Tag: advertising
The first RAJAR of 2024, Q1 is here!
RAJAR’s first quarterly update of 2024 is here, check out the top stats for the period (January – March 2024)
Data collected from this period has revealed that the weekly population of all commercial radio listeners has increased in 2024 with 89% equivalent to 50 million adults, this is a 1% increase compared to Q4 2023.
Here are some interesting stats –
- The total average number of weekly hours listened to radio for this quarter is 1.023 billion hours.
- On average a listener tunes into 20.5 hours of Live Radio per week, unchanged from Q4 2023.
- 44 million adults (77%) are now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled platform each week.
- 73% of weekly listening hours are consumed digitally.
- In an average week, digital listening accounts for 746 million hours increasing by 17 million since Q4 2023.
- DAB has a 58% share of digital listening hours, Smart speaker with 23%, Website/Apps with 15%, and DTV with 4%.
- 63% of Smart Speaker users say they use it for listening to the radio.
- AM/FM listening hours have a share of 27%, falling by 1% since Q4 2023.
- 33% of all adults claim to listen to Podcasts at least once a month, this has increased by 6% since the last quarterly update.
- 30% of all adults say they listen to radio via Smartphone or Tablet at least once a month
National radio stats –
The latest RAJAR Q4 results reported that Commercial radio gained an additional 500,000 weekly listeners.
Three-quarters of commercial stations (75%) gained reach compared to the previous quarter, compared to more than half (53%) of BBC stations losing reach.
Breaking its record yet again, Heart Radio strengthens its position as the number one commercial radio brand, growing to a huge 12.4 million listeners across the UK, increasing by 900,000 listeners since Q3 2024.
Additionally, Capital had a great Q1 report, reaching 8.3 million weekly listeners nationwide, a 400,000 gain in listeners.
Bauer Media and partner stations celebrated this quarterly report with 198,000 weekly listeners, with a reach up 30% compared to last quarter.
Welsh radio stats
Welsh radio stations have had a very successful RAJAR this quarter.
Heart South Wales has remained the most listened to radio station in Wales. The Q1 report has shown reach is currently 453,000 an increase of 34,000 compared to Q4 2023. Also holding the highest weekly percentage reach at 23%.
This quarter, Kiss (West) has had greater success than Q4 2023. With a 36,000 gain in listeners, the station now has the biggest reach growth in all of Wales this quarter, reaching 311,000 listeners overall.
Nation Radio Wales has again increased its reach during Q1 2024, gaining 17,000 listeners making their total reach 202,000 listeners.
Smooth Radio North West and Wales remained the station with the highest average listening hours this quarter with 9.5 per week.
Greatest Hits South Wales’ (previously The Wave) weekly reach has further increased in Q1 2024 by 16,000, now reaching 136,000 listeners.
Heart North Wales has gained a considerable reach of listeners this quarter with an increase of 30,000, making the total reach of 132,000 listeners.
Following suit, Capital South Wales also had a successful quarter with an increased reach of 191,000 gaining 31,000 more listeners.
The only 2 stations throughout Wales to marginally fall in reach were Radio Pembrokeshire and Bridge FM, both decreasing by 2,000 listeners each.
Despite station switching, radio listeners continue to tune in regularly, demonstrating the importance of radio as a medium for spreading your message and drawing in new clients.
With over 40 years of commercial radio experience, contact our radio experts today to help with your next campaign!
TikTok new AI rules
Transparency is becoming more and more crucial as digital content creation develops.
AI-generated text, photos, and videos are getting more and more traction as marketers try to find unique ways to differentiate their content from the competition.
The absence of a label identifying the usage of AI-generated content might occasionally mislead viewers.
TikTok is the first social media platform to label all video and image content created by AI, by partnering with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a project that supplies resources necessary to identify AI-generated content.
The new watermark will be generated using the C2PA “Content Credentials” technology to identify AI images and videos uploaded to the platform.
The watermark will be applied to content generated outside of TikTok and then reposted onto the app, giving consumers the ability to precisely identify the source and reliability of the information they watch.
