Rajar Q1 2025: Top takeaways

Rajar Q1 2025

Total UK radio now reaches an audience of 50.1m listeners per week, up 0.4% from 49.9m during the same period last year.

That is one takeaway from the latest Rajar figures, which also show commercial radio’s audience share expanded marginally in Q1 relative to the BBC.

Commercial radio now accounts for 54.9% of listening, up from 54.2% a year earlier and just 0.1% below it’s record high.

In contrast, the BBC’s audience share contracted slightly, now sitting at 43.1%.

In real terms, commercial radio now reaches 8.5m more listeners than the BBC, up from 8.4m in Q1 2024.

Listening growth for total radio, and particularly commercial brands, has been driven by continued growth in digital listening.

Indeed, Radiocentre CEO Matt Payton called the latest Rajar figures “a testament to how broadcasters have embraced innovation to keep radio strong and relevant”.

He continued: “By ensuring content is available and accessible across connected devices, radio has continued to thrive and remains a vital part of people’s daily lives. In turn, this means radio can continue to help advertisers reach huge audiences in a trusted environment.”

Here are other takeaways from the Q1 Rajar figures.

Smart speaker listening hits record highs

The latest Rajar figures found total share of digital listening rebounded from last quarter, growing 1.1 percentage points to 73.3%.

Within that, total online listening to all radio reached a record-high 28.5% share.

In contrast, AM/FM listening now accounts for just over a quarter (26.7%) of total listening.

Total digital listening hours jumped in Q1 to 753 after remaining flat the previous quarter. The growth was driven by a notable spike in listening hours on smart speakers, from 167 minutes in Q4 2024 to 181 minutes in Q1.

As a share of total radio listening, smart speaker listening hit record highs in Q1 with 17.6% share. This is up one percentage point from the same time last year.

According to Radiocentre, smart speaker listening for commercial radio specifically has an even higher share — at 21.4%, up from 20.7% in Q1 2024.

>> View the data: Digital listening rebounds, driven by smart speaker growth

Heart and Hits Radio overtake Radio 2

Global achieved 5.2% year-on-year growth across its portfolio in Q1, collectively maintaining the largest share of weekly reach (27.6m) among commercial owners. It boasts a 27.3% listening share compared with other brands — a record for Global.

Global brands Heart (+8% year-on-year weekly reach), Capital (+13.7%), and Smooth (19.6%) have all seen substantial growth over the past year.

Both Heart and Bauer brand Hits Radio surpassed BBC Radio 2 during the quarter in terms of weekly reach for the first time.

“After over 18 years of hard work from our team and huge loyalty from our incredible listeners, Heart overtakes Radio 2 as the UK’s largest radio brand,” Global founder and executive president Ashley Tabor-King declared.

“It’s a huge moment. I’m incredibly humbled and grateful to every single Globaller and listener that’s made this possible. May we continue to turn up the feel-good and make everyone’s day brighter for many years to come.”

He added: “Commercial radio in the UK is so buoyant right now, with quality broadcasting that means listeners have more choice than ever before. We are truly in the golden era of commercial radio broadcasting.”

In comparison, rival Bauer saw an overall 3.7% year-on-year contraction in weekly reach to 21.8m.

That said, many Bauer brands saw continued year-on-year growth. The Hits Radio network secured an audience of 7.1m (+5.7% year on year), while Magic at the Musicals grew 63% year on year to reach a weekly audience of 327,000.

Simon Myciunka, CEO of Bauer Media Audio UK, said: “As Bauer celebrates its 150th year, we look to the future with a steadfast focus on enhancing our products, increasing investment to strengthen audience engagement and creating gold-standard opportunities for our commercial partners.”

News Broadcasting’s TalkSport also had a strong Q1, with its network brands collectively growing weekly reach by 8.6% quarter-on-quarter to 3.9m.

>> View the data: Commercial audience share expands, led by Global

Jamie and Amanda grow reach, GB News’ arrow points up

Top commercial breakfast programme Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda (Global) grew its weekly reach 3.3% year on year (and 6.1% from last quarter) as host Jamie Theakston returned to the show in mid-January following a leave of absence to receive cancer treatment.

Fellow Global breakfast show Capital Breakfast with Jordan North, Chris Stark and Siân Welby achieved 8.4% year-on-year growth in weekly reach, despite a 4.8% decline from last quarter.

Meanwhile, top Bauer breakfast show Greatest Hits at Breakfast with Simon Ross saw a marginal 0.7% quarter-on-quarter bump in weekly reach to 3.1m, although the programme registered a 4.5% decline in weekly reach compared with the same period last year.

Among noteworthy movers was GB News, which achieved standout growth during Q1. Its breakfast show saw a 25.4% jump in weekly reach year on year to 237,000 listeners.

>> View the data: Heart grows lead among commercial breakfast pack