Young People Shake It Off, Broadcasters Persist

Michael Hedges February 9, 2015 Follow on Twitter

Broadcasters have long counted on young people for energy, boundless curiosity and a weld to the future. Old people are set in their ways and, today, that means so very last century. Adapting to the "shake it off" set transfixed on smartphones is now elemental, surprisingly simple and a great comfort to those adept. Mass audiences are, some say, a thing of the past. Still those who count are still counting.

Year-on-year overall listening in the UK dropped more than slightly in the fourth quarter 2014, reported radio measurement service RAJAR, down 1.1%. Particularly struck in these audience estimates were BBC national radio channels, off 3.5% to 45.3% audience share from 48.8% one year on. Even more, the BBC's share of 15 to 45 year olds dropped 6.9%. Commercial stations on aggregate also dropped among the 15 to 44 year olds in the national survey, down 3.1%. It is another not-so-subtle reminder that things do change. Or maybe it was the weather. The BBC, on the whole, leads commercial radio by only 8.5% audience share, narrowest in more than a decade. Commercial local and regional broadcasters made significant gains, 31.4% aggregate audience share, up from 28.8%.

BBC Radio 2 easily held top ranking nationally, 17.8% audience share up from 17.6%. News and talk channel Radio 4, number 2, dropped to 11.9% audience share from 12.5%. Radio 1 fell to 4th ranking, 6.6% audience share from 6.9%. The youth-oriented channel has been mandated to become more youth orientated, total audience therefore shrinking. Sports channel Five Live gasped for air at the quarterly finish-line, dropping to 3.5% audience share from 4.2%. They've had personnel changes.

The Heart commercial radio brand (Global Radio) continues to benefit from bigger coverage after absorbing the Real Radio brand last year. National audience share is 6.8%, up from 4.6% in Q4 2014 before the change. This puts Heart in third place. The Capital national network (Global Radio), long in restructuring, fell to 3.8% audience share from 4.2%. Brand consolidation and franchise enlargement also benefitted soft A/C Smooth Radio (Global Radio), which rose to 3.8% audience share from 2.3%. National channel Classic FM (Global Radio) was unchanged at 3.5% audience share, tied for 8th place nationally with BBC Five Live.

The Absolute Radio brand (Bauer) was yet another success for UK commercial radio, posting 2.7% audience share from 1.2% one year on and before, yes, a boost in coverage, much of it on digital platforms. The Absolute Radio brand is comprised of several era-specific music channels; Absolute '80's had the biggest boost. National all-sports commercial channel TalkSport (UTV) was unchanged at tenth place with 2.0% audience share. Belfast-based UTV Media indicated in January it might part with the dozen or so independent stations it owns in England and Wales, which would not include TalkSport or Irish holdings.

Persistence among all UK radio broadcasters continues to move forward, if not exactly propel listener engagement with digital platforms. BBC 6Music hit a certain reach milestone, exceeding 2 million listeners nationally. Survey methods being what they are, audience share actually dropped to 1.6% from 1.7% year on year. Most of the BBC's other radio channels barely or didn't move.

The analogue share of national listening continues to edge downward, perhaps related to the overall drop in listening. The DAB platform contributes most to digital listening, now 25.2% audience share against 37.9% for all digital sources, up from 23.4% and 36.1%, respectively. Listening via TV set-top box is less attractive, online a bit more.

Within the next year or so a second national commercial multiplex will almost certainly boost DAB listening. Whether that starts the clocking for analogue radio shut-off is another question. Bauer Media, UTV Media and tower and transmitter supplier Arqiva are pitching 15 channels to regulator OFCOM, including several existing radio brands plus a return for Virgin Radio. An independent consortium is proposing 18 mostly new channels.

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