For the second quarter in a row, radio listening in the UK has reached an all time high since new research methodology was introduced in January 1999.
Now, 46.8 million people are listening to the radio – which translates in to almost 91 per cent of the adult population.
For commercial radio, audiences have grown by nearly 1 million listeners (905 000) across the year, with the number of listeners tuning into a commercial radio service increasing to 32.8 million, the highest commercial reach recorded in the last decade and the fourth consecutive quarter of growth.
Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive, RadioCentre, said: “This is a fantastic set of results for the commercial radio sector showing long-term and sustained growth by every measure. The fact that commercial radio reach has hit a new record high and listening is up by almost 27 million hours in the quarter, is a testament to the investment that the sector is ploughing into ensuring that our content stands out from our competitors.
All BBC Radio listening is down – with weekly reach dropping from 34.88m last quarter to 34.59m this quarter. BBC share remains the same, ahead of commercial radio at 56.5 per cent.
Weekly reach and share for digital listening on DAB has seen a slight increase this quarter, with digital TV, internet and other devices either remaining static or increasing. Year-on-year figures are more encouraging with an 11 per cent increase in weekly reach. This means 20 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver each week (up from 18 million in Q2, 2009).
Home ownership of DAB radio is up to 35.3 per cent (from 33) but listening via a mobile phone is down for 15-24 year olds and static for 25+.