Radio Survey Brings Hope For A Better Year

Michael Hedges February 4, 2011 Follow on Twitter

When the numbers come out it’s natural to reach for the most obvious, big winners and losers. More often ratings reflect subtle changes, the ebb and flow of consumer behavior, marketing and the brilliant programming. Then, too, there are the seasons.

There were a few noticeable changes in the Q4 RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) national UK audience survey (released February 3). Mostly, the results were quite predictable. After a few seasons of surprise after surprise, this keeps broadcasters from the window ledges.

There was so-so news for BBC Radio channels in the aggregate. Both BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2 dipped a bit, holding first and second positions in the national survey with 16.2% and 12.1% market shares, respectively. Radio 1 took a beating, still in third place but dropping to 8.8% from 9.8% one year on, its lowest market share in more than five years. (See RAJAR ‘gap’ chart here)

Where, then, is the good news for the BBC? Five Live, the sports and talk channel, romped to 5.3% market share from 4.6% year on year. Arts and classical music channel Radio 3 gained a shade. All-digital alternative channel 6Music effectively doubled its market share, 0.8% from 0.4%. Aggregate market share for the BBC radio channels changed very little, increasing to 55.3% from 55.2%. National channels were lower, year on year, and local channels were up.

Sports, always a wonderful diversion, also helped boost national commercial channel TalkSport to a record 2.3% market share, up from 2.1% one year on. Cricket, football and wiretapping the sports stars are great fodder for the talk channels. (See national audience share and sector chart here)

Commercial stations had so-so news, perhaps ho-hum because many of the ups and downs had nothing to do with anything other channels and frequency shuffling. Heart placed fourth with 5.5% market share, down from 5.9%. Interestingly, the 5.5% market share is exactly where Heart debuted as a quasi-national channel two years ago. Cue that famous BB King tune.

Capital Radio made its debut as a quasi-national radio brand, effectively placing sixth with 4.1% market share, causing a fair amount of shifting below. Real national commercial channel Classic FM reversed its long downward slide with 3.9% market share, up from 3.5% on year on. Perhaps it was the Christmas music.

Easy listening Smooth and dance channel KISS both gained a bit. Absolute Radio and Real Radio dropped a bit. National commercial channels gained, trading off with local commercial stations losses. Altogether, UK commercial radio listening dropped a tad to 42.5%.

London market area numbers were far more interesting. BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2 kept their top rankings. Radio 4 rose to 15.9% from 14.7% year on year while Radio 2 gained a tiny slice to 11.1%. As in the national survey, Five Live romped; moving to 3rd position – 6.4% - from 10th – 3.8% - one year on. BBC Radio 1 absolutely crashed; falling to 4.7% market share in the London survey from 6.7% year on year.

Several big names in London commercial radio saw a bad day. Talk station LBC 97.3 fell to 4.6% market share from 5.7% one year on. Absolute London, Heart 106.2 and Capital Radio also fell. Among the top ten, only dance station KISS 100 FM posted gains in market share, 5.0% and 6th place from 4.3% and 8th place. (See London audience share chart here)

Of course the other topic rising to this occasion is digital radio. And it wasn’t much of a rise there, either.

Listeners are, indeed, finding themselves tuning into the various digital platforms. But the low hanging fruit has been picked. Now it’s the long hard slog for each and every – likely more confused – listener. Those who’ve made the big switch are a bit less confused. Fewer listeners – 8% - had trouble identifying exactly which platform they were tuned to, down from 12.5% one year on.

Digital radio listening has tended to suffer during the October through December Q4 period. And there are seasonal affects in UK radio listening generally. With the caveat that RAJAR methodologies have been adjusted over the last few years, listening levels appear highest historically in Q2 and lowest in Q3. Since 2003 (again noting methodology changes) radio reach has increased 5.1% annually since 2003. Listening levels in Q4 have trended about 0.5% above Q3. In the current survey overall listening lagged the previous period ever so slightly, 0.1%. Reach among listeners over 45 years, however, increased 1.3% for BBC channels and declined 0.9% for commercial stations. Perhaps holidays have traditions benefiting BBC channels such as the BBC Proms on Radio 3.

“We look forward to seeing the Q1 listening figures in May,” said digital radio support group Digital Radio UK chief Ford Ennals looking forward, “when we will see the benefit of listening to the 750,000 digital radios which were sold in the last quarter of 2010.” Also confusing, ambiguous at least, is figuring out what is considered digital radio. For some it means the DAB platform, which has seen listening hours increase 22% year on year. For others it’s anything not analogue. Internet radio listening hours, still a fraction of all digital platform listening, increased 54.9% year on year. Radio listening via the mobile phone is now 13.3% of all radio listening.

Obviously, the digital radio realm continues to evolve. “Digital is no doubt the future of radio,” said receiver manufacturer Roberts Radio sales manager Owen Watters to the Telegraph (February 2), “and we support this fully and completely, but we still strongly feel, as we have from the beginning, that we should not try to force the issue onto the consumer…. We would do well to remember that following the launch of FM, it took over 20 years to become the mainstream format that we know and love today.”

Digital radio support groups from all over will converge at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for a week (February 14-17) of mostly private strategy sessions on the next 20 years of digital radio.

See also in ftmKnowledge

Digital Radio - Possibilities and Probabilities

Digital radio has many platforms. From broadcast platforms to internet radio and rapidly emerging smartphone platforms, listeners and broadcasters have choices galore and decisions to make. Some regulators have made up their minds, others not, some hedging their bets. This ftm Knowledge file details the possibilities for digital broadcasting and the probabilities for success. Includes Resources 110 pages PDF (August 2010)

Order here

Europe’s Radio – Northern Europe

Northern Europe’s radio has a very digital sound. And change is in the air. Economic challenges abound for both public and commercial broadcasters. The ftm Knowledge file reports on Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and the UK. 72 pages PDF (December 2009)

Order here

The BBC

Few pure media brands transcend borders and boundries to acheive the iconic status of the BBC. The institution has come to define public service broadcasting. Yet missteps, errors and judgment questions fuel critics. The BBC battles those critics and competitors and, sometimes, itself. 72 pages PDF (February 2009)

Order here