Source: Memeburn, The Mirror and Hypertext (2024)
The decline of Newspaper circulation
The last decade has changed how people consume and can access news, with a move away from print and towards digital, the rapid acceleration of mobile technology and social media platforms has contributed to the shift in behaviour.
As a result, news publishers are now forced to diversify to survive, as circulation income from newsstand sales and print advertising has considerably decreased.
Newspaper circulation in the UK has been declining for years, seeing a year-on-year drop in circulation of more than 10% between 2022 and 2023. For further comparison, expenditure on newspapers fell from over £9.9 billion in 2005 to below £2 billion in 2022.
Source: Press Gazette
Source: Press Gazette
Below are some current 2024 circulation figures:
Daily Mail – 706,839
Mail on Sunday – 594,414
Daily Mirror – 237,233
Sunday Mirror – 173,149
Daily Express – 147,919
Daily Star – 134,924
The following publications have chosen to withhold their circulation numbers, however, if these newspapers have fallen in line with the rest of the industry their current circulations as of February 2024 would be as follows:
The Sun – 700,000
The Sun on Sunday – 600,000
The Sunday Times – 322,000
The Times – 180,000
Daily Telegraph – 190,000
Sunday Telegraph – 125,000
The Observer – 80,000
The Guardian – 60,000
Local and regional newspapers have also seen a decline in circulation over the past decade, here are the latest circulation figures.
Western Mail – 7,177
North Wales Weekly News – 1,073
South Wales Evening Post – 8,608
Carmarthen Journal – 4,068
Birmingham Post – 1,152
Liverpool Echo – 18,496
Gloucester Echo – 4,139
Print advertising has been around for centuries and is still an effective medium today with many benefits, despite the steep decline in circulation.
- Tangible
- Credibility
- Targetable
- Brand awareness
- Capture attention
- Longevity
- Personalisation
- Engagement
- Nostalgia
- Multi-sensory experience
If you are interested in advertising in press or on news websites please contact us today!
The relationship between Broadcast TV and Ad recall
We recently read a case study by Think Box that explored the relationship between Broadcast TV and ad recall, here are some of the key takeaways:
Television screens are seen to drive 60% greater ad recall than ads seen on a smartphone or tablet, and 34% more than those seen on a computer.
Right in-home advertising can increase recall by up to 6.3 times.
The living room was the best spot for increasing ad recall with 22%, the highest of all other rooms in the house. Overall, the living room was 176% better than the kitchen at driving advertising recall, and 10% better than the bedroom.
The influence of shared settings whilst watching Broadcast TV is highlighted by the fact that when an advertisement was seen with others, such as when watching series or television dramas, ad recall increased by 23%.
Every night there are nearly 5 million conversations about the ads on commercial TV
These findings conclude that despite the decline of broadcast advertising, it is proven to be a great social medium that still brings people together and still gets adverts talked about.
Source: Marketing Beat, Think Box Research (2024)
Latest UK streaming figures
In the third quarter of 2023, the number of UK households subscribing to video-on-demand services amounted to around 19.3 million.
Here are some of the latest stats from the biggest UK streaming services:
ITVX
ITVX started the year with 328 million streams in January alone, more than any other month on ITVX or its predecessor ITV Hub.
Sunday 28 January 2024 was the biggest single day for both the number of streams (14.8m) and streaming hours (6.1m) since December 2022.
The top shows and live events on ITVX in 2023 were:
- Love Island All Stars – 43m streams
- Mr. Bates V The Post Office – 22m streams
- The FA Cup Liverpool v Norwich City – 11m streams
- Trigger Point – 9m streams
With a monthly reach of 24.8 million, ITVX is the leading platform for commercial BVOD and since the rebranding to ITVX, there have been over 3 billion streams and over 40 million registered users.
The hours spent streaming on ITVX have increased by +60% since last year and there has been a +91% increase in awareness of the streaming service among adults.
1.5 million of 16-34-year-olds are using ITVX as the only way they watch content with 8-9 million of this age group watching ITVX monthly.
Channel 4
At the end of 2023, Channel 4 streaming had 28 million registered users. The amount of viewing minutes on Channel 4 exceeded 53.5 billion at the end of 2023, with a 24% rise.
