Rajar Q3 2025: Top takeaways

Rajar Q3 2025

Commercial radio achieved record audience share in Q3, according to the latest Rajar figures.

It now accounts for 56% of total listening, up from 53.3% in Q3 2024, compared to the BBC’s 41.7%.

In real terms, commercial radio now has 8.8m more listeners than the BBC, with 39.7m people tuning in each week.

“These latest figures are a real vote of confidence from audiences in the enduring power of radio and the innovation we have seen from commercial broadcasters,” commented Matt Payton, CEO of audio industry trade body Radiocentre.

Online listening now has a 29.7% share, compared to just 26.2% for AM/FM.

“To reach these new highs in listening share and connected audiences is a significant achievement,” Payton added. “It is also great news for advertisers looking to harness the opportunities now available to reach millions of listeners at key moments in a trusted environment.”

Here are other takeaways from the Q3 Rajar figures.

Digital listening hits record highs

Despite a 3m-hour decline from the previous quarter, smart speaker listening still drives digital listening, accounting for 186m hours. Moreover, the platform’s listening share has increased year-over-year: from 16.9% in Q3 2024, to 18.2% in Q3 2025.

However, the gap between reach on smart speakers and websites and apps has closed this quarter, as listening hours increased from 112m to 118m.

Nevertheless, people are still listening via smart speakers for a lot longer than through websites and apps.

>>>View the data: Online listening recorded a record platform share

Global grows audience share

Global’s Heart has retained the top spot among the brands, reaching 12.8m listeners each week — narrowly beating BBC Radio 2 to the top spot.

Ashley Tabor-King CBE, founder and executive president of Global, said: “Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand, in a very competitive landscape, which overall shows an incredibly healthy radio market.”

Capital and Smooth were also among the top commercial radio brands.

Global saw a year-on-year growth decline of 0.8% to 27.4m, compared to a -3.2% decline for Bauer to 21.4m.

Global grew its share of listening to 25.4%, ahead of Bauer’s 19.6%.

Several Bauer brands saw year-on-year declines in weekly reach, including Hits Radio (-12.2% to 4m), Greatest Hits Radio (-16.2% to 6.2m), and KISS (-23% to 1.2m).

In London, Global has the top three commercial stations for reach – Heart, Capital and LBC.

>>> View the data: Commercial audience share hits all-time high with Heart just leading the way

Sharp declines for Bauer breakfast show stations

The BBC continues to lead during the breakfast timeslot in terms of weekly reach, according to the latest Rajar figures.

This is despite Radio 2’s Breakfast Show reporting a 1.8% decline in weekly reach. Presenter Scott Mills replaced Zoe Ball as host in January; this marks two full quarters since he took over.

Top commercial breakfast programme Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda (Global) grew its weekly reach by a marginal 0.2% year-on-year and saw a quarter-on-quarter decline of 3.1% from Q2 2025.

Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio Breakfast, hosted by Simon ‘Rossie’ Ross, saw a 11.4% year-on-year decline in its weekly audience and a 7.8% decline since the last quarter.

Meanwhile, Bauer’s Hits Radio Breakfast, hosted by Fleur East, Will Best and James Barr, saw a 17.2% year-on-year decline and a 10.2% decline from the last quarter.

Bauer’s Magic Radio Breakfast, hosted by Harriet Scott and Gok Wan, saw a marginal 0.9% year-on-year decline in its weekly reach to 882,000 listeners and reported a 14.2% increase since the last quarter.

Kiss Breakfast with Jordan and Perri also saw 33.5% year-on-year decline in its weekly reach to 436,000 listeners. The Media Leader understands this is a result of rebranding Kiss’ local stations to Hits, meaning Kiss is now a digital-only brand.

In June, Bauer moved to national breakfast programming for its local breakfast shows across Hits Radio Network.

Despite this change in programming taking place before the current RAJAR reporting period, as Hits Radio report their RAJAR audience on a 6-monthly sample, the latest audience figures cover the 4 months since the change in programming took place – indicating that the removal of local programming may have caused the recent drop in listeners.

>>> View the data: Heart’s breakfast show still leads in commercial radio breakfast pack