Another successful RAJARs for Jordan North, who’s seen his new Breakfast Show on Capital get even more listeners, plus Salford-based Radio 5 Live has achieved its highest audience in a decade.
Maybe all the Burnley and Greggs-orientated advertising is doing its job at Global, with North’s show reaching 2.96m listeners, adding 151k in the last quarter alone.
Looking at Global as a whole, the operator of Capital, Heart, Smooth, Radio X and Capital XTRA had 29.2m listeners each week, listening for 281m, a 26.9% share. This is its 5th quarter of consecutive growth.
Heart had 12.99m weekly listeners and the UK’s largest commercial breakfast show;
Capital 9.7m listeners;
Smooth 7.7m listeners
Radio X 2.3m weekly listeners.
The group’s smart speaker listening accounting for 17% of total listening, which is up 22% year on year.
“I’m incredibly proud of these audience numbers today, adding more listeners for a fifth survey in a row, increasing, growing and consolidating. I’m deeply grateful to the over 29 million listeners that tune in to one of our stations every week – it’s an achievement that’s fantastic news for the UK’s creative industries and UK plc,” said Ashley Tabor-King CBE, Founder & Executive President of Global.
“We never take this for granted. Radio is thriving and Global is outperforming the market, as we keep a laser focus on our content, whilst also embracing technology at the core of our strategy, as people use smart speakers and apps, as well as traditional means, to get to the content they love, wherever and whenever they want it. Our mission is to make everyone’s day brighter. Congratulations and thank you to everyone at Global and thank you to our listeners, it’s a privilege to have you with us.”
Bauer Media Audio UK is the other big player in the commercial world with 23.5m weekly listeners across its brands, which include Hits Radio Network and Absolute Radio Network.
Hits Radio Network secured its largest ever audience of 7.2m weekly listeners, up 10% year on year, while the Hits Radio station is up 143.6% compared to last year, at 4.6m.
Greatest Hits Radio is the most listened to commercial station in the UK, with 7.4m weekly listeners, which has risen 12.9% compared to the previous year.
Simon Mayo continues to lead the way for commercial drivetime, while fellow former BBC Radio 2-er, Ken Bruce has the most listened-to show on commercial radio, with 4m+ weekly listeners.
The Absolute Radio Network had its biggest ever reach of 5.7m listeners (+3.7% YoY).
The Magic Radio Network and KISS Network have 3.7m listeners each.
More than a third of Bauer listeners do so via a connected devices including smart speakers, web and app, with a further 52% of listening on DAB.
“We’ve invested significantly in Hits Radio and it’s fantastic to see such brilliant results for the network as it grows to a new record reach, while Greatest Hits Radio continues to the be the UK’s most listened to commercial station,” said Gary Stein, Director of Audio for Bauer Media Audio UK.
“Absolute Radio Network has also enjoyed another standout performance with record audiences and a special mention to Clyde 1 and Forth 1 in Scotland which are celebrating their best audiences since the turn of the century.”
Switching to the BBC and MediaCity-based BBC 5 Live reached its highest audience in a decade
In its 30th anniversary, a summer of sport and politics drove 6m listeners to the station and 1.8m to its sister station, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
“We’re proud of the RAJAR results that 5 Live and 5 Sport Extra’s achieved this quarter – the highest reach in more than a decade. Our role is to connect with audiences across the UK, and be at the heart of the national conversation. We include our listeners in the national debate whether that’s discussing the election or debating the football, we let our audience shape the output and that’s what makes us unique,” explained Julie Cullen, Managing Editor, BBC Radio 5 Live.
“This summer, our team delivered sensational coverage of major sporting events like the Euros, Wimbledon and, of course, the Olympics not to mention comprehensive news coverage of the General Election. As the Voice of the UK, these positive results are a testament to the hard work, creativity, and dedication of our entire team, as well as the loyalty of our listeners.”
Charlotte Moore, BBC Chief Content Officer, added:
“Congratulations to the 5 Live team, who on their 30th anniversary year have reached the biggest audience for the station in a decade. Listeners have loved tuning into 5 Live’s unrivalled news and sport offer, bringing them all the action as it has unfolded.”
The BBC has also released its BBC Sounds figures to coincide with the RAJARS, which showed 622m+ plays of all content across radio, podcasts and music mixes over the quarter. This is up 14m on the previous quarter.
The busiest (w/c 8 July) saw BBC Sounds users peak at 4.9m, with news of the General Election, the build up to the men’s UEFA Euro 2024 final and the Wimbledon tennis finals.
Turning to its RAJAR figures, BBC stations had 44.5% share of all radio listening in the UK, with 32.6m.
BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s biggest radio station with 13.3m listeners, and The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show is the UK’s biggest breakfast show with 6.3m listeners.
In further proof that people like to listen to the Lancashire accent in the morning, Vernon Kay’s mid-morning radio show continues its rise, with 6.8m listeners.
