This Crystal Ball Looks Like A Tiny Screen

Michael Hedges August 6, 2015 Follow on Twitter

It is immutable. There is something old about radio. And it is not just the listeners getting older. As platforms expand listeners are checking out new channels and taking some seriously. It isn’t the old platforms that are under threat, it’s the old brands.

Radio reach edged higher in the second quarter 2015, according to audience estimates from measurement organizer RAJAR released this week, up 0.3% year on year. Indeed, 48.184 million for Q2 2015 is higher than the previous five quarters. Reach share for BBC channels is off 0.3% one year on to 53.0% with commercial channels up 1.2% to 44.4%, highest in more than a decade. Total listening reach is 89.9% of the UK population, near the top among all European countries.

Commercial channels, on aggregate, continue to lead the 15 to 44 year old age group - where advertisers spend - with 58.3%, up from 56.1%. Commercial marketing pressure being what it is, BBC channels, on aggregate, fell to 38.4% among that group from 39.6%. Among the 45 and olders commercial channels grew less prodigiously to 35.5% from 34.6%. The BBC held the lions-share of adults with 62.4%.

In the national audience estimates only one radio channel in the top five but four in the top ten moved significantly, up or down, one year on. None of the top eight increased reach share. BBC Radio 2 remains the biggest draw nationally with 17.6% reach share, slightly lower. Morning listeners to DJ Chris Evans were about 2% fewer. Next year Mr. Evans will add hosting the BBC TV motor-head show Top Gear to his duties the promotion of which could affect radio listening.

News-talk channel BBC Radio 4 stays number two in the national audience estimates, 11.7% reach share, up slightly one year on. Youth channel BBC Radio 1, strategically chasing away older listeners, held third place nationally by a thread, 6.4% reach share down from 6.8%. The Heart, Capital and Smooth commercial radio brands - all owned by Global Radio and 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively - were all slightly lower.

Sports certainly did not attract radio listeners in Q2. BBC Radio Five Live dropped to 3.5% reach share and a 6th place tie with easy listening channel Smooth from 4.1% year on year. National commercial channel TalkSport also took a hit; 1.9% reach share, lowest in two years, from 2.2%. Interestingly, digital channel BBC Five Extra had its best showing ever, 0.6% reach share.

Legacy national commercial channel - Classic FM - fell to 8th place, 3.3% reach share from 3.6% one year on. Global Radio chief executive Ashley Tabor called company results “fantastic,” in a press statement.

Bauer Media’s Absolute Radio and Kiss franchises showed notable increases in reach share in the national audience estimates. And both are masters of the brand extension. The Absolute Radio brand, on aggregate, jumped to 3.1% reach share from 2.4%. The namesake channel and the six digital extensions generally focus on decade-specific rock music, mostly British. All were up.

The Kiss brand. which includes digital channels Kisstory and Kiss Fresh, posted an aggregate 3.0% reach share, up from 2.6%. The three channels all have an urban/dance flavor; Kisstory a classic hip-hop channel, one of the moment’s hottest music format, and Kiss Fresh offers a lot of very new tunes. The Kiss extension channels first appeared two years ago.

Digital listening, in its various platforms, is moving but not quite racing forward. Digital reach share nationally is 39.9%, according to the new figures, up from 36.8% year on year. The DAB platform is dominant with 26.7% reach, up from 24.1%. Commercial radio channels now lead BBC channels in digital reach.

The DAB platform is more generous to the BBC than commercial channels, 29.4% reach versus 23.9%, respectively. But UK commercial radio has the edge among folks listening online and via mobile apps. Over the last four quarters one-third or more 15 to 24 year olds have reported to RAJAR listening to radio channels at least once a month on their smartphones or tablets.

There is an appearance, parsing all this data, that newer channels, all digital, are on the upswing. Aside from the new Absolute Radio and Kiss brands the BBC introduced Radio 4 Extra in 2011, its last new radio offering. Global Radio created urban/dance channel Capital Xtra in 2013, rebranding Choice FM. Digital platforms, finally, are integral to brand development rather than simply distribution options. All eyes - and ears - are on mobile platforms.

See also in ftmKnowledge

Europe’s Radio – Northern Europe

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Digital Radio - Possibilities and Probabilities

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