Commercial radio continues to capture growing share of listeners

Commercial radio has increased its share of listening hours both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, driven by growth from radio networks Global and Bauer.

According to Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), commercial radio had a 55% share of total listening hours for the 12 weeks ended 23 June 2024. This was up from 54.2% in Q1 and 54.5% at the same time in 2023.

RAJAR is the official body for measuring radio audiences in the UK and is jointly owned by the BBC and industry body Radiocentre.

Across the UK, 40.5 million adults over the age of 15 tuned into commercial radio each week, an increase from 39.1 million last year. This figure represents the number of UK adults who listen to a station for at least five minutes each week.

Global, the owner of Capital, Heart and Classic FM, stands as the UK’s leading commercial radio company with 27.2 million listeners and a 24.2% market share. However, those numbers don’t account for stations managed by Communicorp (CCUK), including Capital in Scotland. Once added, Global’s total listener figure is 28.6 million with a share of 26.5%.

Total listening hours were up to 252 million for Global UK, despite a slight dip in average hours per listener compared to the previous quarter. Global achieved a 9% year-on-year increase.Regional accents overlooked in audio advertising, study shows

Bauer Media, the owner of Kiss, Absolute Radio and Magic Radio, commanded 20.4% of total listening hours, reaching 22.7 million listeners, marking a 7% year-on-year increase.

Total News Broadcasting also saw a 7% increase from last year, attracting 681,000 listeners this past quarter.

Across all radio, which includes BBC, 51 million adults aged over 15 tuned into radio each week this past quarter. While the overall share dropped slightly from 88.6% in Q1 to 88.2% in Q2, the average listener increased their time with live radio to 20.6 hours per week, up from 20.5 hours the previous quarter.

How are people listening

Last quarter, online listening overtook FM and AM platforms for the first time in history. In Q2, it continued this trend, accounting for 28.1% of all listening, up from 24.9% a year ago. Comparatively, AM and FM continue to decline with a share of 26.3% across all radio, down from 31.4% a year ago.

Since last quarter, DAB listening has risen by 0.2%, DTV by 0.1%, and smart speaker usage by 0.4% across all radio listening. Meanwhile, website and app usage saw a slight decline of 0.1%.

Total digital listening remains in consistent growth, taking the biggest share of 73.1%, up from 68.6% a year ago.

Across all radio, slightly fewer people are listening at home (61%), and more people are listening in their vehicle (60%) compared to the previous quarter, where it skewed 62% and 58%, respectively.

According to the latest AA and WARC Expenditure report, radio ad spend was revised upwards with forecasts for 2024 now predicting an increase of 5.5% year-on-year, an upgrade of 3.2 percentage points since April’s forecast.

Commenting on the figures, Radiocentre’s CEO Matt Payton said: “We’re pleased to see such optimism for radio revenue following a positive start to 2024. These upgraded forecasts reflect the record audiences posted by commercial radio in Q1 and are a clear indication of the potential for sustained growth in the years ahead. This is good news for broadcasters and advertisers alike.”