RAJAR Radio Listening Figures – Q3 2024 – Is Radio Still Popular?

Listeners love the distinctive, mixed music and speech network that is Radio 2, broadcasting to a broad loyal audience typically aged over 35. It’s still the UK’s biggest radio station with 13.3m listeners. The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show is officially the UK’s biggest breakfast show with 6.3m listeners. Vernon Kay’s mid-morning radio show remains the nation’s favourite, increasing on the quarter to 6.8m listeners.

But there is a new kid on the block – the volume of radio listening online and on smart speakers is continuing to grow. The RAJAR radio listening figures state that this audience now accounts for 17% of total listening which is a 22% increase year on year.

The headlines come from the latest radio listening figures confirmed by RAJAR for Q3 2024, which shows all radio in the UK has attracted a new record audience of 50.9 million adults, up from its previous record of 50.8 million set in Q2 2024.

But why do we love radio – It’s free! and you’ll always find a station that appeals to your specific needs, talk, classical music, rock, pop or a bit of nostalgia.

Radio listeners are filtered. This means active listeners are available in different groups that best suits their taste. With this, audiences are already segmented, making it easier for marketing and PR to target them. Over forties for BBC regional radio, under 25’s for radio 1 and Heart somewhere in the middle with 25-44 year-olds.

Coupled with a segmented audience, organic reach and if required, a locally targeted audience, it’s all possible when it comes to radio advertising and editorial promotion, and these are the reasons why brands and businesses still consider radio as one of their top marketing strategies.

In its simplest terms it is buying commercials (adverts) to promote your product, service or even an event. Advertisers pay commercial radio stations for airtime typically in a block of 15 or 30 seconds and the radio station broadcasts the advertiser’s commercial to its listeners.

There are some restrictions as to who can advertise on air the most obvious tobacco, illegal products or services and counterfeit goods!

According to Radio Centre, Radio delivers £7.70 revenue return on investment on average for every pound spent couple that with lower production costs than TV advertising and you’re on to a winner.

*Source: Radiocentre’s: Radio for growing ROI

There are some sectors who really favour UK radio advertising. They include retail, financial sector, luxury brands and the sports and fitness industry.

Radio advertising gives the flexibility of relatively short lead-times and it allows you to target your key audience by the type of station; age, gender, and if required a specific region in the UK.

But you have to pick your moment!

It is known as context advertising, aligning a message with an activity for example tapping into a hungry audience driving home from work. If you’re  listening to that all familiar McDonald’s jingle, you’re more likely to swing by drop in for a cheeky burger.

It may sound complicated, but the sales team at most of the larger radio station will work out the options for you, providing an estimated repetition figure, called OTH (opportunities to hear).

Industry research shows that radio marketing campaigns are on average 60% more likely to make brands famous.

• DAB: According to the 2024 Q3 RAJAR radio listening figures, the most popular platform for listening to the radio, with 42.6% of the share. 66% of the population claim to own or have access to a DAB radio.
• AM/FM’s hit a new low at 26.3%
• Online: A popular choice for 18-35 year olds, who often listen to radio through a website or app.
• Digital TV: Makes up 2.6% of digital listening.
• Smart speakers: A digitally enabled platform for listening to the radio.
• Traditional radio sets: Still used by some older generations.
• Hybrid devices: Some cars and mobile phones have hybrid devices that allow for a seamless transition between broadcast and internet radio.

According to Statistica who analysed radio usage in the UK in late 2023 and early 2024, respondents aged 35 years and older spent almost half of their weekly audio time on physical live radio. For the age group between 15 and 34 years, this share was considerably lower, at 25 percent. For that age group, streamed music was by far the most listened to audio type.