Channel 4’s diverse programming contributed to a 24% year-on-year gain in viewership and nearly 10 billion more minutes in 2023.
The top streamed single episodes on Channel 4 in 2023 were:
- The Great British Bake Off, Episode 1, Series 14 – 243 million viewing minutes
- Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches – 170 million viewing minutes
With a combined total of 6.8 billion viewer minutes, Married at First Sight Australia and Married at First Sight UK are the two most streamed programs of 2023.
Sky
SKY has a combined monthly reach of 47 million across linear & digital platforms with 42% of all adults watching Sky VOD every month.
Sky VOD has a 26% YOY viewing increase.
If you want to incorporate VOD advertising into your marketing mix, get in touch with us today!
Sources: (Statista, 2023), (Kantar, 2023), ITVX, All4 & Sky
All about Gen Z
We’ve recently attended many industry webinars such as Insider Intelligence, Stack Adapt Spotify, and ITV which allowed us to gain deeper and up-to-date insights into different media formats utilised by Gen Z. We’ve been researching and delving into the world of Gen Z, looking into their personalities, habits, behaviours, and media consumption.
Digital Audio
In the first half of 2023, Gen Z listened to over 560 billion songs a 76% increase since 2022, making them the fastest-growing cohort in music and podcast listening.
43% of Gen Z listen to radio via a mobile device weekly and 63% listen to streamed music daily – Digital Audio has an average of 14.2 listening hours per week with Gen Z.
Gen Z are more likely to trust ads more if they hear them on Spotify (44%) rather than see them on social media (21%)
(Source: Spotify)
Radio
48% of Gen Z listen to traditional radio per month, with an average of 6.3 listening hours
(Source: Global)
Podcast
In the first half of 2023, Gen Z listened to more than 3 million podcast episodes, spending an average of 7.7 hours listening to podcasts monthly.
75% of Gen Z listens to podcasts weekly, listening to podcasts 1-2 times per week has an index of 141 and a reach of 84,000.
Gen Zs in the UK generated more than 250 million podcast streams on Spotify in the first half of 2023 — fuelling a 58% increase since the year prior.
Through increased podcast listenership over the last year, Gen Zs in the UK are diving deeper into categories including:
- Science + 33%
- True Crime + 35%
- Music + 44%
- Sports + 62%
Half (50%) of Gen Zs in the UK feel that podcasts provide them with more knowledge of culture than any other form of media and Over three-quarters of Gen Zs in the UK (76%) say podcasts teach them about topics they wish they’d learned about in school.
Nearly two-thirds of Zs in the UK (64%) believe podcasting is more trustworthy than other forms of media because it’s representative of more diverse voices and points of view.
(Source: Spotify)
Social Media
TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat consume much of Gen Z’s daily attention, with TikTok currently taking the lead; 18-24 spend an average of 58 minutes daily on TikTok compared to 38 minutes on Instagram and 30 minutes on Snapchat.
Gen-Z spends an average of 3 hours on social media each day, visiting social media platforms ‘more than 10 times per day’ with an index of 156.
Beyond entertainment, these platforms act as Gen Z’s main news sources. More than any previous generation, 75% of Gen Z are now delivered breaking news via social media and 60% rely on social media for researching and discovering information.
Gen Z are seen to pay more attention to social media ads than other generations, with 63% preferring video advertising to any other format.
(Source: Insider Intelligence, Hootsuite Statista)
Online
81% of Gen Z’s said they welcome highly personalized ads
64% of Gen Z have searched online for more information about a company/product they’ve seen advertised on OOH
(Source: The Drum, Explore)
OOH
84% of Gen Z pay attention to OOH advert
89% of Gen Z remember the brand displayed on an OOH advert
55% of Gen Z prefer OOH ads the most across all ad formats
+91% of Gen Z have heavy exposure to mall advertising
+94% of Gen Z have heavy exposure to rail advertising
Railway stations have a 176% index with Gen Z audiences
Gen Z is 181% more likely to see OOH ads on the LU
(Source: JCDecaux, Global)
Gaming
88% of young adults (aged 16-24) play video games
73% of the Gen Z audience play console games like PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo
Gen Z’s spend more time on gaming (22%) and watching YouTube videos on gaming (21%) than watching television (17%)
More than two-thirds (68%) of Gen Z own a game console, with a further 9% having consistent access to one.
