Rajar’s results for Q1 2025

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.

This is our quarterly bonus podcast, where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you who aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom

Raja publishes the listenership figures each quarter, which is good for insight for PR, curious about how the public engages with radio and how the market is performing.

On the show today, we have Alex Blakemore, senior producer & newsroom daily editor at Markettiers, who will discuss the latest Rajar results for Q1 2025. 

Before we start, two pieces of good news at PRmoment this week. The first is that the programme for PR Masterclass: AI in PR is now complete. The PR Masterclass series are hybrid events so you can attend either in person or virtually. The event is on July 3rd and themes include:

• How to Integrate AI into your PR Workflow
• The impact of AI on Journalism
• AI as a content production tool
• Is LLM optimisation PR's biggest opportunity of our lifetimes?
• How will AI impact the agency business model?
• The legal implications of AI in your communications
• How to move from AI experimentation to implementation

Check out the microsite PRMasterclasses.com for all the details including the speaker line-up.

Here are some of the highlights from what Alex and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:

Some headline stats:

Radio Weekly Reach is now 50m, 87% of UK adults, Live Radio Hours – Weekly stay strong at 20.5 Hours

TV Hours – Weekly watching  (Barb April 2025) 16hrs

BBC Share of Radio Listening 43%

BBC vs Commercial Reach – Weekly

BBC – 31.3m

Commercial – 39.8m 

Heart is now the UK’s biggest radio brand by listeners- overtaking Radio 2. 

Commercial Stations on the Rise

TalkSPORT UP from 3,253,000 to 3,506,000

Heart Network UP from 10,058,000 to 10,192,000

LBC News UP from 974,000 to 1,013,000

Times Radio UP from 604,000 to 622,000

GB News Radio UP from 468,000 to 559,000

BBC Stations on the Rise

BBC Radio Berkshire UP from 34,000 to 48,000

BBC Radio Newcastle UP from 215,000 to 234,000

BBC Radio Scotland UP from 745,000 to 827,000

BBC Radio WM UP from 185,000 to 194,000

BBC World Service (UK Reach) UP from 1,184,000 to 1,210,000

Trends and Insights for PR folks:

1. News and speech content holds value

LBC News, Times Radio, and GB News Radio all saw meaningful increases, especially in total hours. This suggests a sustained demand for news-driven formats, particularly in uncertain political and economic conditions. 

2. Online and smart speaker radio listening have hit record levels demonstrating changing listening habits as more people opt to tune in via connected devices like laptops, mobile phones and smart speakers. Total online listening to all radio has reached a record high of 28.5%. As part of that, smart speaker listening has also hit record levels, now accounting for 17.6% of total listening, up from 16.6% in the same quarter of 2024. 

3. Because of choice, radio networks and stations need to know their audience - Older audiences are spending more time listening. Classic hits and news-led services performed especially well, with older listeners helping drive growth in total hours. Stations like Boom Radio, Greatest Hits, and BBC Radio 3 are examples of this pattern. 

The strongest percentage increase in weekly reach belongs to Heart Musicals, which increased by 61 percent, from 134,00