RAJAR Q4 has now been released!

RAJAR’s final quarterly update of 2023 is here, check out the top stats for the period (October – December 2023)

Data has revealed that the weekly population of all radio listeners has remained consistent throughout each quarter of 2023 with 88%, remaining at 49.5 million people.

Here are some interesting stats –

• The total average number of weekly hours listened to radio for this Quarter is 1.013 billion hours.
• On average a listener tunes into 20.5 hours of live radio each week, unchanged from Q3.

• In terms of reach, 43 million adults aged 15+ are now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled platform.
• In an average week, digital listening accounts for 729 million hours; DAB has a 59% share of digital listening hours, DTV 5%, Website/Apps 15%, Smart Speaker 20%.

• AM/FM listening hours have a share of 28%.
• 31% of Adults 15+ claim to listen to Live Radio via a Smartphone or Tablet at least once per month.
• 63% of Adults say they would prefer to listen to the radio at home and 58% whilst traveling.

National radio stats –

The latest RAJAR Q4 results reported that Commercial radio gained an additional one million weekly listeners.

7.8 million more people listen to commercial radio than the BBC; this difference has increased by 4.8 million during the same quarter last year.

When comparing this quarter to the same quarter last year, there were 38.1 million more individuals listening to commercial radio, setting a new Q4 high of 39.1 million listeners weekly.

Breaking its own record, Heart Radio strengthens its position as the number one commercial radio brand, growing to a huge 11.5 million listeners across the UK, increasing reach, hours and share year on year.

Capital in Q4 achieved 7.9 million weekly listeners, unfortunately down by 100,000 listeners since Q3.

Bauer Media and partner stations celebrated this quarterly report with 23 million weekly listeners, showing an 8% growth YoY.

Welsh radio stats –

Heart South Wales has remained the most listened to radio station throughout the whole of Wales, in comparison to Q3 the reach of listeners has fallen by 13,000, dropping to 419,000.

Heart SW has strong average listening hours at 9.1 per week

Nation Radio Wales increased its reach during Q4, gaining a considerable 35,000 listeners making the total to 185,000 listeners.

Following suit, Capital South Wales reached 160,000 listeners gaining 23,000 more listeners.

Greatest Hits South Wales’ (previously The Wave) weekly listeners has further increased in Q4 by 18,000, reaching a total of 120,000.

Heart North Wales gained listeners, now at 102,000 per week up 14%.

Smooth North Wales and West retains the highest listening hours of 9.5 hours per listener per week.

Kiss (West) had the biggest decrease in reach throughout the whole of Wales, dropping 34,000 listeners but still having a considerable share of 275,000 listeners.

Although radio listeners switch stations, they still regularly tune in to the medium highlighting that radio is a key media option for getting across your message/ attracting new customers.

With over 40 years of commercial radio experience, contact our radio experts today to help with with your next campaign!

[email protected]

Are you thinking about using Podcasts as part of your advertising strategy?

There has been a huge growth in podcast listening over the last couple of years, whether it’s when exercising, travelling, cooking or just kicking back it’s a convenient, informative and entertaining way of listening to what you are interested in. 32% of people listen to podcasts monthly while 22% listen at least weekly (source: Edison Research). 67% of podcast listeners say that they perceive adverts on podcasts positively, trusting the adverts more than other types of advertising. (source: Statistics)

Podcast advertising allows brands to talk about their products gaining trust whilst listeners are consuming their favourite podcasts on their chosen trusted platform such as Spotify.

How does it work?

Adverts on podcasts can be delivered much like video-on-demand advertising. The audio is placed at the beginning, middle and end of a podcast episode, helping to establish a connection with the audience already engaged with their chosen podcast. 54% of people are more likely to buy from a company they have heard on a podcast advert (source:statistics)

What to consider?

1. Audience demographics – unlike TV advertising the audience won’t be as broad, podcasts offer the opportunity to advertise to the most active podcast audience –  1/3 of millennials regularly listen to podcasts (source EX-IQ), and are often seeking new information and are likely to afford to show interest in new products and have the disposable income to try them.

2. It’s all about alignment – Target podcasts that have audiences that will likely resonate with your advertising message. Podcasts can be niche and may offer great opportunities to connect with audiences by placing adverts in the right episodes to be more natural and related to the topic.

3. Utilise multiple podcasts – Advertise across a wider number of podcasts to ensure your message is being heard multiple times rather than investing in just advertising against one popular podcast with millions of listeners, this will ensure your message is heard more than once and will therefore increase the listener buy-in.

4. Advert type –  Ads can be delivered at the beginning, middle or end of a podcast or alternatively the podcast host can read the advert. Sponsorship is often available too for consistent messaging.

With so many podcasts available, and with so many listeners with buying potential, podcasts are a great addition to an advertising campaign, if you would like to learn more about how to advertise on a podcast that’s appropriate for your business please contact us.