More than eight out of 10 (81%) of Gen Z play games on some type of device, ranging from personal consoles to mobile phones.
Gaming Podcasts have the highest index of all categories for 16-18 year-olds with 193
The top 5 video games that resonate well with Gen Z audiences are:
- Ducky
- Play Simple
- Voodoo
- Top Nation
- Matchingham Room Games
(Source: Statista, U Switch)
VOD
80% of Gen Z use streaming services.
ITVX
There are approximately 8-9 million Gen Zs using ITVX per month, making up 13% of all active users on ITVX since Q1 2022 are aged 16-24, accounting for 30% of total streaming hours.
1.5 million Gen Zs are using ITVX as the only way they watch live and streaming content, consuming more than 55 million hours of content yearly.
All 4
Channel 4 streaming accounts for over ¼ of 16-34-year-olds monthly viewing with Gen Z audiences spending an average of 3 hours and 47 minutes on All4
(Source: ITV, Channel 4, Think Box)
Cinema
89% of Gen Z are cinemagoers, with 40% of Gen Z visiting a couple of times a year.
Gen Z are more likely to pay attention to advertisements in the cinema, with an index of 280.
(Source: Digital Cinema Media)
If you need help targeting Gen Z get in touch with us today!
Christmas TV advertising
Christmas advertising
A record-breaking £9.5 billion is set to be spent on advertising this Christmas season, almost a 4.8% increase from last year’s £9 billion spend.
The highest-performing media formats for Christmas advertising in 2023 are BVOD increasing by 20.2% and OOH increasing by 22% compared to 2022.
However, Traditional Television advertising remains the top media format in 2023 with a predicted £1.5 billion spent on advertising during this year’s golden quarter
Nearly half (48%) of all adults praise Christmas advertisements for helping to spark gift ideas, whilst 70% of young adults (16-34) find them to be a mood booster.
Public approval of John Lewis 2023 Christmas advert + Christmas 2023 adverts
The most anticipated Christmas advert release each year is John Lewis.
This year John Lewis brought ‘Snapper’ The Venus Fly Trap to our screens, drifting away from the renowned emotional and sentimental adverts we’ve seen in the past.
More than half (55%) of the British public, compared to an astounding 96% last year, said they “love” this year’s John Lewis Christmas advertisement,
‘Snapper’ was ranked just 68% for positive sentiment; However, the strength of that negative coverage boosted social media activity which generated 106m impressions, 3,248 messages, and 17,928 engagements.
Positively speaking, 40% of the population thought this year’s advertisement was “funny,” and not ‘emotional’ making it John Lewis’ funniest Christmas commercial since the 2018 Elton John advert.
Surprisingly, Aldi’s ‘Kevin and The Chocolate Factory’ was a great hit with a range of audiences, providing a score of 93% positive sentiment; the advert gained significant reach with 1,652 messages, 2,773 engagements on X/Twitter, with 17m potential views.
Similarly, this year’s Amazon ad scored correspondingly with 17m impressions and 1,696 messages, but also scored highly on sentiment with 93%.
McDonald’s 2023 Christmas campaign “Fancy a McDonald’s this Christmas” is the brand’s highest-scoring advert with 4.1 stars since its 2017 advert “#Reindeer Ready” which achieved a rating of five stars which only 1% of Christmas ads achieve.
If you want to incorporate TV advertising into your marketing mix, get in touch with us today!
(Source: Marketing Beat, 2023)
Marketing trends you can’t ignore in 2024
We recently attended a industry webinar on the predicted media and advertising trends for 2024, here are the trends you simply can’t ignore!
