How has radio fared in RAJAR Q2 2019?
In the second RAJAR survey of 2019, commercial radio has smashed its own record and achieved the highest ever weekly reach. But, how have stations across Wales fared?
Local
Locally there were a few stations who stood out for not having a good quarter.
One of those was 96.4 FM The Wave who’s reach decreased by 28,000 to 115,000. Their reach % also decreased by 6% to 24%, the biggest drop across all the stations The Media Angel surveyed.
Local stations in Swansea also took a hit. Swansea Bay Radio’s reach was down 8,000 to 21,000. Swansea Sound also lost 8,000 in reach, down to 40,000.
Capital experience a mixed bag of results. Capital South Wales’ reach increased by 14,000 to 231,000. However, Capital North West and Wales’ reach dropped by 6,000 to 140,000.
Although still the largest radio station in Wales, Heart South Wales’ reach also decreased significantly, down 16,000 to 394,000. Kiss (West) and Smooth North West and Wales experience reach losses of 15,000 and 12,000 respectively.
The station with the most loyal listeners is Heart South Wales with 8.8 hours per listener. Smooth Radio South Wales saw the biggest drop in listener hours against the stations The Media Angel surveyed, with a decline of 3.8 hours to 7.2 per listener.
Radio Pembrokeshire still retains its’ position with the highest weekly reach at 35%, followed by The Wave with 24% and Capital South Wales at 22%.
National
Across national radio, the biggest loss had to go to Zoe Ball who lost 780,000 weekly listeners from her Radio 2 breakfast show.
Zoe Ball took over from Chris Evans in January, after he left the station to join Virgin Radio. In the second quarter of 2019, Ball’s figures fell from 9.05m to 8.27m.
Chris, meanwhile, has added 63,000 listeners to his Virgin Radio breakfast show – now reaching 1,111,000 across the (compared with 1,048,000 in Q1/19). That helped Virgin Radio UK increase its overall reach as a station from 1.3m to 1.545m – a jump of 18% quarter on quarter.
Global is celebrating its highest ever weekly reach (25.6m), hours (238m) and share (23.4%) as a group, with the country’s biggest four commercial radio brands being Heart (9.7m), Capital (8.2m), Smooth (5.7m) and Classic FM (5.6m). Kiss is 5th with 5.3m listeners.
The new Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp, Vick Hope & Sonny Jay reaches 3.796m – that’s an increase from Q1/19 but a drop of 164,000 from a year ago when the shows were presented regionally.
Greg James posts his highest figures since taking over Radio 1 breakfast last summer – his Monday to Thursday show has 5.69m listeners aged 10+, compared with 5.44m last year.
Digital
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Sources
https://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2019/08/01/rajar-q2-2019-national-stations-and-networks
RAJAR Q2 2019: The quarterly radio Infographic is here
RAJAR Q2 2019: London and national brands round-up
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49179840
RAJAR
Radio stations surveyed:
102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire, 106.3 Bridge FM, 96.4 FM The Wave, Capital North West and Wales, Capital South Wales, Heart North Wales, Heart South Wales, Kiss (West), Radio Carmarthenshire and Scarlet FM, Radio Ceredigion, Smooth Radio North West and Wales, Smooth Radio South Wales, Swansea Bay Radio (surveyed as Nation Hits!), Nation Radio South Wales, Swansea Sound – 1170 MW