Commercial radio’s share of listening hours has decreased both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter after a year of consistent growth.

According to Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), commercial radio had a 53.3% share of total listening hours for the 12 weeks ended 15 September 2024. This was down from 55% in the second quarter and 54.1% compared to the same period last year.

This decline marks the first time commercial radio’s share has fallen below 54% since the first quarter of 2023.

The weekly reach for commercial radio is also down on the previous quarter but up 2.1% from a year ago, with 40.1 million people over the age of 15 now tuning in.

Commercial radio continues to capture growing share of listeners

Including BBC stations, 51 million adults aged over 15 tuned into radio each week this past quarter, which equates to 88.3% of the population in the third quarter, up from 88.2% in the second. However, the average listener tuned in to live radio for less time, 20.5 hours per week, down from 20.6 hours the previous quarter.

The gap between commercial and BBC is decreasing, with BBC commanding a larger share (44.5%) compared to last quarter (42.6%).

Despite commercial radio’s dip, Global, the owner of Capital, Heart and Classic FM increased its share of total listening time in an average week. The network stands as the UK’s leading commercial radio company with 27.7 million listeners and a 24.5% share of total listening, up from 24.2% the previous quarter.

Total listening hours were up to 255 million for Global UK, despite a slight dip in average hours per listener compared to the previous year and the network achieved an 11% year-on-year increase in weekly reach.

Bauer Media, the owner of Kiss, Absolute Radio, and Magic Radio, saw its share of total listening hours dip to 19.7%, down from 20.4% last quarter. The network reached 22.1 million listeners, a drop from 22.7 million. Despite this quarterly decline, weekly reach increased by 1% year-on-year, though total listening hours fell by 2%.

Total News Broadcasting was also down, attracting a weekly reach of 669,400 listeners this quarter, compared to 681,000 in Q2.

Marketing budget growth stalls for first time in over three years

Digital radio accounts for the majority of radio listening with total digital listening up to 74.3%, from 73.7% a quarter ago. In terms of reach, 45 million adults aged above 15 are now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled platform (DAB, DTV, website, app, or smart speaker) each week.

However, the only digital channel that recorded growth this quarter was DAB at 44% – an increase from 42.8% of platform share last quarter and 42.3% a year ago.

In Q1, online listening overtook FM and AM platforms for the first time in history. Since then, the trend has continued, but this quarter, both channels declined. Total online had a 27.7% share, down from 28.1% last quarter, while AM/FM claimed 25.7% (down from 26.3%).

Fewer people are also using websites and apps (10.8% from 11.1%) and smart speakers (16.9% from 17%) to listen to radio.