Radio, someone still loves you!
Radio, someone still loves you!
May 22, 2023
The hotly anticipated RAJAR listening figures for Q1 2023 were released at the end of last week and they make for good listening.
Figures show that around 38m people are now tuning in to commercial radio each week – up by 1.5m year-on-year. And, it’s even better news for those of us planning and buying the media, as commercial radio’s share of listening is at a new record of 51.4%.
Whilst analogue listening (AM/FM) is still high, those listening on online platforms is now at 28%. As a whole, combined digital listening is sitting at around 68% with the majority of listening across DAB (39.8%) and online (24.4%). It will come as no surprise that smart speakers like Alexa & Google Home account for 14% of listening time, which has risen again compared to last year. With more than 50% of UK households owning a smart speaker in 2022, expect this number to grow.
Commercial radio is dominating the airwaves and they now have 6 million more listeners than the BBC.
Having said this, the combined weekly total for BBC and commercial radio station listeners has remained strong at 49.4 million people – which is an incredible 88% of the adult population!
Individual stations and station groups that have seen a rise in their listening figures include: Greatest Hits Radio, Heart, Kerrang, TalkRadio, Kiss Fresh, Magic at the Musicals and Virgin Radio 80’s plus.
Whilst the world is heading towards being more digital, and this can be seen across radio listening figures, it’s safe to say that commercial stations are stronger than ever.
2022 also saw the highest ever investment into radio advertising, making the channel arguably more important than its ever been.
If you’re a veteran of radio advertising looking to take your strategy to the next level, or wanting to advertise on the channel but aren’t sure where to start…
Sources
— https://www.radiocentre.org/commercial-radio-audience-at-an-all-time-high/
— https://swotly.io/blog/posts/smart-speaker-ownership-in-the-uk/