Global ad spending is forecasted to increase by 8.2%, reaching £788 billion in 2024
Digital ad spending will finally achieve pre-pandemic levels in 2024, increasing by 20.9% in growth by the end of 2024
The highest ad spending sectors predicted for 2024 are as follows:
Retail – £5.69 billion
Consumer packed goods – £3.80 billion
Computing products and consumer electronics – £3.22 billion
Financial services – £3.00 billion
Automotive – £2.26 billion
Travel – £1.90 billion
Other – £6.6 billion
What marketing channels have the strongest growth predicted for 2024?
In Game +15%
CTV +14.4%
DOOH/OOH +5.9%
Video +5.8%
Display +5.3%
Search +5.2%
Social +4%
Audio +1%
The era of real-time personalisation
49% of consumers felt frustration when they received irrelevant content or offers
75% of consumers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations
Programmatic growth
Ad spent expected to reach £29 billion in 2024 a YoY growth of 9.2%
Digital out of home = 60.5% growth
Video = 13.3% growth
Display = 10% growth
CTV continues to make waves
This year, almost 75% of the UK population will watch digital video content and is expected to further grow in 2024.
The rise of DOOH
Digital will account for 64.7% of out-of-home spending in 2023 and is expected to surpass the £1 billion mark by 2026
Games everywhere
In-game advertising revenue is expected to surpass £600 million in 2024, being the 4th largest revenue generator globally
49% of in-game ads drive on average 49% promoted brand recall
6 out of 10 players are likely to make a purchase after seeing an in-game advert
(Source: Stack Adapt)
If you need help ensuring your 2024 marketing plans get results, get in touch with our team today!
Faux Out of home
A new trend is emerging in the constantly changing world of digital marketing that is grabbing attention and challenging our perceptions of what is genuine and what is not.
Faux Out-of-Home (FOOH) advertising is increasing in popularity, more brands are now following the trend of creating ‘realistic’ OOH campaigns that are actually CGI-generated; providing a powerful avenue for imagination, however, there are moral considerations.
One example of FOOH advertising is Maybelline’s Sky High Mascara; a viral video showcasing their ‘new OOH campaign’ where London underground trains and London buses iconically wore eyelashes, demonstrating the benefits of the mascara formula as well as the bending wand technology. At the time the video was released to social media, it was not made clear that the OOH campaign was created using CGI and therefore misleading consumers.
McDonald’s is one of the brands to recently jump on the trend with a festive FOOH campaign. The campaign is called ‘Festive wins’ featuring a fleet of festive baubles driving through London’s Oxford Circus and bursting McDonald’s burger boxes outside the Bullring, Birmingham, and celebratory Christmas crackers along the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
FOOH’s creativity is completely unhindered by reality, budget, resources, and media formats; therefore, it has the potential to go ‘viral’ on social media and drive brand awareness and engagement.
Since deceiving customers seems to be the key to faux out-of-home success. The allure of Barbie’s enormous doll, Maybelline’s eyelash tube promotion, and Jacquemus’ giant bags would have undoubtedly been ruined if a disclaimer revealing the CGI origins had been included at the time of publication.
After reading a FOOH feature on the Drum, we found it interesting that JC Decaux’s Chief Marketing Officer, David McEvoy has reported on the topic. McEvoy promptly emphasised that in spite of the significant volume of FOOH sightings recently, the problem has really been there for some time. Pointing out that even before digital adverts, you’d often see television ads featuring billboards, street furniture, or bus shelter panels, proving that the creativity wasn’t genuinely used in the out-of-home environment.
Brands wanting to create CGI campaigns must approach with caution, as it could jeopardise consumer relationships as well as brand reputation.
RAJAR Q3 results are now in!
Here are the top stats from Q3 for the period starting June and ending September.
Data has revealed that the weekly population of all radio listeners has remained the same as Q1 and Q2 in Q3 with 88% and has remained at 49.5 million people.
Here are some interesting stats to begin –
- The average number of weekly hours listened to radio for this Quarter is 1.016 billion hours
- The average radio listener tunes into 20.5 hours of Live Radio per week.
- 43 million adults (15+) are tuning into radio digitally each week.
- In an average week, digital listening accounts for 714 million hours, with a listening share of 76%, up by 2% since Q2.
- Listening via DAB has a 42% share of listening, Online has 24% and DTV is 4%.
- AM/FM listening hours share is less than a third with 30%.
