Attention Is The Most Important Product

Michael Hedges February 4, 2016 Follow on Twitter

The digital tipping point has certainly arrived. Platforms are convenient and well in hand, literally and figuratively. While choices remain very traditional new offerings get a hearing, so to speak, from those looking for something new. And, as usual, people are paying attention. They always have.

Radio listening in the UK for Q4 2015 - October, November and most of December - pitched upward to 48.237 million folks, right at 90% of the population, according to RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) estimates released this week. Year on year it’s a 0.8% increase. Digital listening to any recognized platform jumped to 41.7% audience share from 37.9%. Listening on mobile devices is estimated at 26.1%, for 15 to 24 year olds 40.9%.

In the national audience estimates listening to national radio channels - BBC and commercial operators - was up, local stations down. The audience share for BBC national channels, on aggregate, rose to 46.1% from 45.3% year on year. National commercial channels, always evolving, continued the audience growth spurt to 14.6% aggregate audience share from 13.1%. BBC local stations continued to slide, 7.3% aggregate audience share from 7.5%, and local commercial stations continued their audience share roller coaster ride, 29.5% on aggregate, from 31.2%.

None of this triggers analogue radio switch-over or switch-off but that’s clearly in the cross-hairs. The total analogue (AM/FM) platform share for BBC channels dropped rather precipitously to 50.6% from 56.4% one year on. For commercial broadcasters the drop was almost the same; 51.5% aggregate analogue platform share from 56.8%. The DAB digital platform is, by far, the obvious recipient of this shift; BBC channels share up to 31.4% from 28.6%, commercial channels up to 23.9% from 21.9%. Notably, the platform share of folks who have no earthly idea what platform their are tuned to rose to 6.9% from 5.2% for BBC channels and 7.9% from 6.1% for commercial channels.

Details of the Q4 national survey revealed more of the obvious. BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4 are institutions, still ranked number one and two, respectively. Radio 2’s audience share was off just a tad, 17.7% from 17.8% year on year, and Radio 4 was up to 12.4% audience share from 11.9%. BBC youth channel Radio 1 appears more and more successful in driving away listeners over 25 years, a courageous strategic decision widely supported by commercial competitors; audience share dropped to 6.1%, lowest in recorded history, from 6.6% in Q4 2014.

BBC Five Live and Radio 3 were all up slightly. For the BBC’s digital radio family the results were largely good news. 6Music is now ranked 10th in the overall national survey, 2.0% audience share up from 1.6% one year on. Radio 4 Extra and Five Extra were up slightly.

The Heart national franchise slipped to 6.4% from 6.8% one year on, remaining in 3rd place. The Capital franchise, Kiss and newly minted Radio X were all up a slice, related, perhaps, to that BBC Radio 1 strategy. Other national commercial channels on the upswing were the Magic franchise and Absolute Radio with several of its various extensions. Classic FM was unchanged at 3.5%, 8th position, and TalkSport was off, 1.8% audience share from 2.0%.

Results from the London survey area couldn’t be more different, except for BBC 4 and BBC 2 still ranked one and two, both up slightly. (See London share trend chart here) Commercial stations LBC 97.3, Kiss London and Magic London all moved up the chart has Heart London sank to 4.3% audience share from 6.3% year on year. Further down the chart Capital London held 7th ranking on 4.0% audience share, down just a tad. Absolute London was up year on year though the trend through 2015 doesn’t look nice.

BBC Radio 1 was in-form, dropping to 3.7% audience share in London from 4.3% one year on. Five Live was flat at 3.5%. Radio 3, however, jumped to 2.1% audience share from 1.4%. They do really nice things around the Holidays.

So, what are the digital listeners doing? RAJAR released report answering all those questions called MIDAS (Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services) taken from November 2015 surveys. It seems listening live is a pleasure remaining with the more traditional broadcast platforms, AM, FM and DAB. Catch-up listening is, well, catching on, mostly acquired on the laptop or desktop computer (42%), tablets (23%) and smartphones (17%). Podcast listeners, to be overly general, are males commuting alone entertained with their smartphones.

See also in ftmKnowledge

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. 144 pages PDF includes Resources (November 2012)

Order here

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 149 pages PDF (August 2012)

Order here