BBC Radio 2 had a bit of a RAJAR shocker in the second quarter, with the network registering its lowest ratings in 22 years. Although the revised measurement system means direct past comparisons are tricky, it was a worrying result.
At 12.6 million, Radio 2 remained the most popular station in the UK with that Q2 figure – albeit with the Heart brand claiming a victory of sorts with more listeners across its portfolio.
The ratings decline for Radio 2 follows the departure of Zoe Ball from the Breakfast Show after six years. Scott Mills has been settling in as her replacement.
The good news is that Radio 2 has rallied in the latest quarter (Q3 – the three months up to September 14) with the audience up 1.3% in the last three months to 12.79m. However, ratings are down 3.9% year-on-year.
The BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show presented by Scott Mills – who recently interviewed Taylor Swift – continues to be the UK’s biggest breakfast show with 6.2m listeners. It lost about 50,000 listeners in the last three months.
Vernon Kay remains the UK’s most listened to radio show with 6.6m listeners, an increase of 32,000 listeners on the quarter.
Helen Thomas, head of BBC Radio 2, said: “I’m very proud that Radio 2 saw an increase in listeners this quarter, where we brought Radio 2 In the Park to Chelmsford in Essex, hosted some of the world’s most loved musicians in the Piano Room including Robbie Williams and Richard Ashcroft, celebrated 200 years of the modern railway in 21st Century Folk, and Vernon Kay treated listeners to backstage interviews at the first Oasis live gig in Manchester. Radio 2 firmly remains the UK’s most listened to single radio station, with an audience of 12.8m each week.”
Read on for our breakdown of the ratings across the big broadcasters…
BBC
This was a tough quarter for BBC stations, in particular Radio 1 – it was down again to 7.31m after a revival in Q2. This is only just above the result in Q2 2024.
Aled Haydn Jones, head of BBC Radio 1, said: “We know our listeners love a summer lie-in so we need to celebrate the increase for Greg James and the Breakfast Show, along with the continued success of Radio 1 with young audiences on social media – one billion views for the year so far – and YouTube.”
Greg James had 3.95m listeners at Breakfast. Radio 1’s Breakfast Show is the No.1 Breakfast Show for young audiences in the country. The station continues to be the biggest station for young listeners with 4.17 million (10+) listeners tuning in at breakfast.
It was a successful quarter for BBC Radio 6 Music – Music Week Awards winners – which had a weekly reach of 2.73m and continues to be the UK’s most listened to digital only radio station. The 6 Music Breakfast Show hosted by Nick Grimshaw has a weekly audience of 1.3m.
Curiously, BBC Radio 3 was down 7.2% on the prior quarter at 1.81m, even though Q3 included the entirety of the BBC Proms (which has already reported strong digital results not covered by RAJAR). It was also down 11.4% year-on-year. A new spin-off station did launch on DAB+ near the end of the quarter.
BBC 1Xtra got a quarterly boost of 6.9% to 777,000, though was down 3.4% year-on-year. Asian Network surged 9.5% on the prior quarter at 566,000, but was off 7.1% for the year-on-year result.
BBC Sounds (not covered by RAJAR) saw an 8.5% yearly increase in Q3 with 675m plays across all content on the platform.
Kate Phillips, BBC chief content officer, said: “As the UK’s number one radio brand, our stations continue to thrive and I’m proud that this quarter we’ve brought audiences together for a thrilling summer of sport and live music.
“The success of our digital strategy is clear to see with BBC Sounds continuing to grow and an impressive 8.5% yearly increase in plays. Alongside the launch of our new digital music radio stations, we continue to bring audiences our fantastic presenters and performers, world-class journalism, and consistently compelling storytelling, however and whenever they choose to listen.”
GLOBAL
In terms of share of listening, all commercial radio extended its lead over BBC Radio – 56% versus 41.7%. That’s a new milestone for commercial, while radio as a whole reaches more than 50 million people listening every week.
Listening is increasingly digital, with 73.8% of all hours on digital platforms and around 29.7% online through apps and smart speakers.
Global has recorded its highest ever share (28.1%) and record hours (286 million), with 29 million people tuning in every week across its radio brands.
Global claimed the top three commercial radio brands in the UK – Heart, Capital & Smooth
Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand – ahead of Radio 2 by just 1,000 listeners – at 12.79m, although it was down slightly both on the prior quarter result and the prior year. The main Heart Network fell 4.4% year-on-year to 9.36m.
Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK with 4.058m weekly listeners – although that was a loss of around 130,000 in three months.
Global also reported record-breaking listening figures for national stations including Heart 10s, Heart Dance, Heart Love, Radio X, Radio X 90s, Capital Anthems, Classic FM Calm and Capital Chill.
Capital Brand stations accumulated their highest ever hours and share, although the reach of 9.391m was down 3.1% year-on-year (and up slightly on the quarter). The main Capital Network was down 6.5% year-on-year 7.014m (up 0.2% on Q2).
Capital Xtra was down 4.8% year-on-year at 1.662m (and down slightly on the quarter). The station’s breakfast show with Robert Bruce & Shayna Marie reaches 606,000 weekly listeners every morning.
Radio X is celebrating a record 2.55m weekly listeners across the brand as the station marks its 10th birthday this quarter. The result coincides with the long-awaited Oasis reunion – a boon for Radio X with the main network up 4.4% on the prior quarter to take it back above two million (2.02m) but down year-on-year.
The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X had more than one million listeners (1.02m) each morning – 264,000 listeners more than Chris Evans on Virgin Radio (as Global likes to point out). It was also bad news for Virgin Radio overall with a 15.9% year-on-year decline to 1.3m.
Ashley Tabor-King CBE, founder & executive president of Global, said: “I’m so proud to see Global once again delivering record-breaking results, with more people listening for longer than ever before and commercial radio once again extending its lead. Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand, in a very competitive landscape, which overall shows an incredibly healthy radio market.
“As Radio X marks its 10-year anniversary, it has enjoyed a bumper summer, benefitting from the epic Oasis reunion. It’s also rewarding to see that Capital Anthems, Classic FM Calm, Smooth Relax and Capital Chill are, amongst others, continuing their growth. The strong listening figures we see are testament to the incredible work of every globaller, and we are so grateful to the millions of listeners who choose our brands every single day.”
James Rea, chief broadcasting & content officer at Global, said: “It’s fantastic that so many people still love spending time with radio, and to see record hours and share for Global is wonderful recognition for our teams who work so hard to deliver for audiences. During a summer in which we saw the return of Oasis it’s great to see Radio X score its highest ever audiences as it marks ten years on air.”
BAUER MEDIA AUDIO UK
Bauer Media Audio UK reported 22.9m listeners tuning in each week to its stations during Q3.
It also identified a positive trend for guitar music with ratings increases for Absolute Radio, Kerrang! Radio and Planet Rock.
Absolute Radio has grown its main station audience (up 4.9% year-on-year to 2.07m) as well as digital spin offs Absolute Radio 00, 10s and Country, which all increased reach by around 20% each.
Planet Rock also grew, reaching 1.11m weekly listeners (up 11% year-on-year), while Kerrang! Radio has recorded its strongest performance in years, growing by 36.4% annually at 573,000.
Hits Radio?and?Greatest Hits Radio?combined (the Hits Radio Portfolio) now reach 12.78m listeners and 14.7m when partner stations are included.
The Greatest Hits Radio Network attracts 7.16m (down 5.1% year-on-year). Greatest Hits Radio – home to the UK’s most listened to commercial radio show with Ken Bruce – was down 16.2% year-on-year at 6.23m.
The main Kiss station’s decline may be stabilising with a drop of 3.2% quarter-on-quarter at 1.283m Kisstory is back on top as the biggest digital commercial station in the UK with ratings up above two million (2.099m) thanks to a quarter-on-quarter climb of 6.4%.
Simon Myciunka, CEO for Bauer Media Audio UK, said: “Entertaining audiences is at the heart of everything we do, and that scale and connection is what makes Bauer such a powerful partner for advertisers. With broadcast remaining our focus, the growth of connected listening enables us to deliver even more targeted campaigns through our digital advertising proposition audioXi.”
Gary Stein, director of audio at Bauer Media Audio UK, said, “Our radio stations continue to be the go-to soundtrack in people’s lives, connecting audiences to the biggest moments in music and culture. From Taylor Swift dropping into Hits Radio and Coldplay’s exclusive on Rayo, Britpop Summer on Absolute and Magic Radio growing audience, these results are a real testament to the creativity and passion of our teams across the UK.”
