National Breakfast market
Following a tough start to the year, the national breakfast market went on to record a mixed bag of results in the second quarter.
Still leading the market by some margin, Radio 2 – hosted by long-serving host Chris Evans – dropped by almost -1%, quarter-on-quarter. The station has a weekly reach of just over 9 million and is up just 0.3% year-on-year.
In second place is BBC Radio 4, down -3.6% QoQ to 6.8m – while recording an -11% decline YoY.
Meanwhile, Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, who will be leaving the breakfast show and swapping with Greg James for the 4pm – 7pm Drivetime slot in the Autumn, was up 3.8% to 5.3m listeners.
In the commercial market, Absolute Radio Network had a good quarter – up 6.1% to 2.2m (with a 16.6% YoY boost), while Bauer’s Kiss was down -0.7% to a little over 2m.
After failing to enchant listeners in Q1, Magic cast a new spell and was up 12.4% QoQ to 1.2m while recording a YoY boost of 14%.
Classic FM recorded no change on Q1, but was down -13.3% YoY and has a total reach figure of just under 1.7m listeners.
London
Capital London, which takes first position in the rankings, followed by Kiss and LBC, all recorded positive quarter-on-quarter gains: 1%, 2% and 8.5% respectively.
Magic London reached 665,000 listeners in Q2, a huge 22% increase from Q1 and a steady 7.6% increase year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Heart London, Smooth Radio and Radio X London all recorded negative results for both QoQ and YoY figures, reaching 537,000, 295,000 and 174,000 listeners respectively.
Towards the bottom of the rankings, BBC Radio London’s QoQ listeners increased by 7.4% to 188,000. However, the station decreased its year-on-year figure by nearly -39%.
Despite recording a -18% decline in listeners in Q2, Absolute Radio (London) still managed to report an impressive 88.2% increase over the year.
Whilst Smooth Radio and Radio X London recorded some of the lowest QoQ figures (-22%; -20%), Capital XTRA reported a high 45% QoQ increase reaching 351,000 listeners.
| Station | Group | Q2 2017 | Q1 2018 | Q2 2018 | QoQ % Change Q1 2018 on Q2 2018 | YoY % Change Q2 2017 on Q2 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC Radio 2 (06.30-09.30) | BBC | 9,007 | 9,121 | 9,038 | -0.9 | 0.3 |
| BBC Radio 4 (06.00-09.00) | BBC | 7,655 | 7,068 | 6,816 | -3.6 | -11.0 |
| BBC Radio 1 (06.30-10.00) | BBC | 5,499 | 5,096 | 5,291 | 3.8 | -3.8 |
| Absolute Radio Network (06.00-10.00) | Absolute | 1,845 | 2,028 | 2,151 | 6.1 | 16.6 |
| Kiss (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 2,037 | 2,093 | 2,079 | -0.7 | 2.1 |
| BBC Radio FIVE LIVE (06.00-10.00) | BBC | 2,274 | 2,108 | 1,937 | -8.1 | -14.8 |
| Classic FM (06.00-09.00) | Global | 1,915 | 1,658 | 1,660 | 0.1 | -13.3 |
| talkSPORT (06.00-10.00) | talkSPORT | 1,201 | 1,422 | 1,287 | -9.5 | 7.2 |
| Magic (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 1,088 | 1,103 | 1,240 | 12.4 | 14.0 |
| Radio X Network UK (6.30-10.00) | Global | 750 | 871 | 859 | -1.4 | 14.5 |
| BBC Radio 3 (06.30-09.00) | BBC | 651 | 634 | 636 | 0.3 | -2.3 |
Source: RAJAR
| Station | Group | Q2 2017 | Q1 2018 | Q2 2018 | QoQ % Change Q1 2018 on Q2 2018 | YoY % Change Q2 2017 on Q2 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 1,086 | 1,024 | 1,033 | 0.9 | -4.9 |
| Kiss (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 914 | 968 | 986 | 1.9 | 7.9 |
| LBC 97.3 (07.00-10.00) | Global | 906 | 659 | 715 | 8.5 | -21.1 |
| Magic (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 618 | 545 | 665 | 22.0 | 7.6 |
| Heart London (06.00-09.00) | Global | 655 | 629 | 537 | -14.6 | -18.0 |
| Absolute Radio (London) (06.00-10.00) | Absolute | 221 | 508 | 416 | -18.1 | 88.2 |
| Capital XTRA (London) (06.00-10.00) | Global | 308 | 241 | 351 | 45.6 | 14.0 |
| Smooth Radio (London) (06.00-10.00) | Global | 381 | 380 | 295 | -22.4 | -22.6 |
| LBC London News (07.00-10.00) | Global | 227 | 204 | 227 | 11.3 | n/a |
| BBC Radio London (07.00-10.00) | BBC | 307 | 175 | 188 | 7.4 | -38.8 |
| Radio X London (06.30-10.00) | Global | 196 | 219 | 174 | -20.5 | -11.2 |
| Gold London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 129 | 129 | 143 | 10.9 | 10.9 |
| Premier Christian Radio (07.00-09.00) | Premier Christian Radio | 20 | 87 | 22 | -74.7 | 10.0 |
Source: RAJAR
