Best ever RAJAR results for Global with 26.7m weekly listeners

A new all-time high

Global extends position at the UK’s #1 commercial radio company

Global has the top three commercial radio brands in the UK – Heart, Capital and Smooth

 Heart beats previous record – this time smashing the 11m mark for the first time reaching more than 11.2m weekly listeners

Heart, the UK’S #1 commercial radio brand increases reach, hours & share with 3.7m more listeners than Radio 1

Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial radio breakfast show in the UK growing to over 4m listeners

Capital’s audience surges forward to 7.8m weekly listeners

LBC grows further to 3.5m listeners across the UK

LBC News celebrates highest ever audience with more than 1.1m listeners

Global, the Media & Entertainment Group, achieves its best ever audience numbers, reaching more listeners than ever before with an all-time high and record-breaking weekly audience of 26.7 million in the latest set of RAJAR figures in Quarter 1 (2nd January to 2nd April, 2023).

Key headlines:

GLOBAL

  • Global’s weekly reach climbs to a record 26.7 million.
  • Global’s market share is 25%, with 252 million hours.
  • Global again has the top three commercial radio brands in the UK with Heart, Capital and Smooth.
  • Global is number one, two and three for commercial radio in London for reach, with Heart, Capital and LBC.
  • In another period of growth for the chart, the Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 from Global also increased its lead over rival charts, scoring 1.6 million weekly listeners.
  • Commercial radio records its highest ever reach with 38.7 million listeners (6.5 million more listeners than BBC radio).

HEART

  • Heart celebrates its highest ever audience figure and retains its title as the #1 commercial radio brand.
  • Heart smashes through the 11 million listener mark, with a huge 11.2 million listeners. Heart adds another 391,000 listeners since the last quarter.
  • Overall, the Heart brand has grown in reach, hours and share.
  • The Heart brand has 3.7 million more listeners than Radio 1.
  • Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial radio show in the UK and commercial breakfast show, soaring to 4 million weekly listeners.
  • The Heart Breakfast show’s reach, hours and share are also up quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
  • Listeners continue to turn up the nostalgia with Heart 00s, fronted by Ashley Roberts and Mike Panteli, doubling its audience and breaking another record with 665,000 weekly listeners.

CAPITAL

  • The Capital brand has grown in reach, hours and share year-on-year.
  • The UK’s no.1 hit music brand increases its audience to a massive 7.8 million weekly listeners, adding 167,000 new listeners in just three months.
  • In London, Capital is the no.1 hit music brand, reaching 1.6 million listeners.
  • Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp reaches a huge 2.6 million listeners.
  • Capital XTRA, home to the biggest hip-hop and RnB has 1.7 million listeners across the UK every week. It has more than double the audience of BBC Radio 1Xtra.
  • Capital Dance continues its growth with over 900,000 listeners tuning in every week – up 13% year-on-year.

LBC

  • The LBC brand grows its position as Britain’s biggest commercial news talk station, with 3.5 million weekly listeners, adding 327,000 listeners in the past quarter alone.
  • LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast now reaches 1.43 million weekly listeners across the UK, adding 72,000 listeners in the past three months.
  • In London, Nick Ferrari is the number one commercial breakfast show for all three measures – reach, hours and share.
  • Across LBC’s stellar daytime line-up, every programme – James O’Brien, Shelagh Fogarty, Tom Swarbrick and Tonight with Andrew Marr – has increased in reach, hours and share in the past quarter.
  • James O’Brien celebrates his biggest audience ever, with 1.46 million weekly listeners, growing in reach, hours and share both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
  • In London, LBC is the number one commercial station for hours and share.
  • LBC News, the UK’s 24-hour national rolling news radio station, celebrates its highest ever audience, with 1.1 million listeners each week, growing in reach, hours and share, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

SMOOTH

  • Smooth Radio – the UK’s third largest commercial radio brand – grows in reach, hours and share in the past year, with 5.9 million people listening every week, adding 121,000 new listeners.
  • Smooth Chill grows in reach, hours and share in the last quarter – with 503,000 weekly listeners.
  • Smooth Country – the UK’s biggest country station – now reaches 301,000 weekly listeners.

RADIO X

  • Radio X reaches over 2 million weekly listeners across the UK.
  • At breakfast on Radio X, Chris Moyles has grown his audience and now has more than 1 million listeners tuning in each week.

CLASSIC FM

  • Classic FM is the UK’s most popular classical music station with 4.5 million weekly listeners.
  • Alexander Armstrong’s flagship morning programme reaches 2.1 million weekly listeners.

GOLD

  • Gold now reaches 1.7 million weekly listeners – an increase of almost 300,000 in the past year.

In another period of growth for the chart, the Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 from Global also grows its audience in reach, hours and share year-on-year, reaching 1.6 million listeners every week across Capital and Heart and adding 87,000 new listeners in the last quarter.

“This is a brilliant set of results for Global. Our teams work so hard to deliver world-class content and it is great to see their efforts being recognised.

Congratulations to the Heart team for a truly magnificent set of figures, beating the 11 million mark for the first time is a fantastic accomplishment, along with significant growth from our other brands, including Capital and LBC, all contributing to outstanding growth for Global.”

James Rea, Global’s Director of Broadcasting & Content

 “How better to celebrate the 50th anniversary of commercial radio than to see record audience numbers for Global, our highest ever.

We are delighted to see the UK’s first two commercial radio stations, LBC and Capital, both recording growth, and record numbers on the UK’s largest commercial brand, Heart.

Thank you to our Global family who work so hard day in and day out to deliver these incredible results, they certainly are making everyone’s day brighter!”

Ashley Tabor-King OBE, Global’s Founder & Executive President

Source:

*RAJAR figures for Q1 2023, 2 January – 2 April 2023. All stations and groups results are reported on their specified reporting period and TSA (Total Survey Area).