Commercial radio industry data collection

Published: 23 January 2024

All licensed radio broadcasters holding a commercial licence must complete the Radio Relevant Turnover Return every year for each licence they hold, unless specifically exempted.

Radio Relevant Turnover returns are required for each of the following licence types:

  • Analogue commercial radio broadcasting licences (licence numbers begin “AN” or “AL”)
  • Digital Sound Programme licences (licence numbers begin with “DN” or “DP”)
  • Radio Licensable Content Service licences (licence numbers begin “RLCS”)
  • National radio Additional Services licence (licence number begins “AS”)

Please remember that it is the type of licence(s) you hold, rather than whether or not your organisation is run on a profit or not-for-profit basis, that determines whether or not you are required to submit this return.

Holders of community radio licences (licence numbers beginning “CR” or “CDP”) are not required to fill in a Radio Relevant Turnover Return if they hold no other licence types. However, if community radio licence holders also simulcast their service(s) on one of the licence types listed above, they should refer to the ‘Guidance on submissions’ below.

If you hold another type of licence, you will be asked to provide data for that licence separately. If you’re unsure about the data we need from you, please contact us at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk.

Deadlines

The deadline for the Radio Relevant Turnover returns will be communicated to you by the Radio Market Intelligence Database (Radio MID) team via email. Please ensure that your contact details are up to date. If you need to update your contact details, please contact radiomid@ofcom.org.uk.

Return submissions should be made through the Ofcom Online Services Portal Market Intelligence Database (MID). Please note that as of January 2023 the URL and landing page for logging in to the Ofcom Online Services Portal MID have changed.

Guidance on submissions

See our user guide for radio relevant turnover returns (PDF, 1.3 MB) for information on the data required and the submission process.

We have also introduced a video guide for radio stakeholders on entering and submitting data.

We would also remind data providers and submitters:

  • In cases where multiple licences share a common station name, care should be taken to ensure that data for a service is submitted against the correct licence number. If you require further information about your licence number, please contact the Broadcast Licensing team at broadcast.licensing@ofcom.org.uk.
  • We draw your attention to Ofcom’s Statement of Charging Principles (PDF, 935.7 KB) and its description of the components of ‘Relevant Turnover’ for radio, in particular 1.13 of Annex C which concerns the inclusion of income resulting from a ‘call to action’ (e.g. by the submission of a vote or competition entry via a premium rate phone line or text message).
  • Data in the Relevant Turnover return should relate to the relevant calendar year in question i.e. January – December.
  • In order to avoid double-counting of revenues, revenues should not be duplicated across licences. Please note:
    • In cases where revenues from a service covering multiple licences are reported against a single licence, please ensure that you use the Comments field to note this. You should then enter zeros against revenue for the other relevant licences.
    • Holders of community radio licences (licence numbers beginning “CR” or “CDP”) are not required to fill in a Radio Relevant Turnover Return if they hold no other licence types. Their turnover data will be requested separately for an annual Community Radio data return by Ofcom’s Broadcast Licensing team.
    • However, if your community radio licence also simulcasts its service(s) on one of the licence types listed above, for instance a DAB or cable/ satellite licence, you are required to complete a Radio Relevant Turnover Return. You can split your reported turnover equally between the Radio Relevant Turnover Return and the Community Radio finance reports. You may split and report this income differently, if you choose, but you must explain your approach to Ofcom in the Comments field of the return. Further guidance on how to fill in the Radio Relevant Turnover Return in this case can be found in the user guide for Radio Relevant Turnover Returns linked above.
  • We strongly encourage stakeholders to make use of the Comments field in Radio Relevant Turnover Returns. Please especially use the Comments field to:
    • explain year-on-year variances of +/- 10%;
    • describe components of any ‘other relevant turnover’ / ‘other turnover’;
    • draw to our attention any other issue or matter that you consider relevant.
  • Please remember to follow all the steps set out in the user guide to enter and formally submit the data to Ofcom. Entering data without formally submitting the return will result in the return showing as not being completed.

I have forgotten my password. What should I do?

On the Ofcom Online Services Portal MID login page please click ‘Forgotten your password?’ and follow the steps to reset your password. Please do not attempt multiple password resets within 24 hours. In the case that you need a new reset, wait 24 hours before using the link again.

i am new to the Ofcom data collection process. How can i register myself on the Ofcom Online Services Portal MID?

