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Business News Media
RAJAR Round Up
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 6 February 2014
So, how many people have been tuning into your radio show? What do you mean you don’t have a radio show? Get with the moment; everyone has a radio show in 2014. And thanks to the lovely people at RAJAR, we know exactly how many people are listening to it. Sort of. Nearly. Maybe. Yes, here it is, the first big fat radio listening figures update of 2014! Don’t move that dial. Lock it in and boost up the power. And get set for yet more big hits in a row, the RAJAR Top Ten At Ten (past twelve).
1. After something of a wobble in quarter four 2013, Nick Grimshaw scored some impressive listening stats in the last three months, with an uplift of 700,000 listeners to his Radio 1 who-eats-breakfast-anymore show. That’s 6.7 million listeners people! Hurrah for the Grimster (who is still 400,000 listeners behind his predecessor’s final RAJAR count, though let’s not forget we give Grimmy a ‘half-a-million listeners free-pass’ simply for not being Chris Moyles).
2. Radio 1 had a good RAJAR round in general, with its average weekly audience also up, 1.3% quarter on quarter to 10.97 million. Which makes those one million YouTube subscribers Radio 1 was bragging about last month seem rather insignificant. Though their radio output is generally eleven times better than their various attempts at being a telly station.
3. But hey, what about Radio 2? Its audience is up 3.9% over the quarter to 15.5 million, with breakfast host Chris Evans himself seeing a 5% rise to 9.8 million listeners each week, aka nearly a sixth of the population. Blimey. And that despite R2 playing mainly Gary Barlow records for much of the last three months.
4. 6 Music increased its audience by 13.3% last quarter so that it’s weekly audience is now 1.96 million, very nearly matching Radio 3, which has an FM as well as DAB frequency. And to think, they once tried to close 6 Music down. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
5. Despite its audience going down a little this quarter, Capital Radio remains the biggest commercial station in London, with a 2.15 million audience in the capital that only Radios 2 and 4 surpass. Former Choice listeners will be glad to hear Capital Xtra – which replaced Choice last October – has some pretty ropey RAJAR numbers, but it’s first quarter, so probably best not to judge just yet.
6. Nationally, both the Capital network, and its sister Heart brand, saw listening figures slip. Elsewhere at Global Radio, Xfm slipped, Classic FM went up slightly and London talk station LBC – now heading to DAB on a national basis – gained 60,000 listeners year-on-year. Global is still the biggest commercial radio company in terms of overall reach, hitting 20.7 million people each week across its networks.
7. Absolute Radio, now part of the Bauer empire, which also had a bad RAJAR quarter last time round, saw its audience rise again this time, back to 1.76 million listeners UK-wide.
8. Elsewhere at Bauer, both Magic and Kiss saw some slips in London, though both remain ahead of Global’s Heart in the capital.
9. And that’s all I really have to say. I’m regretting promising a top ten now.
10. Oh this is good, Matt Deegan, in his always excellent RAJAR commentary, notes that in Manchester, Key 103 – Programme Director Kate Cocker – shot up in the ratings while Xfm Manchester – where her husband Tim hosts breakfast – saw a slip. “It’s probably the first time” notes Deegan, “when a wife has nicked a load of [listening] hours from a husband. Both are brilliant radio people, but I wouldn’t want to be round their kitchen table this morning”.
