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!

[email protected]

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:

  1. Love Island All Stars – 43m streams
  2. Mr. Bates V The Post Office – 22m streams
  3. The FA Cup Liverpool v Norwich City – 11m streams
  4. 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:

  1. The Great British Bake Off, Episode 1, Series 14 – 243 million viewing minutes
  2. 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!

[email protected]

Sources: (Statista, 2023), (Kantar, 2023), ITVX, All4 & Sky

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!

[email protected]

RAJAR Q2 stats have been revealed!

Here are the top stats from Q2 for the period ending June 2023 of Rajar’s update. 

Data has revealed that the weekly population of all radio listeners has remained the same as Q1 in Q2 with 88% but has increased slightly to 49.5 million people. 

Some other interesting stats – 

  • 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. 
  • Commercial Radio’s share of listening has also grown massively to a new record of 54.5%, up from 51.4% in Q1
  • The average user tunes into 20.5 hours of live radio each week. 
  • In an average week, digital listening accounts for 697 million hours, and has the highest percentage of listeners with 74%. 
  • At home listening has the biggest percentage with 62%, followed by transport with 25% and in the workplace with 14%. 

Nationally 

Commercial radio now has 7.5 million more listeners than the BBC. 

They’ve done it again! Heart, Capital and Smooth remain the top 3 UK commercial radio brands, resulting in Global leading the radio market with 24.9 million weekly listeners. 

Heart reaches more than 11.1 million listeners each week, increasing listening hours by 3%.

Capital reaches 7.8 million listeners each week – 14% of the UK population. 

Smooth reaching 5.9 million listeners each week, reporting a 4.8% increase from Q1.  

Following a successful Q1, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio has grown by a further 12% in reach, equivalent to 5.9 million listeners each week and a total of 21.3 million listeners. 


Locally 

Across Wales North Wales appeared to have the most success this RAJAR

Reach has increased for Capital North Wales from 100,000 to 121,000 a staggering 21% in Q2.

Following this trend, Heart North Wales reach has also increased from 89,000 up by 14%. Its total listener hours is up by a staggering 40% from 606,000 to 846,000, whilst share of listening is up from 2.9% to 4.1%.

Other each increases include:

Greatest Hits South Wales: 72,000 to 77,000

Radio Carmarthenshire: 18,000 to 20,000 

Several Welsh stations have seen a significant fall in their reach from Q1 to Q2, these include:

  • Smooth Radio South Wales: 76,000 to 70,000, fell by 9%
  • Capital South Wales: 154,000 to 143,000, fell by 8%
  • Heart South Wales: 426,000 to 403,000, fell by 5%

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!

[email protected]

The year of the ‘Staycation’

The UK is heading for a summer of staycation. Households are leaving towns or cities and heading into more rural areas, with the majority travelling by motorway. School summer holidays are here and many in need of a break will be travelling by car to their UK holiday destination.

Now is the time to go outdoors! Outdoor advertising in the UK is on the up!

The OOH audience is returning with 60% of pre-lock down levels across all platforms, and brands are jumping back onto OOH to capture their audience’s attention. See Mcdonalds OOH ads capturing feelings of the nation. Bus traffic was back to 97% of pre-lock-down levels and roadside traffic to 97% The rate of return in proximity to significant points of interest is growing, the greatest return is in more suburban areas and areas close to the sea, in comparison to traditional high footfall areas such as city centres.

£48 billion is usually spent each year on summer travel, but with more of us looking to holiday closer to home, a large chunk of this could be injected back into the UK economy*

OOH campaigns are 27% more likely to make large shifts in brand effects (Binet and Field)

OOH campaigns see 47% uplift in sales activity effects V’s non users

Whatever your message, we are here to help…

Motorway service stations could be a great place to start with a range of options available including large format digital, 6 sheets and washroom advertising.

If you would like to book an outdoor media campaign or more, contact our friendly team here – [email protected].

Source: Parkdean Resorts’ 2020 Staycation Market Report

What did we get up to in November?

As the year (and decade) almost draws to a close, we have a look back at the month that was, November 2019.

We celebrated The Drum Out of Home Awards 2019, congratulations to all the winners!

Some of our clients began their Christmas campaigns, and we welcomed a very exciting new national client in Casio and Edifice.

And we started our Christmas countdown, keep an eye out for our last video of the year at the end of December!

Spotify explores new advertising opportunities

The average customer spends 25 hours a month streaming music on Spotify. Spanning 65 markets, Spotify’s audience has, to date, created two billion playlists from a library of more than 35 million songs.

