Rajar’s results for Q1 2024: A record quarter for radio in the UK

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Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.

This is our quarterly bonus podcast, where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you who aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom.
It publishes the listenership figures for UK radio each quarter. This offers PR people really interesting insight into how the UK public engages with this important channel.
On the show today, we have Alex Blakemore, daily newsroom editor at Markettiers, who will discuss the latest Rajar results for Q1 2024.
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Here is a summary of what Alex and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:

1.30 mins Alex summarises the key insights for this latest quarter of Rajar's results

“It’s really exciting and shows just how much opportunity there is within radio for people within PR.”

“50 million people listen to radio each week, or 89% of the population. This beats all previous records.”

4.30 mins Alex reflects on what is likely to be behind the increase in radio listening numbers.

“We’ve got a summer of sport coming up, so this could be just the start of an upturn for radio.”

9 mins Alex discusses the ongoing radio battle between commercial radio and the BBC.

“Commercial radio has its highest-ever audience reach at 39.6 million listeners.”

12 mins Alex gives some advice for PRs who are planning their summer campaigns on how to engage with radio.

Key radio stats:

Radio Reach – Weekly: 50m (49,947,000)

Radio Hours – Weekly 20.5 (no change)

TV Hours – Weekly (Barb April 2024) 18.6

BBC Share of Radio Listening: 43%

BBC vs Commercial Reach – Weekly

BBC – 31.3m

Commercial – 39.6m

Commercial Stations on the Rise

talkSPORT UP from 3,081,000 to 3,390,000

talkRADIO UP from 725,000 to 757,000

LBC News UP from 810,000 to 990,000

LBC UP from 2,467,000 to 2,547,000

Times Radio UP from 492,000 to 503,000

GB News Radio UP from 430,000 to 455,000

Greatest Hits Radio UP from 6,753,000 to 7,687,000

Heart UP from 8,838,000 to 9,442,000

Capital UP from 5,871,000 to 6,243,000

BBC Stations on the Rise

BBC Asian Network UP from 448,000 to 542,000

BBC Radio 4 UP from 9,116,000 to 9,204,000

BBC World Service (UK Reach) UP from 1,072,000 to 1,225,000