Rajars: Breakfast radio shows audience loss during pandemic
Author: Steven Mackintosh
Entertainment reporter
- Published
- 1 day ago
- Coronavirus pandemic
New data shows that many breakfast radio shows now have fewer viewers than before the pandemic.
Zoe Ball, Greg James, Roman Kemp, Chris Evans, and Today have fewer listeners than the last time the ratings were measured.
Part of the reason for the decline may be the decline in commuting numbers, as many people continue to work from home.
But industry body Rajar urges caution when making comparisons because it also measures audiences in new ways.
The latest radio listening data is the first data released since May 2020, and smartphone data is now included in the method.
The ratings cover the period from July to September this year, and some of the data is based on a sample of smaller listeners from the previous three months.
Some DJs, such as Chris Moyles of Radio X, seem to resist the downward trend of breakfast programs; the frequency of listening to the radio has generally increased slightly, and the overall coverage of many radio stations has increased.
For example, BBC Radio 5 Live has seen a huge boom, which may benefit from coverage of summer sports events such as Europe and the Olympics.
The station attracted 5.9 million listeners every week from July to September, up from 5.2 million before the pandemic. Its sister station 5 Live Sports Extra also increased by 1.6 million.
The increase in overall radio listening, coupled with the decrease in breakfast audiences, shows that these numbers reflect how the pandemic has changed listening habits and lifestyles.
Although the number of people listening to breakfast programs may decrease, some radio stations pointed out that their number of people during the day has increased. This may be because people listen to more people when they work from home during the day.
The latest ratings data show:
Image Source, Getty Images- Broadcast scheduleIt is an extension of the newspaper brand launched in June 2020, attracting 637,000 listeners every week. This is the first time its official data has been released.
- This will place it on top of other voice stations, such as Speak on the radio, Registered 450,000 listeners in the last quarter-but this is an improvement from their last figure of 424,000 before the pandemic.
- Another new station, Boom radio, There were 233,000 spectators at its debut. The station is aimed at the baby boomers and is considered a competitor to Radio 2, and listeners believe that BBC radio has become too young in recent years.
- Chris Evans Virgin Radio’s breakfast audience was lower than 1.1 million at the beginning of 2020 and dropped to 985,000 this quarter. However, because of the new method, Rajar recommends caution when comparing new numbers with historical data.
- Same warning, BBC Radio 2 Zoe Ball Attracted 7.2 million listeners, lower than the 8.1 million listeners recorded in the first quarter of 2020. However, it is still the largest breakfast show in the UK.
- Radio 1 breakfast host Greg James From the previous 4.9 million to 4.3 million. However, since last May, his program time has changed, starting at 7:00 am later, and later than 10:30 am for other breakfast programs.
- Capital breakfast host Roman Camp Attracted 2.8 million listeners. Before the pandemic and under the old measurement system, this number was 3.3 million.
- A spokesperson for Radio 1 pointed out that the target audience of the radio station is young, and if Rajar includes children over 10 years old, this number will be even higher. The same is true for capital. Radio 1 draws attention to its strong influence on social media and YouTube-their channel attracts 1.62 million views every day.
- Kiss breakfast, received a new owner last year Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely, From the latest figure of 1.4 million to 980,000.
- BBC Radio 4 Today The show attracted 6.5 million. The latest data for the first quarter of 2020 is close to 7 million.
- Recorded a small decline BBC Radio 5 breakfast live broadcast, Increased from 2.1 million to 2 million.
- Chris Morse It broke the million mark for the first time since taking over the Radio X breakfast show in 2015, making him one of the few morning DJs to use new methods to increase audiences.
- On BBC 6Music, the breakfast host Lauren Lavin Its number also increased slightly, from 1.3 million to 1.35 million.
- Heart show breakfast, by Jamie Sixton and Amanda Holden, Is the most popular commercial breakfast in the UK, with 4.1 million listeners.
- Absolute Radio Host David Berry Stable with 2.15 million listeners-almost the same as in the first quarter of 2020
- Voice station LBC A historical record was created, with 3 million listeners every week.
- The total audience of national radio stations (such as BBC Scotland) and local BBC radio stations in the UK is 9.16 million
Image Source, Marco VitulRajar said that 89% of Britons listen to the radio at least once a week, an average of more than 20 hours of listening time per person in 7 days.
Now most radio listening is done on digital platforms, such as DAB, smartphone and tablet applications or websites. Approximately 74% of respondents said they listened digitally every week.
Smart speakers now account for a large portion of listening—approximately 48% of people who own speakers say they use them to listen to the radio every week.
Among these users, 20% said they listen to the radio through smart speakers every day.
Since the industry organization was unable to conduct the usual face-to-face research, Rajar’s data has been shelved during the pandemic.
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Related topics
- Chris Evans
- radio
- Zoe Ball
- Coronavirus pandemic
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article Breakfast radio shows audience loss in pandemic First appeared in Zimo News.