Rajar Q2 2023: BBC slides at breakfast but retains top 3 spots

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August 3, 2023

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2 minutes

BBC stations retained the top three national station spots in terms of weekly reach during the breakfast timeslot despite quarterly and yearly drops.

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Ella Sagar Ella Sagar is a reporter for The Media Leader and leads our audio and out-of-home coverage. She joined in September 2021 and has a gold standard NCTJ. She previously wrote for the South West Londoner, Ealing Times, and The Hillingdon Times. At the University of Leeds, she received a First Class Honours Degree in French and Spanish with distinction in speaking and during her time there regularly presented radio shows on Leeds Student Radio, wrote for the student paper The Gryphon and was editor of Her Campus Leeds.

BBC stations retained the top three national station spots in terms of weekly reach during the breakfast timeslot despite quarterly and yearly drops.

BBC Radio 4 recorded the largest decrease in weekly reach year-on-year of 14.8%.

This carries on a trend from the previous Rajar quarterly radio audience figures which saw all five BBC Radio stations see year-on-year declines.

Global’s Heart and Capital networks are still the top commercial broadcasters in terms of weekly reach for the breakfast timeslot. Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden and Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp attracted a respective 3.84 million and 2.51 million weekly listeners over the last quarter.

Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio and Absolute Radio Network recorded a weekly reach for the 6am-10am slot of 2.34 million and 2.28 million listeners respectively.

Station	Saleshouse	Ending Jun 22	Ending Mar 23	Ending Jun 23	QonQ	YonY
BBC Radio 2 – 06.30 – 09.30am	BBC	7274	7258	6725	-7.3	-7.5
BBC Radio 4 – 06.00 – 09.00am	BBC	6452	5764	5498	-4.6	-14.8
BBC Radio 1 – 07.00 – 10.30am	BBC	4135	4047	3962	-2.1	-4.2
Heart Network (UK)* – 06.30 – 10.00am	Global	n/a	n/a	3839	n/a	n/a
Capital Network (UK)* – 06.00 – 10.00am	Global	n/a	n/a	2510	n/a	n/a
Greatest Hits Radio** – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	n/a	n/a	2338	n/a	n/a
Absolute Radio Network – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	2174	2155	2275	5.6	4.6
Classic FM – 06.00 – 09.00am	Global	1691	1537	1505	-2.1	-11
BBC Radio 5 live – 06.00 – 09.00am	BBC	1530	1415	1388	-1.9	-9.3
talkSPORT – 06.00 – 10.00am	talkSPORT	1017	1207	1311	8.6	28.9
Radio X Network (UK) – 06.30 – 10.00am	Global	1084	1056	1117	5.8	3
Magic – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	1006	1017	1097	7.9	9
KISS – 07.00 – 11.00am	Bauer	1049	994	1003	0.9	-4.4
Virgin Radio Network – 06.30 – 10.00am	talkSPORT	869	901	863	-4.2	-0.7
BBC Radio 3 – 06.30 – 09.00am	BBC	696	620	622	0.3	-10.6
Planet Rock – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	543	577	560	-2.9	3.1
Hits Radio – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	413	501	551	10	33.4
TalkRadio – 06.30 – 10.00am	talkSPORT	301	334	306	-8.4	1.7
Times Radio – 06.00 – 10.00am	talkSPORT	245	238	284	19.3	15.9
GB News Radio – 06.00 – 09.30am	GB News	115	177	133	-24.9	15.7

RAJAR Q2 2023 National Stations Breakfast Weekly (000s) Reach

* Excludes Scotland

** Excludes Scotland except on DTV

Station	Saleshouse	Ending Jun 22	Ending Mar 23	Ending Jun 23	QonQ	YonY
LBC London – 07.00 – 10.00am	Global	822	820	798	-2.7	-2.9
Capital London – 06.00 – 10.00am	Global	528	626	675	7.8	27.8
Heart London – 06.30 – 10.00am	Global	659	733	670	-8.6	1.7
Magic (London) – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	514	505	595	17.8	15.8
Greatest Hits Radio (London) – 06.00 – 10.00am	Bauer	283	352	404	14.8	42.8
KISS (London) – 07.00 – 11.00am	Bauer	380	327	382	16.8	0.5
Smooth Radio London – 06.00 – 10.00am	Global	259	289	310	7.3	19.7
Radio X London – 06.30 – 10.00am	Global	258	241	236	-2.1	-8.5
Capital XTRA (London) – 06.30 – 10.00am	Global	154	227	205	-9.7	33.1
BBC Radio London – 07.00 – 10.00am	BBC	171	178	164	-7.9	-4.1
LBC News (London) – 07.00 – 10.00am	Global	178	181	162	-10.5	-9
Gold London – 06.00 – 10.00am	Global	157	178	132	-25.8	-15.9
Premier Christian Radio – 07.00 – 09.00am	Premier Christian Radio	16	29	21	-27.6	31.3