{"id":78309,"date":"2024-02-01T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/?p=78309"},"modified":"2024-02-01T00:00:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T00:00:05","slug":"rajar-q4-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/rajar-q4-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"RAJAR Q4 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is brought to you in association with RALF<\/em> from DP Software and Services<\/em>. I\u2019ve used RALF for the many years, and it\u2019s my favourite RAJAR analysis tool. So I am delighted that I continue to be able to bring you this RAJAR analysis in association with RALF. For more details on the product, contact Deryck Pritchard via this link<\/a> or phone 07545 42567<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final RAJAR data from 2023 is out, covering the period from mid-September to mid-December. This obviously saw everything from the outbreak of war in Gaza to Premier League football getting properly underway. However, this is a year on from the Truss\/Sunak “tussles” over leadership this time last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidenote: <\/em>Deryck at DP Software pointed out that this is the 100th rolling release of data under the current broad <\/em>methodology. <\/em>RAJAR actually began in 1992<\/a> – prior to then, the BBC and commercial radio measured radio listening separately. Then in 1999, the methodology substantially changed. Although it should be said that RAJAR has continued to evolve over time with the introduction of digital diaries and some other changes over the pandemic period. I’ve only been publishing these summaries online since 2013 – although I used to write internal summaries for Virgin Radio and Absolute Radio prior to then!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall Trends<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All Radio<\/strong> reach is down fractionally, down 0.1% on the quarter and down 0.4% on the year to 49.5m listeners, representing 88% of the adult population listening to at least some radio every week. Listening hours fell 0.3% on the quarter, and were also down 0.3% on the year to 1.013 billion a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC Radio<\/strong> fell 1.3% on the quarter and is down 5.9% on the year to 31.3m listeners. Hours fell 1.7% on the quarter and were down 8.0% on the year to 438m hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Commercial Radio <\/strong>fell 0.4% on the quarter, but grew 2.8% on the year to 39.1m listeners. Hours rose 1.1% on the quarter and were up 9.5% on the year to 555m hours a week. Commercial Radio’s market share now stands at 54.8% which is an all-time record high share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has definitely been a shift of listening away from the BBC towards Commercial Radio over the last 12 months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Stations<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Radio 1<\/strong> has not had a great quarter, with reach down 5.7% on the quarter and down 6.0% on the year to 7.3m. Hours also fell, down 5.5% on the quarter and down 3.7% on the year to 45.9m. These are obviously record lows for the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio 2<\/strong> is also still finding its feet following a number of changes over the last year, which have, when combined with some Radio 1 figures, probably impacted the BBC’s overall listening numbers. Reach fell 1.4% on the quarter and was down 7.0% on the year to 13.3m. Hours actually rose 1.6% on the quarter, but were down 13.4% on the year 136m hours a week. A small sign that the post-Ken Bruce changes have played out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio 3<\/strong> was in a post-Proms quarter, which saw reach fall 11.3% on the quarter, and decline 4.9% on the year to 1.8m. Hours were down 2.6% on the quarter and down 4.6% on the year to 13.2m hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I confess that I was surprised at Radio 4<\/strong>‘s numbers in this quarter, which was – again – quite news-y with conflict in Gaza. But then you remember that a year earlier, we were getting through Prime Ministers like they were going out of fashion. So Radio 4’s reach fell 2.2% on the quarter and was down 9.6% on the year to 9.1m. Hours rose 1.2% on the quarter but were down 3.0% on the year to 111m hours a week. That does mean that average hours per listener increased from 11.8 hours a week to 12.2 hours a week which is historically a very strong figure. You’d have to go back to 2013 for the last time it was that high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly BBC Radio 5 Live<\/strong> perhaps also suffered some speech falls coming from a high a year earlier, with reach down 5.7% on the quarter and down 5.8% on the year to 5.2m. Hours did rise 3.5% on the quarter, but were down 4.9% on the year to 31.3m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC 6 Music<\/strong> saw reach fall 8.5% on the quarter, but rise 0.6% on the year to 2.5m. Hours were up 1.1% on the quarter and were also up 1.8% on the year to 26.1m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC World Service<\/strong> bucked the trend of the BBC’s domestic speech services and saw its reach climb 14.0% on the quarter, but fall 18.0% on