Stewart Argo, Head of our Edinburgh office, considers how the latest audience figures underline the continued relevance of radio in the media mix.
In a world of streaming, messaging apps, and Tik Tok it’s easy to overlook the hugely important part that radio plays in our daily lives.
Perhaps I’m biased; after all, I started my professional life with Radio Scotland, having already been involved with community radio while at school.
But you don’t have to believe me. In a very handy update we received from our friends at Broadcast Revolution, it’s clear that lots of other people still love radio.
Personally, it’s one of the main ways I get my news, usually from BBC stations while I’m having my breakfast, but I’m increasingly listening to Times radio in the evenings while I’m pottering away at something else.
That of course is one of the benefits of radio over TV, for example, in that you can be doing two things at once more easily, especially driving. And if I’m doing a bit of DIY or gardening, then it could be anything from Smooth to Planet Rock that’s on in the background.
RAJAR is the organisation that publishes the listening figures. The latest ones are for the second quarter (April to June) of this year. Broadcast Revolution picked out a few highlights…
- Radio 4, Radio 5live and BBC local radio have all seen slight drops, but the figures still show extensive reach: 10.6m, 5.1m and 7.7m weekly listeners respectively.
- The Today programme in particular sees an average listenership of 6.59 million people, including the country’s most influential people in politics, business, the media and, well, everywhere.
- Of the newer stations, Times radio continues to do well, although it’s fallen back slightly from 700k+ to around 570k a week. GB News radio (just what’s on the TV version but audio-only) is around 277k a week.
- Of other commercial stations, TalkRadio is doing well with a record weekly audience of nearly 700k and LBC gets 2.6m.
If this is all music to your ears you can read more about the value of radio at www.broadcastrevolution.co.uk/ or www.rajar.co.uk/, or speak to us. We regularly secure coverage and comment on stations across the UK, plus we’re experienced in paid-for promotions that can amplify your message.
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