Europe is the company’s largest market with 58 million monthly active users, accounting for 37% of its total audience. Spotify claimed a 42% share of the global streaming market in 2016, boasting a 95% share in Sweden, 59% in the UK and 41% in the US.

Creating 3D sound

Exploring the possibilities of extending its ad revenue, Spotify is working on different formats including podcast collaborations with publishers like Buzzfeed, sponsored playlists and skippable audio ads.

In March, Spotify released its first 3D audiovisual advert in partnership with Lionsgate UK for the release of the horror film, Ghost Stories. Audio from the trailer was repurposed to give a 3D audio effect, creating an immersive experience. The ad received click-through rates up 50% from benchmark level.

They also rolled out a self-service Ad Studio to the UK, this allows brands to create their own Spotify adverts. The advertiser can pick its audience based on age, gender, location, activity and musical taste, they can then select mobile, desktop or both, budget and dates.

This week, Google announced that DoubleClick Bid Manager, its demand-side platform, will now feature programmatic audio ads that can be placed on Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Pandora, and Google Play Music.

 

Are you interested in how Spotify could work for you? Give our team a call on 02921 320 200 or an email at [email protected].

British Birds of Prey Centre opens in National Botanic Garden of Wales

The British Birds of Prey Centre opened its doors for the first time on Friday 1st June.

The new Centre features 20 native brds of prey and offers visitors incredible, close-up encounters with hawks, falcons, kestrels, kites, buzzards and even eagles.

The centre’s director Emma Hill told the Garden: “This will be one of the very few places in the whole of the UK you can see a golden eagle flying.”

Already a hit with people of all ages, the Centre has two flying displays every day and a daily owl show too.

The Botanic Garden’s director Huw Francis welcomed the news of the British Bird of Prey Centre opening, saying that, with this latest addition to the menu of attractions, the Garden offer is getting close to being irresistible: “With rising visitor numbers, great reviews and a growing reputation, the Garden really is going from strength to strength. This June 1st opening is another huge milestone for us and we cannot wait to introduce our visitors to the fantastic world of birds of prey.”

Is a pre-watershed junk food advert ban going to work?

ITV’s chief executive, Carolyn McCall, has criticised plans for a possible ban on advertising foods high in fat, salt and sugar on TV before the 9pm watershed.

McCall went on to say that TV was being singled out, while other platforms didn’t have the same watershed. However, the restriction is supported by celebrities such as Jamie Oliver, a range of charities and MPs.

While McCall acknowledged the UK-wide obesity problem, she said that the issue is getting people to see junk food as part of a diet, not all of it. She also referenced the recent sugar tax, adding that ITV would “try very,very hard” to encourage manufacturers to reformulate products which include sugar, fat and salt.

The idea has also been criticised by the Advertising Association. They say evidence suggests that advertising has only a small impact on dietary behaviour, and other steps would be much more effective in tackling obesity.

Opposition to the sugar tax

The sugar tax that was introduced in April this year was met with differing actions by manufacturers. Tesco brought 85% of its own-brand soft drinks below the 5g tax threshold, while Britvic had managed to bring down 94% of its drinks. Meanwhile, AG Barr, owner of iconic Scottish drink Irn Bru, faced stiff opposition from customers when it published plans to bring sugar levels down to 4.7g per 100ml. An online petition “Hands Off our Irn Bru” has now been signed by 50,000 people. The dilemma facing manufacturers was that a major recipe overhaul would lose them more customers than a higher price. Coca-Cola, for example, said they had no plans to reduce the sugar and instead opted to lower the volume of its bottles.

40% of 10-11 year olds in London are overweight

The fight against childhood obesity has also seen plans by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to ban adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). The plan is meant to tackle London’s high childhood overweight and obesity rates, almost 40% of children aged 10-11 are overweight. However, the plans have been criticised by transatlantic anti-regulation campaign group Consumer Choice Centre, with managing director Fred Roeder calling it “heavy-handed and paternalistic”.

He said: “Advertisement bans are a significant step towards censorship. Everyone wants to fight childhood obesity, but limiting the freedom of expression of the food industry and trampling on consumer choice isn’t an appropriate solution.”

Plans are expected to be presented to MPs before they break in July.

#flashbackfriday: Gregory & Gregory

This week we were tickled by the re-brand of Greggs as hipster-foodie outlet “Gregory & Gregory.”

But pastry fans can breathe a sigh of relief, as Greggs were just pranking foodies at gourmet festival, Syon’s Park Foodie Festival. Promoting their new summer menu, the chain recorded customers reactions to being told their posh snack was in fact, Greggs.

