Q2 Rajar Round-up

The quarterly radio RAJAR figures are somehow out again, with Radio One increasing its overall reach whilst Radio Two and 1Xtra slide down. Take a deep breath, prepare for some serious stats and percentages and be forewarned that this article will be far more entertaining if you read it aloud in the style of a horse racing commentator.

Radio One’s increase was a less than dramatic 2.5% on the previous quarter, despite being down by 2% year-on-year. The early birds more or less caught the worm, with Nick Grimshaw’s breakfast show increasing by over 100,000 in this quarter to 5,972,000- a rise of 2%.

On Radio 2, Chris Evans also saw his reach rise, hitting a new high of 9,908,000, an increase of 0.8%. Elsewhere, KISS’s Breakfast Show increased its UK audience to 1.5 million listeners, an increase of 28% year on year.

6 Music experienced the very opposite Radio One’s overall trend, with a 5.5% increase on the previous year despite a quarterly dip of 1.9% in comparison to the first quarter of 2014.

Radio Two had a slight quarterly dip of 0.5% but 1Xtra’s audience decreased by just under 16% year-on-year and by 15% in this quarter.

Elsewhere, Bauer owned stations Absolute, Kiss, Magic and Planet Rock all made quarterly gains. Planet Rock climbed by 0.6% in the last quarter despite an annual dip of over 15%.

Global’s Capital Network remained flat overall, with Heart’s reach up by 20% year-on-year and the Smooth Network reporting its highest ever figures, up 6.8% from the previous quarter and an impressive 46% on last year, climbing to 4,602,000 listeners. The XFM Network saw its quarterly reach rise 4.9% to 926,000 in this quarter despite experiencing an annual dip of 5%.

Find out more and digest yet more numbers here.