The Rajar Q3 figures are out, with 90% of the UK still regularly tuning into radio.  In fact 900,000 more of us are listening than at the same time last year, showing that radio is still growing.  The total average number of weekly hours spent listening to the radio is just over a billion. 

National:Heart remains the biggest commercial radio brand with 9.4 million weekly listeners, due to a 27.5% increase quarter on quarter for digital station Heart 80s, which now has 1 million listeners. The Capital brand reaches 8.5m; the Kiss network 5.6m; Smooth 5.6m; Classic FM 5.4m and Magic 3.7m. The biggest national commercial digital station is Kisstory, with a record-breaking 1.8 million listeners. 

London:Radio titan Capital retained its position as the biggest commercial station in London, with over two million listeners. 

LBC reached a record reach of 2.1 million listeners for the first time, with people engaging with interesting content, exemplifying that radio has the power to bring people together and get them talking.  LBC enjoys the greatest share of the commercial stations in London, at 5.8%. 

The top 5 stations in London based on reach in Q3/2017 are:1.  Capital 2.1 million2.  Kiss 1.8 million3.  Heart 1.5 million4.  Magic 1.5 million5.  LBC 1.1 million​BBC Radio 4 remains London’s biggest radio station with 2.8m listeners, followed by Radio 2 on 2.3m, then Capital third on 2.125m. Radio 1 has an audience of 1.4m in London, Classic FM has 1.2m and 5 live has 1.1m.

Year on year, Capital Xtra is up 10.6% to a reach of 1.4m, while there was also strong growth for Kisstory (up 13.2% to 1.8m).  Good growth for Mellow Magic and Magic Chilled helped to keep the overall Magic Network figure up year on year. 

TalkSPORT 2’s reach is up more than a third over the 12 months – from 250k to 342k; while Virgin Radio has seen its audience increase by 61.2% year on year to a new record high of 556,000 weekly listeners (up from 345,000 in Q3/16).Radio X is up to 1.5m across the UK, compared with 1.2m a year ago. 

All this points to consistent growth across the medium, so there’s never been a better time to get involved. If you want to harness the power of radio for your brand, we can use our expertise and relationships forged over years of work to get your message to millions of people.  Call us now to arrange a meeting, or get a free consultation.