THE NEW MUSICAL BOX

WHO LISTENS TO THE RADIO?

By way of a brief diversion from the ongoing series of blogs covering TV theme tunes, I thought this interlude would be welcome. RAJAR - Radio Joint Audience Research, the body that monitors listener figures and trends - has today published its latest stats which cover the first quarter of this year. In amongst all the usual headline-grabbing stuff ("Radio 1 breakfast show down half a million", "Radio 2 remains most popular UK network") there's a wealth of other interesting data. I've trawled through their spreadsheets (so you don't have to), and here are a few of the interesting things that lurk within.

• 90% of the UK population tunes into a selected radio station some time each week
• 51% of the UK population now tune in via a digital medium - DAB or on-line
• DAB listenership has increased by 10% year-on-year
• Mobile phone and Tablet listening has increased by 43% year-on-year
• Over 15% of all radio listening is done at a place of work
• Over 20% of all radio listening is done in a car, van or truck "en route"  
• The average UK listener tunes in for 21.5 hours per week
• The share between All BBC radio and All Commercial radio is 55%/42%
• The remaining 3% is "other radio" 
• More than 1 billion hours of radio is listened to each week

Digital Radio listening continues to grow in 2014

So, despite all the doom-mongering about the decline of interest in radio, listenership is holding up well with new technology making it easier to tune in, rather than provide a diversion from your favourite show. Indeed, taking the figures for 2010 and watching the trend since then, the total percentage listenership has been remarkably consistent. And just by way of interest, here is a selection of radio stations and their audience figures for the first three months of the year:

So, some interesting trends and very much a positive outlook for radio listenership in the future - despite the growing trend for streaming, internet-only radio and personalised playlists. Of course, content is another matter - and I will leave that thorny subject for another time.

Alan Dorey
15th May 2014