RAJAR Q4 2010: National Stations

There were positive results for the national networks this release, with all but three increasing their listeners YoY. The Capital Network (UK) – which includes all the recently re-branded local stations – attracted 6.8 million listeners, however, the impact of the re-brand will not be seen until the Q1 2011 results are released in May.

Global’s other main brand, Heart, attracted 7.7 million listeners (changes to the network’s RAJAR composition prevent comparisons with previous quarters).

In terms of other networks, Bauer Radio posted healthy results with Kiss Network and Total Magic up 16.6% and 17.4% YoY respectively. UTV (including talkSPORT) also saw a strong 15.4% YoY rise, while Global’s Gold Network posted a 19.3% YoY increase. Smooth Radio UK also performed well during this quarter.

In Q4, almost 20 million people listened to a Global-owned station, while 13.2 million listened to a Bauer-owned station.

Looking at individual station performances, BBC Radio 2 still has the highest number of national listeners following a rise this quarter (after two periods of suffering a drop in reach).

BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4 have also retained their positions in second and third place in the national chart after YoY increases, followed by BBC Radio FIVE LIVE (including SPORTS EXTRA).

BBC 6 Music’s reach dropped by 5% on last quarter but still shows a 64% increase in listeners YoY. The BBC’s 1Xtra also performed well during the year – up 54%.

Leading the way as the top commercial station, Classic FM enjoyed QoQ and YoY increases, as did Q radio. There were also good performances from Panjab Radio, NME and Smash Hits Radio.

talkSPORT had another excellent RAJAR, breaking the 3 million listeners mark for the first time after a 4.3% QoQ jump and a massive 23% YoY increase.

Total Absolute Radio and Absolute Radio National both posted a substantial loss in reach during the period, however, the brand’s digital stations Absolute 80s, Absolute 90s and Classic Rock all attracted new listeners during the quarter.

The October to December period saw little change in terms of national share – with BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 1 dominating. Global’s Heart network sits just behind with a 5.5% share.

MediaTel has PowerPoint presentations available to download, featuring pre-prepared market breakdown graphs for the RAJAR data release – click here.