Competitive London Market Stirs Again: Q2 Rajar Audience Figures Released

Michael Hedges August 11, 2005

When the music stopped in the latest round of UK radio musical chairs Capital FM was back on top, Magic FM #2 and Heart FM, despite or because of a new morning show host and massive ad campaign, was left standing at #3. Capital FM and Heart FM lost market share, comparing quarterly results year on year. Magic FM gained, year on year, but lost nearly a full share point comparing Q2 and Q1. The results tell volumes about the competitiveness in London radio.

Capital FM dropped to 6.1% market share from 6.6% one year on. Magic FM increased to 5.1% from 4.6% and Heart FM dropped to 5% from 6.5% year on year and a 7% share in the previous quarter. KISS 100 FM kept 4th place while dropping to 4.1% market share from 4.6%.

Heart FM’s morning (breakfast) show host Jamie Theakston will certainly, and perhaps unfairly, carry the weight for the stations decline. Capital FM’s morning mouth Johnny Vaughan stayed on top of the London commercial radio morning show war despite losing about 150,000 listeners. Johnny, and Capital’s lead programmer Keith Pringle, knows that anything new takes time to take hold.

And ratings are so very fragile. Many UK radio observers, mostly ad people and stock brokers, continue to cry about RAJAR’s diary based surveys, somehow believing that measuring by meter will be less volatile. Perhaps they need to study markets where electronic measurement has been introduced. That would be Switzerland.

News and talk radio grew in both the national and London surveys. LBC 97.3, LBC AM and BBC 4 posted gains. LBC 97.3 posted the largest market share increase in the London survey, 3.7% from 3% and now ranked 5th. LBC AM gained share, jumping to 1.2% from 0.6% year on year, in the London ratings. The increase in news and talk interest is not lost on Capital FM’s Pringle who told Media Guardian the station would invest more in its news operation.

BBC Radio again increased its national share of UK listeners to 54% from 53.1% one year on and the second highest weekly reach since RAJAR started keeping score. BBC2 is the most listened to radio channel in the UK with a 16% market share, down from 16.2% one year ago. Radio 4 increased to 11.2% from 11%. But it was BBC1 that exploded, gaining almost a full share point to 9.2% from 8.3%.

The gap between the BBC and commercial radio is now 10%, widening from 8.1% in Q2 2004. Local commercial radio now holds 33% of all listeners, down from 34.9%. the combined national and local commercial radio market share is 45%, down from 44% one year on.

Across the UK BBC local channels maintained a 10.9% market share but in London, noting the raging competition, BBC London was hammered to a 1.6% market share from 2.1% the previous year.

The RAJAR survey of UK radio audience listening for the second quarter 2005 was released August 4th. RAJAR surveys persons 15 years and older. The Q2 survey period includes 28 March through 26 June. Q3 2005 audience data will be released October 28th.