RAJAR Returns!

After 18 months,  RAJAR has returned with interesting data highlighting a consumer listenership shift due to the pandemic and a new way of measuring audience figures.

We have collated a few highlights and top-line figures for you.

RAJAR measuring methods

These were conducted via an app running that identified radio stations by matching exposure to a stations audio output rather than face to face data gathering

Radio Audiences

This RAJAR shows that 89% of the UK population (15 yrs.+) is reached by radio each week.

Commercial radio reaches 66% of the population per week, for an average of 8.6 hours a week.

62% of the population is exposed to BBC radio per week –  72% of over 45s and 50% of under-55s

BBC Radio 2 accounts for 26% of all listening per week, with BBC Radio 1 following at 15%.

Global accounts for the highest amount of listening across its various stations, with 23.5% market share. Listening hours across its radio network grew 5% year on year versus Q1 2020, and now stands at 236 million hours.

Decline in younger audiences

Results show a decline in younger audience listenership despite DAB and other digital formats now accounting for well over 60% of total listenership. There were 6.6 m young listeners in 2016 versus 5.9m this RAJAR. In the last five years 15-24s have reduced their radio listening by 40%. Between now and the last RAJAR, the drop’s been 17%. This audience is listening to less radio stations. In 2016 they listened to 3.4 stations versus 2.8 now. Youth stations targeting 15-24’s are losing reach… Radio 1 reach dropping from 8.9m to 8.2m, Kiss down from 3.5m to 2.7m. Capital though saw an increased reach to 6.5m from 6.3m, but still suffered a young audience fallout as did 1Xtra.

Younger audiences typically listen to more commercial radio than audiences over 45 – 69% vs 64%.

How and when audiences are listening

34% of radio listenership takes place across AM and FM stations, versus 66% in digital. Of the digital total DAB accounts for 43%, with online and in-app making up 18% – and DTV listenership accounting for 5%.  Radio is listened to by 32.5% of consumers through the internet weekly.

Times have changed with the breakfast peak now at 10am instead of 8am and drive time peak duration lessened from 4-6pm to 4pm. This is undoubtedly how the pandemic has changed listener times…. Hybrid working and working from home has clearly impacted listener patterns. Certainly working from home means people are listening for longer and more intently.

RAJAR on a local level

Some great new here in Wales, Heart reaches 20% of the population in their TSA with a reach of 395,000,  Nation Radio is closing the gap on Capital with a reach of 155,000 compared to Capital’s reach of 159,000 with Nation Radio having a 6.0 average hours per listener against Capitals 6.1. The smaller local stations faired well in their TSA’s too with radio Pembrokeshire having the highest reach of 30% followed by The Wave with 23%. And a 10.4% listening share.

To add to the positive outcomes of RAJAR, advertising spend on radio is forecast to grow by 18.6% this year, underpinning marketeers faith in utilising this platform to have their message heard

If you have any questions about radio advertising, contact our team today!

Radio in Wales: RAJAR Q4 2019

Although we’re in 2020 it’s time for the last quarterly RAJAR of 2019! Time to see how the radio stations of Wales performed as we left the decade.

Top-line Stats

• 87% of the UK population tune into radio every week, a slight drop from 88%.
• On average a listener tunes into 20.3 hours of live radio per week.

Local

Overall, it was a pretty dismal last quarter for the stations we surveyed.

In Q3, Heart South Wales’ reach jumped up 59,000 to 453,000, the biggest increase of all the stations The Media Angel surveyed. However, in Q4 their reach was down 48,000 to 405,000. Their % reach also fell by 3% to 21%.

After a positive Q3, The Wave 96.4 FM’s reach dropped by 23,000 to 114,000 in Q4, bringing them back down to Q2’s figures. Their % reach also fell by 5% to 24%.

Kiss (West) experience an increase of reach in Q3, up to 386,000, however in Q4 their reach declined by 27,000 to 359,000. Their reach % dropped marginally by 1%, to 14%.

Smooth North West and Wales’ increased by 12,000 to 61,000 however Smooth South Wales’ reach decreased by 20,000 to 77,000.

Local stations in Swansea experienced minor decreases. Swansea Bay Radio’s reach decreased by 2,000 to 24,000. Swansea Sound’s reach also declined by 7,000 to 29,000.

Capital received mixed results in Wales. Capital South Wales’ reached decreased significantly by 33,000 to 180,000 while Capital North West and Wales increased slightly by 3,000 to 126,000. Capital South Wales’ % reach also declined by 3% to 17%, while Capital North West and Wales remained steady at 12%.

% Reach and listener hours remained relatively unchanged across the board, with most stations seeing a slight decrease.

Heart South Wales retains the highest listening hours with 9.3, although this is down slightly from 9.5 in Q3.

Kiss (West) has the lowest listener hours at 4.1, a decrease from 4.6 in Q3.

National

Over the last two quarters, the biggest national story has to be the loss of listeners on Zoe Ball’s breakfast show on Radio 2.

