RAJAR Q3: 2017 – What you need to know

Rajar releases the recent results for the radio market in Wales; giving us insight into the current listening patterns of Welsh radio fans.

Heart South Wales had an excellent RAJAR and continues to be the number one commercial radio station in Wales with 451,000 listeners and 24% reach. Capital South Wales gained an impressive 30,000 additional listeners, now reaching 222,000 listeners per week with 21% reach.

With a strong 27% reach, The Wave continue their come back after losing 17,000 listeners in Q4 2016, they have regained 4,000 listeners. Radio Pembrokeshire continues to achieve the highest percentage weekly reach of any radio station in Wales at 35%. Smooth South Wales has gained 27,000 listeners, their average listening hours are 7.2. Heart South Wales take the top spot with average listening hours at 10.5 hours per week, Bridge FM a close second with 10.3 hours and Heart North Wales in third place with 8.5 hours.

In North Wales, Capital and Heart have the same weekly reach of 18%, however, Heart North Wales has higher hours per listener of 8.5 versus Capitals 5 hours.

Smooth Radio North West & Wales saw the largest loss of listeners with 20,000.

National

After the majority of national stations saw a weekly reach decline during the first quarter of 2017, it’s great to see some decent increases in weekly reach for a number of national stations in the second quarter. With a 3% quarter-on-quarter boost, Total Global Radio UK kept the top spot with more than 23.3 million listeners tuning in each week – with top performers including LBC Network (UK) (up 14.6% QoQ), Smooth Extra (up 17.4% QoQ) and The Arrow (up 66%). Bauer’s best performing stations this quarter.

Digital

More than 6 in 10 adults (aged 15+) currently listen to radio via a digital platform, according to the latest Rajar results for the second quarter of 2017.

In total, 33 million people now tune into radio via a digitally enabled receiver – DAB, digital TV or online – each week.

In an average week, digital listening accounts for 503 million hours; DAB has a 71% share of digital listening hours, digital TV 11% and online 18%.

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