ending Sep 08 | Ending Dec 08 | Ending Mar 09 | YoY % Point Change Mar 08 vs Mar 09 | QoQ % Point Change Dec 08 vs Mar 09 | |
| All BBC | 56.8 | 55.5 | 54.9 | 55.7 | 56.3 | -0.5 | 0.6 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 47.0 | 46.0 | 45.5 | 46.4 | 47.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 9.9 | 9.6 | 9.3 | 9.3 | 9.4 | -0.5 | 0.1 |
| All Commercial | 41.1 | 42.4 | 43.1 | 42.2 | 41.6 | 0.5 | -0.6 |
| All National Commercial | 10.7 | 11.2 | 11.0 | 10.6 | 10.2 | -0.5 | -0.4 |
| All Local Commercial (National TSA) | 30.3 | 31.2 | 32.0 | 31.6 | 31.3 | 1.0 | -0.3 |
| Other Listening | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Weekly Reach
It was a relatively strong quarter for commercial radio, with All Commercial enjoying a 1.5% year on year rise in weekly reach, taking its total to around 31.5 million listeners, its highest figure since June 2007.
There was also a rise for All Local Commercial (National TSA), up 3.1% year on year to 25.6 million listeners.
All National Commercial suffered a fall of 5.7% year on year, leaving its total at 13.3 million.
Also suffering in Q1 was BBC Local/Regional, shedding almost 7% of its listeners year on year, although it was up 1.2% on the previous quarter. It now has a weekly reach of around 9.6 million.
There was a 1.2% year on year fall for All BBC, leaving it with 33.8 million listeners – its highest total reach figure for a year – while All BBC Network Radio was relatively static on 30.2 million.
| Q1 2009 RAJAR Weekly Reach (000s) Comparisons | |||||||
| Ending Mar 08 | Ending Jun 08 | Ending Sep 08 | Ending Dec 08 | Ending Mar 09 | YoY % Change Mar 08 vs Mar 09 | QoQ % Change Dec 08 vs Mar 09 | |
| All BBC | 34,219 | 33,323 | 32,981 | 33,520 | 33,809 | -1.2 | 0.9 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 30,282 | 29,611 | 29,331 | 29,923 | 30,261 | -0.1 | 1.1 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 10,293 | 9,504 | 9,296 | 9,471 | 9,589 | -6.8 | 1.2 |
| All Commercial | 31,019 | 30,984 | 31,180 | 31,210 | 31,498 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| All National Commercial | 14,126 | 13,760 | 13,936 | 13,640 | 13,315 | -5.7 | -2.4 |
| All Local Commercial (National TSA) | 24,847 | 24,992 | 25,125 | 25,110 | 25,608 | 3.1 | 2.0 |
| Other Listening | 3,035 | 2,978 | 3,073 | 3,147 | 3,406 | 12.2 | 8.2 |
Average Hours Per Listener
All Commercial’s listeners are now sticking with it for less time on average. Its total figure was down 1.5% year on year to 13.5 hours, its lowest figure since 1996.
Within this, All National Commercial was static in the first quarter with a total of 7.9 hours.
All Local Commercial (National TSA) fell by almost 1% year on year, to 12.5 hours.
All BBC’s average hours figure now rests at 17.1 following a fall of 0.6%, while All BBC Network Radio was down by the same figure. Its average hours total stands at 15.9 hours.
It was a different story for BBC Local/Regional, which increased its average hours per listener to 10 hours following year on year growth of 1%.
| Q1 2009 RAJAR Average Hours Per Listener Comparisons | |||||||
| Ending Mar 08 | Ending Jun 08 | Ending Sep 08 | Ending Dec 08 | Ending Mar 09 | YoY % Change Mar 08 vs Mar 09 | QoQ % Change Dec 08 vs Mar 09 | |
| All BBC | 17.2 | 16.9 | 16.7 | 16.8 | 17.1 | -0.6 | 1.8 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 16.0 | 15.8 | 15.6 | 15.7 | 15.9 | -0.6 | 1.3 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 9.9 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| All Commercial | 13.7 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 13.7 | 13.5 | -1.5 | -1.5 |
| All National Commercial | 7.9 | 8.3 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| All Local Commercial (National TSA) | 12.6 | 12.7 | 12.8 | 12.7 | 12.5 | -0.8 | -1.6 |
| Other Listening | 7.2 | 7.1 | 6.8 | 6.9 | 6.4 | -11.1 | -7.2 |