Reading The Ratings Is a Bit Like Peeling An Onion

Michael Hedges August 2, 2012 Follow on Twitter

Audience surveys always hold that certain truth. As the story unfolds we learn something about what people want and will tune-in for. Very little is predictable these days and that makes for very interesting reading. Of course, there are tears.

Springtime was a bit better than usual for BBC Radio, according to Q2 RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) figures, released today (August 2). Aggregated audience share for BBC channels in the national survey rose to 54.3% from 53.0% one year on. The total commercial radio share dropped to 43.3%, down from 43.7%. Typically – at least over the last several years – fall (Q4) and winter (Q1) surveys are more generous to the BBC with spring (Q2) and summer (Q3) slightly more happy for commercial broadcasters. How to explain? Things change, yes?

National channels – both BBC and commercial – got a boost and local stations got punched. BBC national channels, taken together, saw audience share rise to 46.2% from 45.4% year on year. National commercial channels – aided by expanding quasi-national networks – increased aggregated market share to 12.7%  - highest ever - from 12.2%. All the BBC gains – nearly – came from BBC Radio 2; up to 16.1% audience share from 14.9% one year on. Actually, the Q2 2011 number now looks suspiciously low. Other BBC gains came from digital channels 6Music, Radio 4 Extra and Five Extra. Other main BBC national channels lost bits of audience share in the national survey.

Among the commercial quasi-national networks Heart, Smooth, KISS and Gold Net were each up a taste. The real national commercial channels – Classic FM and TalkSport – were down. Absolute Radio, aggregating its various offerings on various platforms, was flat in the national survey.

Far more interesting, perhaps revealing, were the figures for London. BBC Radio 4 posted a huge gain to again lead the market with 17.0% audience share, up from 15.7% one year on. Londoners, clearly, were paying attention to news of the day. Then, too, Radio 2 jumped to 12.0% from 10.7% - again, making suspicious that Q2 2011 survey. BBC Radio 1 was up to 5.8% from 5.2% year on year. But Five Live was down as was Radio 3 – a lot – and BBC Radio London.

On the commercial side in London, Heart beat Magic for the first time in three years. Heart moved to 3rd ranking with 5.3% audience share, up from 5.1%, and Magic dropped to 4th with 5.1% from 6.1% one year on. Kiss 100 (6th), LBC 97.3 (9th) and Absolute London (11th) were up noticeably. Absolute London posted its best audience share in nearly four years when it was known as Virgin Radio, 3.3% from 2.9% one year on. Choice Fm was up a smidge.

Capital Radio, which has been on and off over the last couple of years, was off again, down to 4.6% audience share in the London survey from 4.8%. Sunrise, LBC News and XFM were also down year on year in the London survey.

Drilling down further to the morning (breakfast) shows, BBC Radio 2 was up in the national survey. Other BBC channels were generally lower as were most of the commercial channels. In the London survey the morning shows for most commercial stations were lower in gross reach, Absolute Radio being the exception.

Digital platforms are increasingly significant in UK audience surveys. DAB is still the most popular among digital listeners with just under two-thirds of digital listening. On the rise, unsurprisingly, is listening via the web, up 37% year on year.

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