Beating A Path To The Audience At Your Feet

Michael Hedges October 29, 2015 Follow on Twitter

Digital platforms are eclipsing the analogue. That much is clear. Millennials have never known a day without digital access. But they’re getting older, set in their ways, reverting to tradition, harder to attract. So the media world now moves on to Generation i, never without their smartphone. And soon they’ll learn to talk.

UK radio listeners are fairly typical, at least when measured in the usual ways. Audience estimates from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) for Q3 2015, the three months ending September 30, reflect listening behavior divided between summer holiday distraction and end of summer regrouping. UK radio listening in this period is weakest, historically benefiting commercial broadcasters over the BBC channels.

Year on year, the total UK listening audience was up slightly, 0.5%, to 47.846 million folks. The percentage of listening to BBC channels was lower, 53.3% from 53.6%. BBC local radio channels, on aggregate, bore the brunt, down to 7.4% from 7.8%, while national channels were up slightly to 45.9%. Listening to commercial national, quasi-national and semi-national channels expanded to 14.8% from 13.6%, highest ever. Local commercial radio listening dropped to 29.2% from 30.1%, one year on.

Top rated in the national audience estimates, as usual, was BBC Radio 2, up to 17.6% from 17.0% year on year. Radio 2, the general interest adult music channel, doesn’t always show well in Q3 survey periods. BBC Radio 4, the news and current affairs channel, posted a 12.9% audience share, up from 11.9% and best showing in years. Total reach for BBC channels nationally among people 45 years and older was up 2.1%.

But national reach among people 15 to 45 years for BBC channels was, again, lower. BBC Radio 1, targeting younger listeners, fell to 6.5% from 6.9% year on year and ranks, again, 3rd. The great experiment to drive older folks from Radio 1 seems to be working. Breakfast (morning) show host Nick Grimshaw received much of the credit.

The leading commercial radio channel/brand is Heart, Global Radio’s adult contemporary music channel, ranking 4th overall. Its national audience share was lower, 6.3% from 6.6% year on year. Global Radio sister channel/brand Capital ranked 5th, up a tad to 4.0%. Indeed the Global Radio’s Smooth and Classic FM took 6th and 7th, respectively, in the national rankings, individually up a tad or down a tad.

Few other commercial channels/brands scored well in the Q3 national estimates. Most were up or down in tiny bits. The notable exception was Kiss, Bauer Media’s hip-hop dance channel. It placed 8th, again, with 3.0% audience share, up from 2.7%. The Kissstory and Kiss Fresh digital brand extensions were also up a tad. In the London survey area Kiss jumped to 4th place, besting the bruised Magic and LBC stations.

Below the fold, BBC channels had mixed results. Sports-talk Five Live ranked 8th, down to 3.4% audience share from 3.8% one year on. All-digital and totally hip 6Music turned in its best ever audience share, 2.0% up from 1.8%. Arts and culture channel Radio 3 was up to 1.2%

The expanding digital platform realm is still creeping up on analogue radio. Cause or effect given to debate, BBC digital-only radio channels 6Music, Radio 4 Extra and Five Extra bumped up impressively. UK commercial broadcasters, mostly using digital platforms as compliments to FM, had less to crow about. Two of the Absolute Radio brands tacked up. The DAB platform share for BBC channels rose to 31.2% from 27.9% year on year and for commercial channels 24.4% from 20.8%. RAJAR also reported two out of five 15 to 24 year olds (40.7%) accessing - “listening” - radio channels at least once a month on their mobile devices.The rest of the world is far less connected.

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