- 32% of adults (15+) claim to listen to Podcasts at least once per month.
National RAJAR listening figures
They’ve done it again! Heart and Capital remain the largest 2 commercial radio brands, resulting in Global leading the radio market with 26.4 million weekly listeners, up by 6% since Q2.
In this quarter, The UK’s largest radio station Heart, achieved its highest-ever audience of 11.3 million weekly listeners across the UK.
Capital has reached a milestone of 8 million weekly listeners, increasing by an incredible 200,000 listeners since Q2.
Following a successful Q1 and Q2, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio has grown again in Q3, achieving 6.2 million weekly listeners.
Welsh RAJAR listening figures
Heart South Wales now has 432,000 weekly listeners, up 29,000 from Q2, making it the station with the most listeners in all of Wales.
Nation Radio Wales reached 150,000 weekly listeners an increase of 20,000 since Q2.
Greatest Hits South Wales’ weekly listeners increased by 20,000 from Q2 to Q3, reaching a total of 102,000
Even though Capital is still the biggest commercial radio station in the UK, Capital Northwest, and Wales’ reach decreased by 14,000 listeners from Q2 to Q3, yet it is still quite high at 107,000 listeners per week. Capital South Wales’ reach also decreased slightly by 6,000 listeners per week.
Although radio listeners have switched stations, they still regularly tune in to the medium highlighting that there is still a market for radio advertising! Millions of people can still hear your message; to be heard at the right time, get in touch with our team today!
TV advertising
Television advertising continues to be an effective and impactful method of advertising, TV-focused campaigns outperform those without by 35%; below are some reasons why traditional advertising should remain a part of any marketing mix:
- Wide reach
TV advertising has a vast-reaching audience as well as the capacity to quickly and frequently connect with a wide range of demographics. The average UK resident is expected to see around 40 TV adverts daily, reaching as many as 70% of the population in a single day (Improve Marketing 2023).
- Credibility
Brand credibility can be enhanced immediately by featuring on main TV channels and during well-known programs. Consumers of TV adverts frequently perceive brands that advertise on TV as more reliable and trustworthy with 40% of UK residents believing messages delivered on them. (Statista 2023).
- Repetition
TV adverts are often aired repeatedly, and your brand can be seen multiple times in a single day. The combination of repeated visuals, audio, and storytelling can create a long-lasting memory for a single viewer and for wider audiences. 3 or 4 repetitions of one TV commercial are sufficient to keep a viewer’s attention (Themediaant 2022).
- Complementary advertising
TV advertising is seen to be complementary to many other forms of media, a multi-media approach with the same campaign can significantly amplify brand presence. TV and Digital have a significant connection, TV advertising has been shown to increase the visibility of digital ads as well as organic interaction (Improvemarketing, 2023)
- High ROI
TV advertising has the highest ROI of any media, generating an average return of £1.79 for every £1 spent, accounting for 71% of all advertising revenue (Thinkbox, 2022).
- Brand awareness
TV advertising increases brand awareness by 20% as well as brand consideration by 27%, and purchase intent by 15% (Thinkbox 2023).
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Considering the benefits above, why not incorporate or enhance your brands’ exposure on TV?
So, if you need help with being seen through TV advertising, get in touch with our experienced team today!
Advertising in Wales
Do you want your brand to be seen by a mass and diverse audience, across Wales?
If so, check out the latest statistics for different advertising media in Wales!
TV
On average, people in Wales spend 2 hours 45 minutes per day watching broadcast TV, the second most of any nation. Unsurprisingly given the passion for sport in Wales, the most-watched TV program in 2022 was Six Nation Rugby: Wales vs. France (Ofcom, 2023).
On average, ITV reaches 80% of adults per month in Wales, with “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” becoming one of Wales’s most popular programs – reaching up to 615K adults in one episode alone (ITV, 2023).
S4C, aimed at a Welsh-speaking audience, offers a potential yearly audience of almost 2.5 million people in over 1.3 million homes.
CTV
CTV ‘Connected TV’ is content accessed via apps and streamed over smart TVs, or a connected device, such as Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation, and Apple TV; Nationally, CTV is heavily on the rise with a 15.7% growth rate expected for 2023 (Statista 2022).
