National breakfast market
The festive season proved strong for the national breakfast market during the last quarter of 2019, with only six of 17 stations recording a fall in listenership compared to Q3.
The exodus from Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 breakfast show finally came to a halt, with the station up 4.2% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to a weekly reach of 8.2m – a boost of approximately 300,000 listeners.
However, the figures still represent a -9.1% year-on-year (YoY) decline for the popular breakfast show, which claimed 9.1 million listeners in Q4 2018 – the final quarter before Chris Evans moved to the commercial radio station Virgin Network.
Evans also grew his reach at Virgin over the quarter, up 7.1% (or 79,000 listeners) to 1.2m.
Second in the rankings, BBC Radio 4 saw its reach jump 8.6% to 7.2m, while elsewhere Global-owned Classic FM’s popularity surged 7.2% over the Christmas period following a disappointing Q3, Bauer’s Kiss grew 6.5%, and Greatest Hits Radio grew 3.5%.
However, Radio 1’s breakfast show, hosted by Greg James, saw its weekly reach tumble -4.7% QoQ to 4.8m listeners.
Also seeing their listenership fall were Capital Network (-8%), Magic (-9.4%), Radio X (-4.1%) and Planet Rock (-0.6%).
London breakfast market
Global’s Capital London climbed its way back to the top of the pack in Q4 2019, with an enormous 34.2% QoQ jump to 950,000 listeners after losing close to 300,000 listeners in Q3. The station was also up 3.8% YoY.
However, Bauer’s Kiss saw the strongest growth over the quarter, launching itself back into second position from fifth with a 50.9% increase to 795,000 listeners – though the station was down -1.4% YoY.
Meanwhile, Global’s talk station LBC – which had led the table in Q3 – dropped back to third after a -5.9% drop over the Christmas period.
However, with help from a December general election, the station was up 8.1% YoY to 765,000.
Meanwhile, Heart grew 8.2% over the quarter to 700,000 listeners (despite plummeting -15.9% YoY), while Smooth Radio grew 44.7% QoQ and 5.1% YoY to 395,000.
Elsewhere, Magic cast a bad spell and saw its reach fall -11.4% QoQ, as did LBC News (-15%) and Gold (-12.8%).
| Station | Sales House | Q4 2018 | Q3 2019 | Q4 2019 | QoQ % Change Q3 2019 on Q4 2019 | YoY % Change Q4 2018 on Q4 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC Radio 2 (06.30-09.30) | BBC | 9,065 | 7,902 | 8,237 | 4.2 | -9.1 |
| BBC Radio 4 (06.00-09.00) | BBC | 6,798 | 6,601 | 7,169 | 8.6 | 5.5 |
| BBC Radio 1 (06.30-10.00) (Mon-Thurs) | BBC | 5,111 | 5,049 | 4,812 | -4.7 | -5.9 |
| Heart Network (UK) (6.30 – 10.00) | Global | n/a | 4,559 | 4,287 | -6.0 | n/a |
| Capital Network (UK) (06.00 – 10.00) | Global | 3,650 | 3,653 | 3,362 | -8.0 | -7.9 |
| Absolute Radio Network (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 2,165 | 2,239 | 2,267 | 1.3 | 4.7 |
| BBC Radio 5 live (06.00-10.00) | BBC | 1,929 | 1,961 | 2,225 | 13.5 | 15.3 |
| Classic FM (06.00-09.00) | Global | 1,711 | 1,681 | 1,802 | 7.2 | 5.3 |
| Kiss (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 1,846 | 1,564 | 1,665 | 6.5 | -9.8 |
| talkSPORT (06.00-10.00) | talkSPORT | 1,352 | 1,352 | 1,362 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Magic (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 1,532 | 1,501 | 1,360 | -9.4 | -11.2 |
| Virgin Network (6.30-10.00) | talkSPORT | n/a | 1,114 | 1,193 | 7.1 | n/a |
| Radio X Network (UK) (6.30-10.00) | Global | 991 | 975 | 935 | -4.1 | -5.7 |
| BBC Radio 3 (06.30-09.00) | BBC | 612 | 599 | 689 | 15.0 | 12.6 |
| Planet Rock (06.00 – 10.00) | Bauer | 463 | 504 | 501 | -0.6 | 8.2 |
| Greatest Hits Radio (06.00 – 10.00) | Bauer | n/a | 397 | 411 | 3.5 | n/a |
| Hits Radio (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 347 | 345 | 359 | 4.1 | 3.5 |
Source: RAJAR
| Station | Sales House | Q4 2018 | Q3 2019 | Q4 2019 | QoQ % Change Q3 2019 on Q4 2019 | YoY % Change Q4 2018 on Q4 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 915 | 708 | 950 | 34.2 | 3.8 |
| Kiss (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 806 | 527 | 795 | 50.9 | -1.4 |
| LBC London (07.00-10.00) | Global | 708 | 813 | 765 | -5.9 | 8.1 |
| Heart London (06.30-10.00) | Global | 832 | 647 | 700 | 8.2 | -15.9 |
| Magic (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 696 | 695 | 616 | -11.4 | -11.5 |
| Absolute Radio (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 417 | 403 | 449 | 11.4 | 7.7 |
| Smooth Radio London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 376 | 273 | 395 | 44.7 | 5.1 |
| Capital XTRA (London) (06.30-10.00) | Global | 326 | 302 | 358 | 18.5 | 9.8 |
| LBC News (London) (07.00-10.00) | Global | 263 | 339 | 288 | -15.0 | 9.5 |
| BBC Radio London (07.00-10.00) | BBC | 244 | 210 | 221 | 5.2 | -9.4 |
| Radio X London (06.30-10.00) | Global | 281 | 195 | 216 | 10.8 | -23.1 |
| Gold London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 140 | 148 | 129 | -12.8 | -7.9 |
| Premier Christian Radio (07.00-09.00) | Premier Christian Radio | 135 | 74 | 23 | -68.9 | -83.0 |
Source: RAJAR
