Global leads record numbers for commercial radio

Global is the UK’s number one commercial radio company with 26.4 million weekly listeners

Commercial radio achieves its highest ever reach – 7.6 million weekly listeners ahead of BBC Radio

Heart and Capital are the largest two commercial radio brands in the uk

Heart scores another all time record lengthening its lead as the UK’s number one commercial radio brand with a huge 11.3 million listeners – 3.6 million more than Radio 1

Capital Brand soars to a massive 8 million listeners growing in reach, hours and share year-on-year and ahead of Radio 1 nationally

Smooth Radio smashes through the 6 million listener mark for the first time in a record-breaking quarter for the station

Heart Breakfast is the number one national commercial radio show with a huge 3.9 million listeners

Smooth’s Kate Garraway celebrates her highest ever audience now reaching more than 2.5 million listeners

Radio X achieves its highest ever reach, with 2.2 million listeners weekly

In London, Heart and Capital are the top two commercial radio stations for reach

In London, LBC and Heart are the top two commercial radio stations for share

In London, LBC, Heart and Capital are the top three commercial radio breakfast shows, all beating Radio 1 Breakfast

A very strong set of RAJAR figures for Global in Quarter 3 (26 June – 17 September 2023), with 26.4 million people tuning in each week to live radio across Global’s brands, with increases for reach, hours and share on the last quarter.

Commercial radio sets another new record with its highest ever reach of 39.3 million listeners, 7.6 million more than BBC Radio.

Here are some more key headlines:

GLOBAL

• With 26.4 million listeners tuning in to Global’s radio brands on air and on Global Player each week, it is the number one commercial radio company in the UK.
• Share for Global is 25.4%.
• Hours increase 4% on the previous year to 257 million.

HEART

• Heart strengthens its position as the number one commercial radio brand as it beats all previous records with a huge 11.3 million listeners, up 1.2 million over the past year.
• The Heart brand has 3.6 million more listeners than Radio 1.
• Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial radio and breakfast show in the UK with 3.8 million weekly listeners.
• In London, Heart delivers its highest figures in 12 years with a huge 2.1 million listeners.

CAPITAL

• The Capital brand has grown significantly in reach, hours and share year-on-year.
• The UK’s no.1 hit music brand increases its audience to a massive 8 million weekly listeners adding 636,000 listeners in the last year alone.
• Capital Breakfast reaches a huge 2.6 million listeners adding 115,000 new listeners in the last year.
• In London, Capital is the no.1 hit music station, reaching 1.8 million listeners growing in reach, hours and share year-on-year.

SMOOTH RADIO

• Smooth Radio smashes through the 6 million listener mark with a record-breaking 6.2 million reach, alongside record highs for hours and share. It has added 638,000 new listeners in the past year.
• Smooth’s Kate Garraway celebrates a record-breaking 2.5 million weekly listeners – her highest ever audience – adding 325,000 in the past year, with her mid-morning show increasing in reach, hours and share both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter.
• Smooth London also celebrates its biggest ever audience, growing in reach, hours and share in the past year – with a new audience of more than 1 million weekly listeners.

LBC

• LBC, the UK’s leading commercial news talk brand, now reaches 2.9 million weekly listeners.
• LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast has an audience of 1.3 million listeners. In London, his programme is the number one commercial breakfast show for reach, hours and share.
• LBC News, the UK’s only rolling news radio station, reaches 745,000 people.

RADIO X

• The Radio X brand has its highest ever reach, with 2.2 million listeners now tuning in every week, 65,000 more than the last quarter.
• At breakfast on Radio X, The Chris Moyles Show has also set a new record with 1.2 million tuning in each morning having added 75,000 listeners in the last quarter.

MORE FROM GLOBAL

• Classic FM is the UK’s number one classical music station, reaching 4.5 million weekly listeners.
• Gold has added 103,000 listeners in the past year and now has an audience of 1.8 million people.
• Capital XTRA, home to the biggest hip-hop and RnB has 1.8 million tuning in across the UK every week. It has more than double the audience of BBC Radio 1Xtra.
• Capital XTRA Breakfast with Robert Bruce and Shayna Marie has 558,000 weekly listeners, a year-on-year increase in both reach and hours.
• Capital XTRA Reloaded celebrates a new high for the second quarter in a row – it now has 472,000 weekly listeners.
• The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 from Global is the UK’s biggest chart show reaching 1.4 million listeners every week across Capital and Heart.

“When we started Global in 2007, we wanted to reinvigorate the commercial radio market after many years of decline. It’s just brilliant to see it happening, and continuing to grow and grow. There’s record audiences for both the sector and some of our brands, bringing listeners more of what they love. We’re proud to have pioneered the growth of commercial radio and we continue to innovate.

Thank you to all our incredible listeners, and to every globaller who make everyone’s day brighter, every day, every week, every year.”

Ashley Tabor-King OBE, Founder & Executive President of Global 

 “This is another set of fantastic results from the team at Global. It’s incredible to see even further growth for Heart, the UK’s biggest commercial radio brand. I’m also delighted to see the iconic Capital brand deliver impressive growth and a record audience high for Smooth.

When it comes to delivering world class content, there’s no better team in the business – a massive thanks to everyone at Global.”

James Rea, Director of Broadcasting & Content at Global

Source

*RAJAR figures for Q3 2023, 26th June 2023 – 17th September 2023 (Weeks 26 – 37). All stations and groups results are reported on their specified reporting period and TSA (Total Survey Area).