Manchester

04

Feb

2011

Q4 Rajar Results

Written by Kelly Martindale

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RAJAR Q4 results are in.......with growth in share of listening by the BBC (to 55%) at the expense of commercial radio (down 1% to 42%).
The BBC's success is driven mainly by the national stations, with the UK's biggest station, Radio 2, enjoying another good quarter with 13.9m listeners tuning in each week. Chris Evans has at last settled at the station (following a predictable 'dip in and out' process as listeners adjust); the breakfast show host proudly continuing Terry Wogan's crown as the "nation's favourite" in the morning. The 'other Chris' has also seen success this quarter, the self-proclaimed 'saviour of Radio 1' reaching 7.5m listeners (up 5%).
In the commercial sector, national stations have also seen a growth in the last 3 months of 2010. talkSPORT continues to build on its success from the World Cup in Q3, delivering an increase of 4.3% in weekly reach for Q4 with enhanced live football content. Newly-national Smooth Radio is now confirmed as the UK's third biggest commercial station, reaching 3.08m each week.


Magic 105.4 in London retains its 'undisputed champion' status in this region, delivering growth in both reach and listening share to place it at the top of the pile. Kiss 100 is the success story in the capital, moving to third spot ahead of Heart.
Digital radio hits the 25% share of listening milestone, just another 25% share to go before 2013 (the Government's assessment date for analogue 'switch-off'). Achievable? With 750,000 digital sets sold in the run-up to Christmas, we won't see the effects of this until the Q1 release in May - there is, however, still much work to be done (and much falling out in the process) to improve reception in the UK - which the commercial sector are still pushing the BBC to take the lead on.

Click on the image below to enlarge it.