Global delivers record results extending its position as the UK’s #1 commercial radio company

Global leads the UK commercial radio market with highest ever hours and share

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

With over 10m listeners, heart is the UK’s #1 commercial radio brand

Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden are #1 at breakfast

A strong set of RAJAR figures for Global in Quarter 3 (27 June – 18 September 2022), with 25.4 million people tuning in each week to live radio across Global’s brands, and our highest ever hours.

Here are some key headlines:

GLOBAL:

  • Commercial share for Global climbs to 24.4% with record hours at 246,763,000.
  • 25.4m listeners a week are tuning in to Global’s radio brands on air and on Global Player.
  • Commercial Radio now reaches 5.2m listeners more than BBC radio – a record.
  • Global again has the top three commercial radio brands in the UK, Heart, Capital and Smooth.
  • Global is number one in London with the top three brands for reach – Heart, Capital and LBC.
  • The appetite for dance music is thriving with both Heart Dance and Capital Dance celebrating record listening figures. Heart Dance goes over one million listeners for the first time and Capital Dance now reaches a record 820,000 listeners every week.

HEART: 

  • Heart, which has undergone rapid growth in recent years, again smashes through the 10m listener mark, again retaining top spot as the UK’s biggest commercial radio brand.
  • A massive 10.1m weekly listeners tune into Heart every week, with the brand growing in reach, hours (67m) and share (6.6%).
  • Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the largest commercial breakfast show in the UK, with 3.6m weekly listeners.
  • In the nation’s capital, Heart celebrates phenomenal success, growing its London audience by a huge 242,000 new listeners in just three months to 1.8m, with Heart Breakfast’s Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden achieving London’s top commercial breakfast show for reach with 732,000 listeners in the capital alone.
  • Heart Dance scores a phenomenal 1m listeners, breaking a new record and adding over a quarter of a million new listeners in the past three months alone.
  • Listeners continue to turn up the nostalgia with strong performances from Heart’s decades stations 70s, 80s and 90s. Heart 70s reaches a new record of 630,000 listeners, Heart 80s reaches a massive 1.4m and Heart 90s reaches 839,000. In its first three months, Heart 00s fronted by Ashley Roberts & Mike Panteli is already attracting a massive 212,000 listeners, celebrating a strong first set of RAJAR results for the newly launched station.
  • The Heart brand overall has 2m more listeners more than Radio 1.

CAPITAL:

  • Capital celebrates strong growth in reach, hours and share. The UK’s no.1 hit music brand increases its audience to a massive 7.4m weekly listeners, adding 161,000 new listeners in London alone in just three months.
  • Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp also grows in reach, hours and share, with 2.5m listeners tuning in every week.
  • Capital XTRA, home to the biggest hip-hop and RnB, grows its audience to 1.6m people across the UK every week, more than double the audience of BBC Radio 1Xtra. Capital XTRA also celebrates London growth, up by nearly 25%.
  • Capital Dance continues its phenomenal ascent, with a record 820,000 listeners every week. Dance music radio is thriving with both Capital Dance and Heart Dance adding more than half a million listeners year on year.

SMOOTH:

  • Smooth Radio is once again the UK’s third largest commercial radio station, with 5.6 million weekly listeners, adding 123,000 listeners in the past quarter.
  • Kate Garraway hosts the biggest show on Smooth, adding 73,000 listeners in the past quarter, with 2.2m tuning in each week.
  • Both Smooth Chill and Smooth Country have added more than 100,000 listeners each in the past year, now reaching 532,000 and 326,000 people respectively.

LBC:

  • LBC retains its place as Britain’s biggest commercial news talk station, reaching more than 3m people every week and with a national share of 3%, putting LBC ahead of 5 Live for the first time.
  • 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, has grown its audience year-on-year, now reaching 863,000 people.

MORE FROM GLOBAL:

  • Radio X adds over 70,000 new listeners in three months, now reaching almost 2m weekly listeners.
  • At breakfast on Radio X, Chris Moyles also grows his audience with 1.1m tuning in each week.
  • Gold now reaches 1.7m weekly listeners each week – an increase of 381,000 people in the past year.
  • The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 also grows its audience, now reaching 1.5m listeners every week across Capital and Heart.

“Global has once more delivered record growth, and today, record hours, driving forward the commercial radio market to an all time high with younger audiences trending towards commercial radio.

It is an incredible privilege to have millions of people tuning in to our brands every day.

I’m enormously proud of the Global family who are so dedicated to doing their absolute best, delivering first class broadcasting, innovation and creativity in everything they do.”

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

“This is a fantastic set of results for Global’s brands with millions of people once again tuning in across a summer full of remarkable moments in British history.

It’s wonderful to see Heart going over the 10m listener mark and delivering incredible hours growth.

Capital and Smooth have also done brilliantly.

I’m so proud of what the Global team has achieved.”

James Rea, Global’s Director of Broadcasting & Content

 

Source:

RAJAR figures for Q3 2022, 27 June – 18 September 2022.

RAJAR includes enhanced measurement, with the survey design adapted to broaden its data gathering sources by adding panellists and Mediacell (passive audience media measurement) technology.

All stations and groups results are reported on their specified reporting period and TSA (Total Survey Area).