A number of digital stations have enjoyed rises in their listening figures in the latest round of Rajars.
Planet Rock celebrated significant increases in listening figures while Fun Kids saw its figures jump too, Heat Radio has now eclipsed the magazine that launched it.
Planet Rock saw a 21 per cent year on year increase in its audience, putting their weekly listeners at 680,000. This is coupled with a jump in listening hours of 55 percent year on year.
Planet Rock Owner Malcolm Bluemel said: “Yet another fantastic result only confirms that Planet Rock is the only realistic alternative to the BBC – to say we are delighted with the progress is an understatement.”
Heat Radio, part of Bauer’s portfolio, has overtaken the weekly magazine that spawned it, recording its highest ever audience, up 20.5 per cent year on year to 456,000. The magazine recorded a weekly circulation of 460,051 in its last figures.
Mojo Radio, which was closed by Bauer at the end of November, recorded a final Rajar audience figure of 258,000 – down slightly on quarter but up 16.9 per cent year on year.
Fun Kids, the dedicated radio service for children aged under 10 serving London and the south east, has seen their audience almost double – the largest single station audience growth on the network, they’re now at 83,000 listeners. And perhaps in a reflection of the current turbulent times, the Chill network also posted its highest reach and hours yet with figures at an all time high of 50, 735.
Chill, Global's advert-free chillout offering has seen the greatest reach and listening hours ever, now with over 200,000 listeners tuning in.
Meanwhile, commercial stations sharing a TSA with new Staffordshire and Cheshire digital station Focal Radio have all seen significant drops since its November launch.
All are indicative of a general rise in listeners on the DAB platform, the number of people now listening to radio via a digital platform has increased by almost 10% year on year with nearly one third of the population (32.2 per cent up from 29.9 per cent in the same quarter last year) tuning into to radio via DAB.