Radio's Relentlessness - Q1/2024 RAJAR

Linear radio continues to perform

Data analysed using Hallett Arendt’s Octagon

The latest radio audience figures in the UK are out and there’s lots to be cheery about. First, radio listening is up, with total weekly reach increasing by nearly half a million listeners - resulting in 89% of the population tuning into linear broadcast radio each week.

People are surprised when I explain that this many people tune into a medium that’s over 100 years old, but contrary to popular belief, we are in a golden age of audio!

The combination of stations, the formats and styles they cover, the talent they have and the platforms it’s delivered on - when taken together - provide a great, free, bundle for UK listeners.

Alongside this there’s a strong and growing range of on-demand content through podcasts - again with excellent talent covering a broad selection of topics. Let alone easy to use streaming services and audiobooks getting more accessible.

Part of the reason that UK radio has maintained its success is that the linear product has developed over the years to really take advantage of new platforms.

AM and FM radio listening has now dropped to its lowest level ever - just 27.0% of time spent listening. Indeed, its now fallen behind online radio which accounts for 27.8% of listening. DAB Digital Radio continues to provide the bulk of consumption at 42.6%.

I also think the investment - in the content, marketing and distribution - of DAB stations has also helped super-charge the success of these brands on smart-speakers too - a platform which now delivers 60% of that internet listening.

People often think that in-car listening is what drives radio success, actually its main location is in-home. Pre-pandemic it accounted for around 59% of total hours, post-pandemic it was 65% and it’s now settled down to 62% (I guess as a significant number of listeners spend more of their week at home).

At home listening is mainly tuning into a box - be it a DAB radio, smart-speaker or old FM set. A speaker pumping out entertainment and company in the background is a key reason that linear remains strong.

Where linear radio does badly is on a device like the phone. According to RAJAR’s MIDAS study, only 4% of listening to linear radio is through a phone. The phone is a brilliant media device as it can access a huge amount of material - TV, podcasts, games, the web, music - but it’s a device driven by active, lean-forward, personalised curation. That’s why at the other end of the spectrum, 76% of podcast listening (according to MIDAS) is carried out on a phone.

So, for linear radio, all hail the magic box. The speaker in the background. That 89% of the country use to be entertained and informed.

But, what are they listening to?

When All Radio is strong, lots of stations end up being quite strong - or at least stable too.

Scouting through the data there are quite a few stations that have gone up for technical reasons as well as content ones.

A big headline is likely to be the success of Greatest Hits Radio - up to 7.6m from 6.7m - nearly a million! This isn’t all down to the power of Ken Bruce. Bauer’s restructuring of its networks has meant that lots of stations have changed how they’re reported and it’s confused much of my simple brain. The departing Wave 105 has been added into GHR (we’ll never see its final, stand-alone figure) and FM frequencies from the old Gem 106 and Lincs are in there too, plus I think expanding some TSAs may have an effect as well. It’s puzzling. But I think it’s now the new, final, baseline for the network.

Many of the individual GHR stations are up, but London has taken a hit, dropping 22% as it loses 316k listeners.

Similar to what’s happened at GHR, Bauer have re-branded many local ILRs as Hits Radio, in RAJAR they’re labelled their new names rather than what this survey measures - their old ones. However, the new overall Hits Radio figure includes these rebranded ones, the Hits Radio Brand includes those plus the Scottish and Northern Irish station and Hits Radio Network includes all of that plus the Greatest Hits Radio network. Confused? Yes, I am too.

Global likes grouping stations together too. The Heart Brand has 12.3m listeners, whilst the Heart Network has 9.4m. The former includes the decade stations and Heart Dance. The latter is the one with Jamie and Amanda on Breakfast (oh, except for in Scotland…). See it remains confusing!

When we look at the biggest hybrid local-national networks, here are the winners:

• Heart Network (UK) - 9,441k

• Greatest Hits Radio - 7,686k

• Capital Network (UK) - 6,242k

• Smooth Radio Network (UK) - 5,804k

• Hits Radio - 4,533k

  • + Hits Radio Scotland - 1,464k

Of course this is no longer the be all and end all for commercial radio - some single stations - are pretty large too. These are the ones over two million listeners.

• Classic FM - 4,400k (down 249k q-on-q)

• talkSPORT - 3,390k (up 309k q-on-q)

• Magic - 3,069 (down 354k q-on-q)

• LBC - 2,547 (up 80k q-on-q)

• Kiss - 2,293k (down 55k q-on-q)

• Absolute Radio - 2,236k (down 124k q-on-q)

• Kisstory - 2,089 (down 279k q-on-q)

• Radio X - 2,069k (up 56k q-on-q)

Over at the BBC:

• BBC Radio 1 - 7,309k (down 20k)

• BBC Radio 2 - 13,228k (down 52k)

• BBC Radio 3 - 1,995k (up 219k)

• BBC Radio 4 - 9,204k (up 87k)

• BBC Radio 5 live - 4,889k (down 355k)

• BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra - 971k (down 581k)

• BBC 6 Music - 2,548k (up 29k)

• BBC Radio 1Xtra - 786k (up 68k)

• BBC Radio 4 Extra - 1,505k (up 41k)

• BBC Asian Network UK - 542k (up 94k)

Pretty stable all round for the national networks, but with a nice increase for BBC Radio 3, as it returns to its baseline of around 2million listeners. Will Sam Jackson’s new schedule and a Proms season help it push upwards?

For BBC Local Radio, the English network has dropped to 4.7m (from 4.9m last quarter and 5.3m a year ago).

Whilst some individual stations have seen growth (year on year, Oxford up 27%, Cambridgeshire up 12% and CWR up 13%), there’s lots of big drops. Berkshire, Devon, Kent, Gloucestershire, Merseyside, Norfolk, Northampton, Sheffield has seen their reach drop over 20% year-on-year. BBC Radio Bristol’s reach has dropped 58.4% year on year (and its hours 73%!).

Many of these stations are seeing the fall-out from large simultaneous changes to presenter line-ups over a rocky year of change. It will be one to watch whether this is the bottom or not.

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