the year to 1.1m. Hours were up 13.9% on the quarter, but were down 22.7% on the year to 5.0m. As might be obvious from those percentages, the station has had some “rollercoaster” numbers in recent reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC Local Radio<\/strong> (including Nations stations) is still under the spotlight having seen substantial changes made to much of its output, with shared programming with other nearby stations. This is now showing in the data, with reach down 4.8% on the quarter and down 10.2% on the year to 7.0m. Hours fell 5.5% on the quarter and were down 9.6% on the year to 49.4m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over in the commercial world, Classic FM<\/strong> saw its reach increase 5.0% on the quarter, although it was down 5.7% on the year, with 4.7m listeners a week. It’s still below the symbolic 5m it used to be above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another strong set of results for Greatest Hits Radio<\/strong>, which I will remind you is still gaining from the rebranding of other stations over the past few months. It also reports on a 6 month weighting period. Anyway, reach was up 2.6% on the quarter and up 69.8% on the year to 6.8m. Hours were up 2.8% on the quarter and 103% on the year to 57.4m. These are obviously record highs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, Nick Ferrari celebrated 20 years<\/a><\/em> as host of LBC<\/strong>‘s breakfast show. In Q4 2023, the station saw reach dip 0.1% on the quarter, and fall 3.0% on the year to 2.5m. Hours were down 1.3% on the quarter and fell 8.3% on the year to 25.6m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

talkSPORT<\/strong> had a good quarter, with reach up 2.4% on the quarter and up 4.6% on the year to 3.1m. Sister station talkSPORT 2 <\/strong>is more impacted by whichever commentary rights it has, which include a lot of English Football League games in this quarter. Reach grew 5.9% on the quarter and 15.7% on the year to 398,000. Hours were up 1.1% on the quarter, but down 1.8% on the year to 824,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over at Talk Radio<\/strong>, there were some good results this time out with reach up 5.1% on the quarter and up 19.2% on the year to 725,000. Hours were up 7.8% on the quarter and up 18.2% on the year to 5.5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More mixed results at Times Radio<\/strong> where reach was down 1.2% on the quarter and down 12.6% on the year to 492,000. But hours were up 1.7% on the quarter and up 16.0% on the year to 4.0m. (That also means that those who are listening are listening longer, with average hours up to a healthy 8.0 a week).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virgin Radio<\/strong> saw its reach fall 6.6% on the quarter, but rise 1.4% on the year to 1.4m. Hours were down 6.7% on the quarter, but up 3.1% on the year to 9.1m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boom Radio<\/strong> has launched a couple of digital siblings in recent months, but so far, neither Boom Light<\/em> nor Boom Rock<\/em> have been measured by RAJAR. The main station saw its reach dip back a bit this release, down 5.3% on the quarter but still 18.1% up on the year to 627,000. Hours fell 11.1% on the quarter, but were up 18.2% on the year to 6.9m. Overall, Boom Radio’<\/em>s average hours are 11.0 hours per week which is astonishingly high for any radio station and the highest for a music station. Their listeners love<\/em> the station!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checking in on GB News Radio<\/strong>, and its reach was up 8.0% on the quarter, and up 40.5% on the year to 430,000. Hours were down 7.9% on the quarter but up 30.7% on the year to 2.8m. A reminder that the radio station is essentially a simulcast of the TV station’s audio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands & Networks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The overall Capital Brand <\/strong>saw its reach dip 0.9% on the quarter but rise 3.2% on the year to 7.9m. Hours fell 4.6% on the quarter, and were down 2.2% on the year to 40.2m. The Capital Network<\/strong> (i.e. all the various “Capital Radios”) did slightly worse. Reach was down 4.0% on the quarter and down 0.7% on the year to 5.9m. Hours were down 9.8% on the quarter and down 9.0% on the year to 27.5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Heart Brand<\/strong> did slightly better with reach up 1.7% on the quarter and up 6.1% on the year to 11.5m. Hours were up 4.1% on the quarter and up 4.3% on the year to 76.4m. Digging into the Heart Network<\/strong> of stations, reach was up 2.9% on the quarter and up 2.1% on the year to 8.8m. Hours were up 4.9% on the quarter and down 1.8% on the year to 56.8m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of Heart’s<\/em> digital stations have been performing strongly. Heart 00s<\/strong> was up 4.5% on the quarter to 797,000; Heart 70s<\/strong> was up 3.0% on the quarter to 659,000 reach; Heart 80s<\/strong> was up 1.3% on the quarter to 1.6m reach; and Heart 90s <\/strong>was up 9.6% on the quarter to 1.1m reach. Only Heart Dance<\/strong> saw a dip in its reach this quarter (down 9.4% on the quarter to 838,000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Smooth Brand<\/strong> saw reach dip 0.7% on the