Rajars prove tough reading for GCap as DAB shows gains

by Sarah Crawley-Boevey, Media Week 05-Feb-08

Five of GCap Media's core stations lost listeners in the latest Rajars, with its flagship Capital 95.8 breakfast show shedding 11% of its listeners in the last three months of 2007.

The number of listeners tuning in to Classic FM during the period was 3%
down from Q4 2006 and 4.3% down from the prior quarter.

Meanwhile, its Choice network's listening figures dropped 20.7% between

Q3 and Q4 2007.

GCap Gold Network dropped 19% of its listeners quarter on quarter, while
theJazz and Xfm lost 6% and 5% of their listeners respectively, quarter
on quarter.

However, two of GCap's digital-only stations fared well, with Chill
adding 47% to its listener figures since Q4 2006, and 7.7% quarter on
quarter. Planet Rock added 1.8 million listeners since Q4 last year.

Overall, radio listening via DAB is still on the increase, despite
warnings from industry experts that the platform is not being embraced
by enough consumers.

According to Rajar, 10% of all radio listening was through DAB in the
last quarter of the year, compared to 3% via digital television and 2%
via the internet.

The listening hours on DAB digital radio have passed 100 million hours
for the first time, hitting 101 million - up 14 million (16%) on the
quarter.

However, there was only a 0.6% increase in the percentage of adults who
own a DAB set - which now stands at 22.3% - and a 0.2% rise in the
number of adults who listen to radio via a mobile phone.

Just over 18% of commercial radio listening took place on digital
platforms in Q4 2007, up 1.3% from the previous quarter, and 50% of that
is via DAB radio sets.

At the presentation of the figures, a robust defence of DAB was
delivered by the Digital Radio Development Bureau.

Mandy Green, spokesman for the industry body, denied that there had been
an "avalanche" of stations dropping digital broadcast and added that the
industry was now working on "replacing stations that don't work".

Among the other Rajar findings, GCap, London rivals Heart and Magic
presented mixed results. Heart took the number one slot in London and at
breakfast, but the station was down on reach. While it pushed Magic down
to second overall and third at breakfast, the latter was up on
reach.

Heart 106.2's listening figures fell 0.6% year on year and 5.4% quarter
on quarter, while Magic 105.4's figures rose 9.9% compared to Q4 2006,
and fell 2.9% from the previous quarter.

Paul Jackson, managing director of Capital 95.8, said he envisaged the
changes he has put in place since joining the company last November
would bear fruit in time for the next Rajar release in three months.