Rajar Q2 2015: Round-up

National stations and networks

Total Global Radio (UK) continued to dominate the national networks with a little under 21.2 million listeners on average, followed by Bauer Radio (Total) with 16.5 million (up 3.5% QoQ after the addition of 11 new stations).

BBC Radio 2 maintained third position with an average weekly reach of just over 15.1 million, while a healthy 7.6% increase on the previous quarter saw BBC Radio 1 near the 10.5 million mark after a rocky Q1.

While BBC Radio 5 live sports extra (21.4%) and BBC World Service (14.4%) were both up over the quarter, the BBC’s 5 Live (-7.6%), 4 Extra (-10%) and Radio 3 (-9.1%) all recorded declines in weekly reach.

Elsewhere, Bauer’s Kiss Network was up 6.8% QoQ, bolstered by a 29% increase in weekly reach for Kisstory and a 36.5% increase for Kiss Fresh, both new Kiss offspring stations – most likely a result of Bauer launching them on the London 1 DAB multiplex.

Lovers of 80s classics also ensured that Bauer’s Absolute 80s was up 10.7% over the quarter.

A 9.1% QoQ increase saw Global’s LBC Network (UK) reach almost 1.5 million listeners a week, while Capital XTRA (UK), also owned by Global, was up 13.1% to a little under 1 million.

In contrast, the group’s more popular Classic FM, reaching 5.3 million a week, was down -4.5% QoQ, while Global’s Heart Network (UK) was down -1.4% and Smooth Radio Network (UK) down -2.9%.

BBC 6 music, the largest digital-only station, saw little change at all over the period, down by just -0.4% to 2.06 million while recording a positive 8.7% increase in reach over the year.

Click here for the full breakdown.

Digital

Listening to radio via a digital platform – in terms of weekly reach – now exceeds over half (55%) of the UK adult population according to the latest Rajar findings, issued today (06 August).

29.5 million people (aged 15+) now tune in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver – DAB, television or online – each week, with the share of all radio listening via a digital platform now standing at 39.9%, up from 36.8% for the corresponding period last year.

The share of listening to DAB has increased by 13% year on year to 26.7% of all listening (24.1% in Q2, 2014).

Digital listening in an average week now stands at 418 million hours.
Click here for the full breakdown.

Breakfast

National

There were mixed fortunes for national breakfast stations in the second quarter of the year, with Nick Grimshaw’s BBC Radio 1 Breakfast slot, in contrast to last quarter which represented a 12 year-low for the show, one of the bigger hits among listeners.

Up 6.2% over the quarter, Grimshaw’s three and a half hour show recorded the second-biggest increase of all national stations to draw in an average of 5.84 million listeners a week.

Elsewhere – with exception to Chris Evans’ ever-popular BBC 2 breakfast show, up 2.5% QoQ and still the most-listened to national breakfast show – BBC stations didn’t perform quite as well.

A -5.4% decrease in listeners over the quarter took BBC Radio 4 to a little under 6.7 million, while BBC Radio FIVE LIVE decreased by -1.5% QoQ to 2.35 million.

While BBC Radio 3 was down -2.3% compared with the previous quarter, it was up an impressive 19.6% over the year – the greatest increase of all the nationals.

A little under 1.5 million early morning crooners tuned in to Magic Network for their breakfast fix of ballads and smooth classics, up 8.9% on the previous quarter – the greatest increase across all of the nationals.

Similarly to the Beeb’s radio sports offering, talkSPORT was down -3.6% QoQ, while Classic FM recorded the greatest decline in weekly listeners, down -5.9%.

Absolute Radio saw little change at all over the quarter but was up 18% year on year.

London

In contrast to the nationals, London stations recorded some seriously impressive increases with very few declines.

Adding an extra hour of listening time worked wonders for Global’s Capital XTRA (London) which was up a massive 184.4% QoQ from 90,000 average weekly listeners in Q1 to 256,000 in Q2, putting it in competition with the likes of Smooth Radio and LBC London News.

A -12.9% decline over the quarter knocked Bauer’s Kiss from the top spot to fourth, leaving pole position open for Global’s Capital to steal after a 31.4% QoQ increase to surpass more than 1.1 million weekly listeners.

Kiss’s loss also meant that Magic and Heart moved up in the rankings, up 23.4% and 41.5%, respectively, while a 31.4% increase for Global’s LBC 97.3 firmly secured the fifth spot.

BBC London also performed well, up 23% QoQ, while a little further down the table, XFM London and Premier Christian Radio were both up by more than 70%.