Between Q1 and Q2 of 2019, Ball’s figures fell from 9.05 million to 8.27 million after she took over from Chris Evans. In Q3, figures fell again to 7.9 million listeners, the lowest audience figures for the Radio 2 breakfast show in a decade.

However, in Q4 it seems at last this trend has reversed. Ball’s breakfast show attracted an average weekly audience of 8.24 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, an increase of 335,000.

Chris Evans left Radio 2 to join Virgin Radio, and despite promising initial listening figures, they remained flat in Q3 at 1.1 million. In Q4, Evans has added 79,000 listeners to his show.

Greg James on BBC Radio 1 lost 237,000 listeners, bringing his average weekly audience to 4.81 million.

Overall, the Heart brand across the UK remains the biggest commercial radio brand, with 9.523m weekly listeners – though this is down from 9.8m last quarter and 9.7m a year ago. Heart’s national breakfast show with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden saw a drop of 272,000 listeners compared to Q3/19 – but at 4.287m is still the country’s biggest commercial radio show.

The Capital brand lost 8% of its reach in the last 12 months, dropping to 7.595m from 8.251m – with 720,000 listeners shed from the main Capital network across the UK.

The Smooth brand is also down on both the quarter and the year, while Classic FM fared better – increasing audiences from 5.3m a year ago and 5.1m in Q3 to 5.461m this time. Gold is up slightly to 1.282m.

At Bauer, its 2019 digital stations Scala and Country Hits Radio each now have just under a quarter of a million listeners each. Scala is on 249,000 (up from 231k in Q3, but down from the Q2 debut of 258k). Total hours for Scala are the highest they’ve been at 1.571m.

Greatest Hits Radio and the Greatest Hits Network have both increased from their debuts in Q3/19, with the brand now reaching 1.264m a week (up from 1.209m last quarter).

The ‘Hits Radio Brand’ (including Greatest Hits and non-Hits branded stations such as Radio City, Metro, Hallam and Clyde) is up 8% year on year to 6.657m.

KISSTORY saves the day for the Kiss brand though – with a 22.1% annual increase in audience size thanks to move from SDL to D1. The Kiss Network though drops 5% to 5.2m.

Digital

• 66% of the population tune into digital radio every week. DAB has a 70% share of listening hours, Online with 21% and DTV with 8%.
• 94% of smart speaker owners use it to listen to audio content e.g. radio, music, podcasts.

So which radio station is right for you?

If you want to make sure you’re using your marketing budget to its full potential and using the right radio station(s) to reach your target market, then give our team a call on 02921 320 200 or email at [email protected].

Sources
BBC News, Radio Today, RAJAR
Please scroll to view whole table.

Station / Group	Pop. (000s)	Q2 2019 Reach (000s)	Q3 2019 Reach (000s)	Reach up or down (000s)	Q2 2019 Reach %	Q3 2019 Reach %	Reach % up or down (%)	Q2 2019 Avg. Hours Per Listener	Q3 2019 Avg. Hours Per Listener	Avg. Hours per listener up or down	Total Hours (000s)	Q2 2019 Listening Share in TSA %	Q3 2019 Listening Share in TSA %
102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire	102	36	32	-4	35%	31%	-4%	5.8	5.5	-0.3	176	8.7%	7.90%
106.3 Bridge FM	132	22	22	0	17%	17%	0%	4.8	4.4	-0.4	100	4.4%	4.00%
96.4 FM The Wave	479	137	114	-23	29%	24%	-5%	7	7.4	0.4	840	10.6%	10.10%
Capital North West and Wales	1038	123	126	3	12%	12%	0%	6.5	6.6	0.1	838	3.9%	4.00%
Capital South Wales	1058	213	180	-33	20%	17%	-3%	4.4	4.8	0.4	855	4.7%	4.50%
Heart North Wales	729	127	124	-3	17%	17%	0%	6.4	6.6	0.2	824	5.8%	5.80%
Heart South Wales	1923	453	405	-48	24%	21%	-3%	9.5	9.3	-0.2	3749	11.4%	10.80%
Kiss (West)	2512	386	359	-27	15%	14%	-1%	4.6	4.1	-0.5	1456	3.7%	3.10%
Radio Carmarthenshire and Scarlet FM	139	29	26	-3	21%	19%	-2%	6.6	6.4	-0.2	170	7.1%	6.60%
Nation Radio Wales	1760	14	155	141	18%	9%	-9%	3.7	4.8	1.1	751	3.8%	2.40%
Smooth Radio North West and Wales	1038	49	61	12	5%	6%	1%	6.1	6.4	0.3	393	1.4%	1.90%
Smooth Radio South Wales	1058	97	77	-20	9%	7%	-2%	9.4	8.7	-0.7	673	4.6%	3.60%
Swansea Bay Radio (surveyed as Nation Hits!)	479	26	24	-2	5%	5%	0%	6.5	4.8	-1.7	117	1.8%	1.40%
Swansea Sound – 1170 MW	479	36	29	-7	8%	6%	-2%	5.8	4.4	-1.4	128	2.3%	1.50%

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 Wales, Swansea Sound – 1170 MW