It is not possible to create a MID account for yourself. Please email the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk providing your full name, the company for which you are providing data, phone number, email address and job title. The team will then provide an account for you once they have completed their verification checks. Please note you will not be able to provide data for your organisation unless you have contacted the Ofcom Radio MID team first.

What should i do if i haven't received my registration email to the Ofcom Online Services Portal MID?

Check your junk mailbox. The registration email will have the subject line: 'Welcome to the Ofcom Online Services Portal’. If you haven't received it, email the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk and we’ll send you a new registration email.

What should I do if my contact details / email address for MID needs to be updated?

Please contact email the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk to update your contact details and/or email address rather than trying to do this yourself in the system. Please note that for data security reasons we can only discuss matters with a licensee from email addresses that the Radio MID team holds on record for the organisation. If this is not possible (e.g. because the contact details for your organisation as a whole have changed) you may need to contact Ofcom’s Broadcast Licensing Team at broadcast.licensing@ofcom.org.uk.

My return is not displayed. What should I do?

Once logged into the Ofcom Online Services Portal MID as a MID user, Radio Relevant Turnover Returns should appear on the Scheduled Returns dashboard for each broadcasting licence your organisation and its related organisations hold. If there are any returns missing from your Scheduled Returns dashboard, please contact the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk.

Can I submit data related to my financial year rather than the calendar year?

You are required to submit data that relates to the relevant calendar year i.e. January-December even if your organisation has a different financial year. This is to ensure consistency across all licensees. If finalised data is not available for the entirety of the calendar year, provide the most complete and accurate data you can for the period, and note this (and any assumptions or estimates that have been used) in the Comments field of the return. When finalised data is available, please contact the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk for advice.

I cannot input information into the return.

You may have selected “View” on the Scheduled Returns dashboard. You will need to return to the dashboard and select “Complete” instead.

All the returns for my organisation’s channels have been completed, but I am still receiving email reminders.

If you are receiving reminder emails, yet you believe you have completed your return(s), it is possible that your returns have not yet been set to “Submitted to Ofcom”, or there are outstanding returns still to complete. Please refer to the user guide for details on how to submit your returns.

I cannot change the status of my return to ‘Submitted to Ofcom’.

This may be because you are registered as a data provider, but not as a data submitter. The data submitter should be a Finance Director or an authorised member of your organisation. If this is you, please email us to update your status. If this is not you, please ask your data submitter to log into the Ofcom Online Services Portal MID to complete the submission. If your organisation’s designated data submitter has not received log in details, please email the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk and we will provide them with access.

Can I resubmit the data if I discover any errors?

If you wish to make any changes to your return after the data has been submitted, please email the Ofcom Radio MID team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk and we will arrange for the submission to be re-opened.

We use the information we collect from you and other broadcasters for a number of purposes. For analogue licences this includes the calculation of licence fees and fines. For both analogue and digital licences this information is used to monitor the radio market.

In particular, Ofcom is required under Section 358 of the Communications Act 2003 to carry out a review of the provision of broadcasting services and to publish an annual factual and statistical report of the broadcast industries and the state of the market in which broadcasting services are provided.

Therefore, and in accordance with section 393(2) of the Communications Act, we expect to include in our Communications Market Report all relevant data that relates to the areas which Ofcom is obliged to consider under section 358(3) when carrying out its review. Financial data remains confidential and, if published, is aggregated to ensure anonymity.

Failure to provide data

Please note, Condition 9 of your Local Sound Broadcasting licence and Additional Radio Services licence, Condition 11 of your National Sound Broadcasting licence and Condition 8 of your Digital Sound Programme licence states that you are to "furnish to Ofcom in such a manner and at such times as Ofcom may reasonably require such documents, accounts, returns, estimates, reports, notices or other information as Ofcom may require for the purpose of exercising the functions assigned to it by or under the 1990 Act, the 1996 Act or the Communications Act.”

Failure to provide the data requested in the specified time may lead to enforcement action being taken, in line with our General Procedures for investigating breaches of broadcast licences (PDF, 296.7 KB).

Contact us

For troubleshooting and any queries not covered here in relation to the returns, get in touch, stating your organisation and licence numbers.

Email: radiomid@ofcom.org.uk

Post:

Ofcom Radio MID Team
Ofcom Research & Intelligence
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

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