Rajar Q4 2015: National stations and networks

Reach

Global, Bauer and BBC stations continue to reach the greatest number of listeners on a weekly basis, with a 1.7% increase over the quarter seeing Total Global Radio (which now includes Capital Liverpool) close in on the 22.5 million mark.

Despite a -1.5% decline in weekly reach over the period, the total Bauer Radio portfolio still managed an impressive 16.5 million, while a small 0.5% increase took BBC Radio 2 to 15.5 million.

Following the arrival of Chris Moyles in September (and a rebrand from XFM), Global’s Radio X recorded the greatest quarterly increase in weekly reach, up 16.8% to 1.2 million, while also reporting an impressive 30.2% rise over the year.

In contrast, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra saw the biggest decline in weekly reach compared with Q3, down -28.5%; however, the BBC’s flagship sports station simultaneously reported the greatest yearly increase, up a massive 88%.

Other stations that did well over the year include Absolute Radio 70s (up 60.3%), Capital XTRA (up 44.4%), Kisstory (up 33.5%).

Alongside Radio 5 live sports extra, the only other station to record a significant drop in weekly reach over the quarter was BBC 1Xtra, down -14.5%. It was also down -11.5% year on year.

Share

There was little change to share of listening for national stations in the final quarter of 2015, with a 0.5 percentage point increase over the quarter helping Total Global Radio maintain its dominance with 19.3%.

BBC Radio 2 came in second place with a 17.7% share, while Bauer Radio (Total) secured 13.9%, followed closely by BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra) with 13.7%.

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The greatest quarterly increase in share belonged to BBC Radio 4, with a 0.7 percentage point rise taking its total share of the market from 11.7% in Q3 to 12.4% in Q4.

However, while the majority of increases and decreases were marginal, a -0.4 percentage point decline saw BBC Radio 1 lose its former position to Heart Network, which recorded a 6.4% share compared with Radio 1’s 6.1%.

Average hours

There were some notable dips in average listening hours for a number of national stations over the quarter; however, a handful celebrated some welcome gains.

While there was little change at the top of the table, with BBC Radio 4 (including 4 Extra), Radio 2, and Radio 4 maintaining the top three spots, a small -2.1% decrease for BBC Radio 6 lost the station fourth place to LBC Network, which was up 5.4%. The digital-only music station, however, recorded a healthy 15% increase over the year, making it the most popular digital-only station.

The declines were much more significant further down the rankings, with BBC Radio 5 live sports extra seeing hours per listener drop a massive -37.5% – but with less sport during the festive period, the decline is no cause for alarm.

Elsewhere, the Hits was down -17.1%, Gold Network down -14.6% and Absolute Radio (national) down -14.3%.

Some good news, however, for Global’s Radio X Network, which was up almost 24% quarter on quarter and 16.3% year on year, as well as Global’s Smooth Extra, up 17.5% QoQ.

Bauer’s Heat and Magic Network also performed well, up 12.5% and 10.4%, respectively.