Rajar Q3 2024: Commercial radio loses share to BBC

Rajar Q3 2024

Commercial radio’s share of listening fell relative to the BBC for the first time in a year, according to Q3 Rajar figures.

Whereas commercial radio hit a record share of listening last quarter of 55%, in Q3 its share fell to 53.3%. The BBC, meanwhile, grew its share from 42.6% last quarter to 44.5% in Q3, even though it retains a smaller share of the market than commercial radio.

Commercial radio’s weekly reach ticked down marginally from last quarter, falling 0.9% to 40.1m. However, year-on-year reach still improved by 2.1%.

Radiocentre CEO Matt Payton called the figures “strong”, suggesting they “provide more evidence of the continuing power and resonance of commercial radio in 2024, which is also evident from the positive trend in radio ad revenues”.

He added: “It’s an exciting time for brands to harness the power of radio and speak to millions of listeners across broadcast and online platforms.”

The two largest commercial radio broadcasters, Global and Bauer, both grew weekly reach among their stations compared with the previous year. Global, in particular, showed an impressive 11% growth across its entire portfolio and now reaches 27.7m.

Global brands Heart, Capital and Smooth all demonstrated strong year-on-year audience growth at 14.6%, 21.2% and 23.5% respectively.

Bauer (excluding partners) grew weekly reach more modestly by 0.5% to 22.1m, although its Greatest Hits network grew weekly reach by double digits (+13.3% to 7.5m), as did its Hits Radio network (+10.7% to 7.2m). Hits Radio UK, the largest of the Hits Radio sub-brands, has notably doubled its weekly reach year on year (+143.6% to 4.6m).

In terms of total share of listening, Global now accounts for a 24.2% share, while Bauer is responsible for 20.4%.

The largest share of listening by any individual station, however, still belongs to BBC Radio 2 (13.5%), even if its weekly reach did fall year on year by a modest 1.2% to 13.3m.

Other BBC stations posted impressive quarters compared with Q3 2023, however. Radio 4 grew 3.9% to 9.7m; Radio 1 grew 5.2% to 8.2m; and Radio 5 Live grew 8.3% to 6m.