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The extract below is the introduction to the radio section of the report. To access a PDF of the full radio section, please click on the link below.

• Radio (Part 1) [pdf]
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• Radio (Part 2) [pdf]
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3.1 The year in radio

3.1.1 UK radio industry key metrics

Source: Ofcom, RAJAR (all individuals age 4+), BBC, WARC, radio operators 2007

3.1.2 Children lead a fall in listening hours

Over the past year, the amount of time spent listening to radio has fallen across all age groups and stood at an average of 19.4 hours each week by Q1 2007, compared to 19.8 a year earlier. The reduction appears to be broadly correlated to age; the greatest drop was among children, where hours were down 6.4% in 2006/07 followed by 25-34 year olds, where listening fell 2.5% over the same period.

Figure 3.1 Changes in listening hours 2005/06-2006/07 by age group
Percentage change in listening hours

Source: RAJAR
Note: 2005/06 = Q2 2005 to Q1 2006, 2006/07 = Q2 2006 to Q1 2007

3.1.3 National stations gain share

The BBC’s share of total radio listening rose 0.6 percentage points to 56.0% in the twelve months to the end of Q1 2007. Over the same period, total commercial radio share fell to 42.1%, down 0.5 percentage points year-on-year, and down by 3.9 percentage points on five years ago. At the same time BBC radio’s expenditure rose by an estimated £11m (up 1.8%), taking its total annual spend to around £637m in 2006; over the same period, commercial radio revenue marked a second year of decline, falling by £18m to £512m (-3.4%).

Figure 3.2 BBC and commercial radio share of listening
Share of listening hours

Source: RAJAR, (Adults 15+). Note: remaining percentage is for ‘other’ listening, including independent stations, local community and RSL services.

National stations increased their audience in 2006/07. National commercial listening hours rose by 1.0%, while BBC network listening was up by 0.5%. These gains came at the expense of listening to local and nations' radio; the BBC local and nations’ stations saw the greatest fall in hours, down by 6.7% over the year, while local commercial hours fell by 4.1%.

Figure 3.3 Changes in hours 2005/06-2006/07 by sector
Percentage change in listening hours

Source: RAJAR, (all listeners aged 4+).
Note: 2005/06 = Q2 2005 to Q1 2006, 2006/07 = Q2 2006 to Q1 2007

When looking at the performance of the individual radio stations, the BBC had four of the top five most popular stations in terms of reach. Radio Two achieved the highest weekly audience with 14.3 million people tuning in Q1 2007. Among commercial radio, Classic FM had the highest reach with 6.5 million weekly listeners, followed by the remaining two national commercial stations available on AM - talkSPORT and Virgin Radio. The size of the local radio market in London is emphasised by the appearance of Heart 106.2, Magic 105.4 and 95.8 Capital Radio in the eighth, ninth and eleventh spots for the largest audiences in Q1 2007.

Figure 3.4 Most listened-to radio stations Q1 2007
Weekly reach (thousands) % change year-on-year

Source: RAJAR Q1 2007, (all listeners age 4+).

3.1.4 DAB digital radio set sales pass 5 million

Cumulative sales of DAB digital radio sets passing the 5 million mark in 2006/07, taking the total proportion of adults with access to a DAB set at home to 19.5%. Digital radio services are also available via digital television, for which take-up had reached 80.5% by the end of Q1 2007, and via residential broadband which had penetration of 53%.

Digital listening via digital television and the internet both increased over the year; 41% of adults said they had used their TV set to listen to radio, while 24% of people said they had listened online. Listening via other digital devices such as mobile phones has been tried by 8% of adults, with 5% of adults using MP3 players to listen to radio podcasts.

Figure 3.5 Digital ownership / listening by platform
UK adults (%)

Source: RAJAR, (adults 15+)

Listening to radio services that are only available over a digital platform continued to rise year-on-year, with the BBC and Emap having nine of the top ten most popular digital stations in terms of weekly reach. The BBC’s portfolio of digital stations benefited from the largest increases in reach year-on-year. BBC 7 attracted around 37% more listeners than in 2005/06; BBC 6 Music audience rose by around 35%, while BBC 1Xtra increased its audience by over a quarter. Among the commercial digital radio services, SMG station; Virgin Radio Classic Rock saw its audience rise the furthest, increasing by 17% year-on-year.

Figure 3.6 Most listened-to digital-only stations Q1 2007
Weekly reach (thousands) % change year-on-year

Source: RAJAR, Q1 2007, (all listeners 4+), figures are rounded.

2008 will see the DAB digital radio platform develop further following the award of the second national commercial DAB multiplex licence to the 4Digital Group Limited in July 2007. The group’s main shareholder is TV broadcaster Channel 4, with other shareholders including BSkyB, Emap, UTV, Carphone Warehouse and UBC Media. The consortium will also carry services from SMG’s Virgin Radio, Walt Disney, Can West MediaWorks, and the Sunrise Radio Group. (See Section 3.2.6 on DAB availability and station choice, for further details on the new stations and services).

3.1.5 Ofcom publishes its Future of Radio consultation

In response to the changes facing the radio industry, Ofcom’s April 2007 ‘Future of Radio’ consultation document considered the future of FM and AM services and aimed to gather views on how radio should be regulated in the future as it adapts to an increasingly digital and multi-choice world.

The ‘Future of Radio’ document focused on three main areas of future regulation:

• the regulation of content and ownership in commercial radio;
• the regulation of community radio; and
• the ability to free-up analogue spectrum in the long-term by amending the existing licensing process.

Some of the suggestions contained in the Future of Radio are matters for Government and Parliament and would require new legislation. The consultation closed at the end of June 2007 and Ofcom will publish its response later in 2007.

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