7 in 10 TV users in Wales had a connected TV device, and users were more likely to connect their TV to the internet via a box (Sky+ or Virgin Media) by 44%, compared to England with 32% (Ofcom 2023)
VOD
According to Ofcom 63% of all Welsh households are currently subscribed to at least one VOD service and the average viewing duration for these services is 4 hours and 43 minutes whilst people in Wales are estimated to spend 15% of their total video viewing time on video-on-demand services, as well as 15% on video-sharing websites/apps.
Radio
Radio is a highly effective form of advertising, reaching 88% of the adult population weekly, equivalent to 49.4 million people.
The average listener tunes into 20.5 hours of live radio each week, and a record 39.2 million people are tuning into commercial radio every week, up by 1.3% on the quarter and 8% on the year.
North Wales appeared to have the most success in Q2 2023 RAJAR’s update; Capital North Wales’ reach increased from 100,000 to 121,000, up a staggering 21% and Heart North Wales reach has also increased from 89,000 up by 14%. Its total listener hours are up by a staggering 40% from 606,000 to 846,000, whilst the share of listening is up from 2.9% to 4.1%.
Heart South Wales in Q2 has the highest number of active listeners with 403,000, with a 21% reach.
Radio advertising makes it possible to customise messages to each audience, helping targeting specific demographic groups, local communities, and geographical regions.
Radio has the highest rate of ad avoidance, demonstrating how radio listeners are much less likely to “tune out” when there are radio commercials.
(Rajar 2023)
Transport
The Q1 (2023) TFW report has recorded across South Wales alone that 300,000 passengers have used bus transport to commute every week and is estimated that around 100 million bus journeys were made in 2022.
Reportedly bus advertising is the most-seen outdoor advertising medium, reaching over 48 million adults over a two-week period (Route, 2023).
There has been a total of 5.4m passenger journeys made on TFW trains across Wales in Q1 of 2023, this is still down in comparison to pre-pandemic levels (Wales Online, 2023), On average 71% of regular rail users have noticed an OOH ad in their respective station in the past week (Clearchannel, 2023).
OOH/ DOOH
Out-of-home and Digital out-of-home advertising has the ability to reach 98% of the UK population at least once a week, highlighting that OOH is a very powerful method of advertising (outsmart 2023). It has been suggested that on average 71% of the UK population acknowledges an advert at the roadside (75 Media, 2023).
OOH and DOOH drive online engagement as well as purchase intention or service use, almost 26% of surveyed customers have visited a website in response to an OOH advert, and a 38% increase in mobile engagements (75 media, 2023).
The top 3 performing OOH/ DOOH sites in Wales are:
- ‘M4 Super 6’ located in Newport with 574,923 weekly impacts.
- Swansea Bus Station Large Digital Format with 498,000 weekly impacts.
- Static 6 sheet located on Newport Road, Cardiff with 259,346 weekly impacts.
Digital Audio
Amazon Music accounted for the highest listening time in Wales on music streaming services with 24% – 4 times the UK adult national average (Ofcom, 2023).
The average Spotify user is estimated to spend 25 hours per month listening to music (Ferjan, 2023).
Podcasts have grown massively in popularity in recent years, from 2022 it was estimated there would be an average of 22 million monthly listeners in the UK (Cybercrew, 2023). As a result, advertising through podcasts has become highly favourable in a marketing mix, expecting to see a growth rate of 15.7% at the end of 2023 (Thepodcasthost, 2023).
Social Media
More than 9 in 10 (92%) homes in Wales had an internet connection in the first half of 2023 (Ofcom, 2023).
An average person in the UK is estimated to spend 145 minutes every day on social media platforms (Workup, 2022), with Facebook remaining the most-used social media platform with 44.8 million active users nationally (Thesocialsheppard, 2023).
Instagram came in second with 35 million active users at the end of Q2, while YouTube was third with an estimated 16.3 million users in the UK (Statista, 2023).
If your looking to start an advertising campaign across Wales, Get in touch with our experienced team.