Foodies Festival is a three-day event attended amongst some of the biggest names in the business including Michelin-starred chefs from the UK’s top gourmet restaurants and TV chefs. Gregory and Gregory were bebuting new menu items such as a feta and beetroot dip salad with a roast vegetable grain, an oriental chicken sticky rice salad and their first ever vegan addition – a Mexican bean wrap.

When told he was in fact eating Greggs, one surprised festivalgoer said: “You wouldn’t normally find me in a Greggs but I think what they’ve done with these new salads is brilliant. I’ll certainly be popping in there for lunch in future.”

 

The battle for top spot: Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook

It’s been a rocky start to 2018 for some of the social media giants!

When Instagram began testing adverts, they had just reached 150 million daily users. This month, Facebook has announced they are rolling out the function in the US, Brazil and Mexico.

Eytan Oren, CEO of full-service agency Block Party, said his agency tracked 100 brands for two weeks in March and found that 79 of them were using Instagram Stories, while just seven were using Facebook’s version, but a look at those same 100 brands today revealed that seven had posted Facebook Stories in the past 24 hours alone.

A year ago, the stories function in the Facebook app wasn’t well-known, or well-used. But now, the function is being used more and more, and the hope is that the ads will be targeted to get people interested in new products and services.

Instagram are also releasing new features; the ability to add an image post to your story was added last week, allowing users to easily share content. However, Snapchat is faring less well than the other “big two” after a disastrous re-design earlier in the year. The new offering from Snapchat is the introduction of un-skippable ads and it may not be their best move.

Snapchat attempt to appease unhappy advertisers

To appease brands that were not happy with short average view times on their ads—less than 2 seconds on average, according to top Snapchat advertisers, the platform has introduced forced-view 6-second adverts. As well as the possibility of angering users, the adverts don’t link to longer videos or e-commerce sites as they did previously.

Snapchat slumped in Q1 2018, with its growth rate sinking to 2.13%, down from 5.05% reported in Q4. They spent the year’s first quarter trying to capitalise on Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal while overhauling the design of its own app. Initial app store reviews were predominantly negative, but first-time installs and its App Store rank increased. Celebrity backlash and anecdotal declines in usage for some people have pushed Snap to waffle on the changes, in some cases changing the app to work more like the old version.

Will Snapchat ever dominate the market?

With Instagram and WhatsApp capitalising on Snapchat’s poor redesign, dwindling growth and declining revenue per user it may be time, according to Josh Constine, “it may be time for it and the world to face the fact that Snapchat could be a world-changing product without ever becoming a world-dominating business.”

Our round-up of Rajar Q1 2018

Our round-up of Rajar Q1 2018

The first Rajar results of 2018 have been released, and it is a mixed news for stations across North & South Wales experiencing ups and downs.

The crucial take-away from this quarter’s figures is that commercial radio has recorded its highest ever reach; 90% of the UK population now tune in to radio every week.

Smooth Radio South Wales suffered the biggest drop in listeners with a decline of -20.34%. Capital North West and Wales wasn’t far behind with a decline of -17.09%.

Although Heart South Wales suffered a drop in reach, down –4.09% from 416,000 to 399,000 listeners, it still maintains the top spot for listeners across Wales.

Stations to see an increase in listener numbers included 102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire whose reach increased 10%, from 38,000 to 42,000 and 106.3 Bridge FM who saw an increase of 12% from 33,000 to 37,000.

Across the board, generally average listening hours per person saw little change. This was an exception for Smooth Radio South Wales who saw a staggering decrease in their average listening hours by over half, falling from 10.1 hours per listener to just 4.2 hours.

UK Wide

Great news for commercial radio which saw the Heart network overtake the BBC in terms of weekly reach for the first time ever, the first commercial station to overtake the BBC. The expansion of DAB coverage has allowed digital-only stations such as BBC 6 and Kisstory to achieve record-breaking audiences in the first quarter of 2018.

The crucial take-away from this quarter’s figures is that commercial radio has recorded its highest ever reach; 90% of the UK population tune in to radio every week. The figures also show the innovation of radio into a digital platform; 63% of the UK population listen to digital radio every week via DAB, DTV, online or through an app. The digital share of the radio market is up 8% on last year.

If you want to include radio into your media mix or aren’t sure if you are using the right station(s) to deliver your campaign objectives then get in touch with us at The Media Angel. We’re here to offer impartial media guidance to ensure the best ROI on your marketing campaigns.

If you need expert advice on ensuring you’re using the right radio station(s) or want to start including radio in your marketing mix then get in touch

[email protected]

Ring: 02921 320200.

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