Commercial radio industry data collection
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 begin “CR” or “CDP”) should note the requirements set out below concerning the treatment of turnover in the event that you simulcast your community radio service on one of the licence types listed above for which a Radio Relevant Turnover return is required.
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 radiomid@ofcom.org.uk.
Deadlines
Return submissions should be made through the Ofcom Online Services Portal.
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.
Guidance on submissions
For information on the data required and the submission process, see our user guide for radio relevant turnover returns (PDF, 1.8 MB).
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).
- In order to avoid double-counting of revenues, revenues should not be duplicated across licences:
- 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 and enter zeros against revenue for licences where appropriate.
- Community radio station revenues (with licence numbers beginning CR or CDP) should be entered against your annual Community Radio data return (this information will be requested separately by Ofcom’s Broadcast Licensing team). If your DAB or cable/satellite licence is a simulcast or corresponding service to the community radio service, you can apportion your income equally between the services. You may apportion this income differently but should have a compelling reason to do this and be prepared to explain this to Ofcom.
- Please 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.
I have forgotten my password. What should I do?
On the Ofcom Online Services Portal login page please click ‘Forgotten your password?’ and follow the steps to reset your password. If you have forgotten your password within 24 hours of setting it please allow 24 hours to pass before using the ‘Forgotten your password?’ link on the portal.
I am new to the Ofcom data collection process. How can I register myself on the Ofcom Online Services Portal?
Please email the Ofcom Radio Market Intelligence 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 Market Intelligence team first.
What should I do if I haven’t received my registration email to the Ofcom Online Services Portal?
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 Market Intelligence team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk and we’ll send you a new registration email.
My return is not displayed. What should I do?
Once logged into the Ofcom Online Services Portal, 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 Schedule Returns dashboard, please contact the Ofcom Radio Market Intelligence team at radiomid@ofcom.org.uk.
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 guides 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 to complete the submission. If your organisation’s designated data submitter has not received log in details, please email the Ofcom Radio Market Intelligence 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 Market Intelligence 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 relate to the areas which Ofcom is obliged to consider under section 358(3) when carrying out its review. Financial data remain confidential and, if published, are 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, 244.6 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