Commercial radio continues fightback against BBC

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 26-Oct-06, 09:10

LONDON - Commercial radio has won ground back from the BBC after Radio 1 and BBC local radio lost share, over the last quarter according to the national Rajar figures for July to September.

Commercial radio's share of listening rose from 42.9% in the second quarter of 2006 to 43.6%, with national and local services on the up.

The BBC, after reaching a record share of 55.4% in the first quarter, has fallen back for two quarters in a row and now has 54.3%.

Its local radio services had a bad quarter, dropping from a 10.7% share to 9.8%, but its national services got stronger overall, climbing from 44% to 44.5%.

Radio 4 saw a massive improvement from 10.7% to 11.8% while its reach grew from 9.19m to 9.47m but Radio 2 dipped slightly. It was down from 15.7% to 15.5% in share and from 13.29m to 12.74m in reach.

Radio 1 saw its share drop from 10.3% to 9.8%, although its weekly reach grew from 10.42m to 10.58m.

There was a big swing among 15- to 44-year-old listeners from the BBC to commercial stations, which grew their share of this audience from 53.8% to 56.4%.

Andrew Harrison, chief executive of RadioCentre, said: "Today's Rajar data points to a thriving commercial radio industry which, hot on the heels of last quarter's results, has once more increased both audience and hours. Digital continues to be a significant driver and, among the all-digital hours revealed today, commercial radio already takes a 65% share of listening."

The reporting period included the debut of GCap's Xfm Manchester, which secured a 1.1% share of listening and 85,000 weekly reach in its broadcast area, 3% of the entire adult population of Manchester.

The three national commercial stations had an unexciting period, with only TalkSport's share moving, up from 1.7% to 1.8%. Classic FM and Virgin Radio stayed on 4.2% and 1.5% respectively, and all three stations grew their reach marginally.

Chrysalis' quasi-national Heart network was also unmoved with a 2.4% share while its Emap-owned rival Magic network was down from 2.3% to 2.1%.

Emap's extension of its Kiss dance radio brand on FM from London to Bristol and East Anglia at the beginning of September gave the new network more than half-a-million extra listeners. Its reach climbed 22% to 2.89m and its share rose from 1.2% to 1.5%.

Kiss now has a bigger reach than Chrysalis' Galaxy network, which grew its reach from 2.5m to 2.58m. However, Galaxy's share of listening is higher at 1.8%, up from 1.7%.

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