quarter, but rise 5.8% on the year to 6.2m. Hours were less good, down 8.1% on the quarter and down 4.4% on the year to 40.4m. The Smooth Radio Network <\/strong>was flat on the quarter (0.0% change) and up 6.4% on the year to 5.5m reach. Hours were down 7.5% on the quarter and down 3.0% on the year to 36.2m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Radio X Network <\/strong>was up 1.8% on the quarter and up 1.4% on the year to a reach of 2.0m. Hours were up 2.8% on the quarter and up 10.8% on the year to 18.7m. Radio X Classic Rock<\/strong> is still finding its feet with its reach down 9.0% on the quarter to 223,000 and down 3.6% on the year to 1.2m. The overall Radio X Brand <\/strong>was therefore up 0.3% on the quarter in reach to 2.2m and up 2.4% on the year in hours to 19.9m. (There are no YoY comparisons for the last couple).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That all means that Total Global Radio <\/strong>(not including stations it sells, but doesn’t own) was up 0.9% on the quarter and up 1.5% on the year to 25.2m reach. Hours were up 0.9% on the quarter and up 0.5% on the year to 237m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meanwhile over at Bauer’s <\/strong><\/em>stations, let’s start with Hits Radio<\/em>, because the big news this quarter<\/a> at Bauer is that they’re rebranding many of their remaining “heritage” brand stations. That means services like Hallam FM, Metro Radio, Radio City, Viking FM and many others. To be clear, that has not yet happened, and so isn’t reflected in this RAJAR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hits Radio<\/strong> only includes a few already rebranded stations. Reach was down 24.5% on the quarter and up 6.6% on the year to 1.4m. Hours were down 11.6% on the quarter and up 58.3% on the year to 7.0m. If we consider the Hits Radio Network (exc Partners) <\/strong>(that is, excluding stations like Nation Radio which are sold in the Hits Radio package by Bauer), this is the group that includes all the soon-to-be rebranded services alongside the existing Hits <\/strong><\/em>branded services. Hits Radio Network (exc Partners)<\/em> was down 3.0% on the quarter and down 4.6% on the year to 6.3m. Hours were down 3.0% on the quarter and down 5.2% on the year to 49.9m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning to Absolute Radio<\/strong>, reach was down 0.3% on the quarter, but up 11.0% on the year to 2.4m. Hours were down 13.8% on the quarter and down 4.2% on the year to 14.0m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolute Radio Network<\/strong> was down 3.1%, but up 1.3% to a weekly reach of 5.3m. Hours were down 8.8% on the quarter and up 0.1% on the year to 36.3m. Going through some of those decades stations, Absolute 80s<\/strong> was up 2.5% on the quarter and up 4.3% on the year to 1.6m. Hours were up 8.7% on the quarter and up 20.3% on the year to 8.5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other digital stations saw some dips. Looking at reach on the most recent quarter: Absolute Classic Rock <\/strong>down 4.1% to 796,000 reach; Absolute Radio 00s<\/strong> down 6.5% on the quarter to 289,000; Absolute Radio 60s <\/strong> was down 22.8% to 115,000; Absolute Radio 70s<\/strong> was down 6.3% to 299,000; Absolute Radio 90s <\/strong>was down 4.9% to 947,000; and Absolute Radio Country<\/strong> was down 5.3% to 407,000. But Absolute Radio 10s<\/strong> was up 1.4% to 149,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An excellent quarter for Magic<\/strong> saw its reach rise 8.5% on the quarter, and increase 18.2% on the year to 3.4m. Hours were up 28.5% on the quarter and up 27.1% on the year to 19.5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that success means that the Magic Network<\/strong> was up 1.7% on the quarter, and up 10.0% on the year to 4.2m. Hours were up 9.4% on the quarter and up 9.1% on the year to 24.2m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kiss <\/strong>vs KISSTORY <\/strong>battle continues. KISSTORY <\/em>is still very slightly<\/em> bigger. Reach fell 7.9% on the quarter, but up 4.5% on the year to 2.4m (2.368m to be precise). Hours fells 18.0% on the quarter, but rise 12.0% on the year to 10.5m. Kiss<\/em> saw its reach fall 9.6% on the quarter and was down 3.7% on the year to 2.3m (2.349m). So that’s 19,000 difference between them. Kiss’s<\/em> hours fell 6.7% on the quarter and they fell 22.3% on the year to 8.5m. So the difference is much wider in terms of hours between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That all means that Bauer Media Audio UK (exc Partners)<\/strong> was down 1.0% on the quarter but up 8.8% on the year in reach to 21.8m. Hours were down 0.4% on the quarter, and up 13.2% on the year to 209m hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Global maintains its lead over Bauer for the time being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Podcasts, Headphones and Smart Speakers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

RAJAR measures quite a few other things that can be useful to examine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Podcast Listening<\/strong> continues to rise. Weekly podcast listening <\/em>is up to 20.3% from 20.0% last quarter and 19.0% last year. I’ve also hada look at the demographics of those podcast listener:<\/p>\n\n\n\n