Rajar Q4 2024: Commercial radio takes back listening share from BBC

Rajar Q4 2024

Total radio listening dipped during Q4, according to the latest Rajar figures, falling 1.2% from Q3. However, listening is still up 1.6% compared with the same period in 2023.

Much of that annual growth is being driven by commercial audiences, which grew 2% year on year to 39.9m. After a contraction in market share in Q3, commercial radio re-established its edge against the BBC and currently counts 8.2m more listeners.

Among the commercial players, Global concluded a strong 2024 with total reach of 27.8m across its stations — the most of any commercial broadcaster. Total weekly reach grew 10.4% year on year in Q4, but just 0.4% compared with the previous quarter.

In comparison, rival Bauer’s total weekly reach across its groups and individual stations (excluding partner stations) grew 0.5% year on year to 21.9m.

Bauer’s Kiss network appeared to shed weekly reach by double digits (-10.9%), but the apparent loss in listeners can generally be attributed to Bauer rebranding a number of Kiss stations to Hits Radio during the quarter. Meanwhile, Absolute stations performed well during Q4, with all but two increasing quarter-on-quarter weekly reach.

Among BBC stations, Radio 2, 6 Music and 1Xtra were the only ones to increase weekly reach during the quarter.

According to Ben Knowles, Adwanted UK’s product manager and business analyst, radio listening commonly dips from Q3 to Q4 — and this year was no different.

“Rajar Q3 covers the year’s summer months: July to September. This means that many seasonal events occur during this period that inflate the figures,” Knowles explained. “Last year saw the Olympics, the Euros and the tail end of the UK general election — all of which are strong incentives for the public to listen in.

“Despite not having the same motivating factors as the previous quarter, Q4 listening has still increased year on year, showing that UK radio is still in good health and in a strong position in an evolving media industry.”

A number of talk radio stations notably saw declines in listening during the quarter, with only Global’s LBC (+9% to 3.4m) and Times Radio (+22.8% to 604,000) increasing weekly reach.

Both Bloomberg and GB News saw substantial drop-offs in reach from Q3 (-23.9% and -23.4% respectively), potentially driven by a reduction in political interest following the conclusion of UK general election in Q3. News Broadcasting’s Talk (formerly TalkRadio) also saw a 12.5% drop in reach compared with Q3, but a more substantial 30.5% drop since this time last year — the largest such reduction among talk radio competitors.