The latest RAJAR figures for radio have been released, so, what is the UK listening to?
Here are the headlines from Q1 2025:
- 50 million adults, or 87% of the adult UK population, tune into radio each week.
- Commercial Radio is now reaching 40 million listeners every week, 8.5 million more listeners than BBC Radio.
- Commercial Radio share overall is up on the quarter and now has 11.8% more share than the BBC.
Our data-wranglers have been going through the numbers to bring you highlights.
National Stations and Networks
The big news is that the talkSPORT network achieved its biggest ever reach with a record 3.9 million weekly listeners. As part of that network, talkSPORT2 also hit the back on the net at 676,000 weekly listeners – an increase of 25% since last quarter and talkSPORT2’s biggest reach ever.
The second major headline is that Heart is now the UK’s biggest radio brand, with 13.4 million listeners, overtaking BBC Radio 2, which has 13.1 million weekly listeners. This equates to over 84 million hours a week, that’s an increase of 3% from 81.6 million in Q4 2024, with 6.3 hours per listener.
The Capital Brand and Network had a relatively steady set of results for Q1 2025, the Brand has a weekly reach of nearly 9.5 million and a market share of 4.8%, whereas the main network has 7.1 million listeners.
Smooth Radio’s shift to network all its programming in February this year doesn’t appear to have hurt its results. The Smooth Brand has grown its reach by 19.6% year on year, thanks to new stations within the Smooth umbrella, such as Smooth Chill, Smooth Country and Smooth Relax. Total weekly hours have also increased by 1% since last quarter and now sits at 49,505,000, up from 49,171,000 in Q4 2024.
Meanwhile, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Network has hit the high notes with a solid quarter, adding another 1.6m listening hours. Each listener is now tuning in for a huge 8.9 hours per week.
The KISS Network, has seen its weekly reach grow by almost 3%, quarter on quarter, increasing from 3,762,000 to 3,861,000, while total hours also saw a 2% rise, from 15,783,000 to 16,045,000.
Over at the Absolute Radio Network, weekly reach has absolutely remained stable from last quarter at 5.6 million listeners. The flagship Absolute Radio station remains the highest reaching station within the network with nearly 2 million listeners and contributes over 37% of the network’s total listening hours.
Finally, for Bauer, the Hits Radio Network, is steady as she goes – showing a growth of 1% in total listening hours quarter on quarter, now with 46 million hours and a weekly reach of 7.1 million.
News and Talk stations
With politics and major world events taking centre stage, news and talk stations continue to be popular. LBC News (UK) delivered a 4% increase in weekly reach, rising from 974,000 in Q4 2024 to 1,013,000 in Q1 2025, alongside an impressive 29% uplift in total hours, from 2,158,000 to 2,787,000.
GB News continues to make the headlines, adding listeners to its reach which is now at 559,000 – up 19% on the previous quarter and total hours are up 25%. Average weekly hours per listener are now at 7.7.
However, Times Radio, still has more listeners than GB News at 622,000, an increase of 3% quarter on quarter with total hours also up by 13% and average weekly hours now at 8.0 per listener.
As mentioned at the start of this analysis, talkSPORT Network has had a great set of results and the main talkSPORT station played a vital role, delivering an increase in reach, up 8% quarter on quarter to 3.5 million weekly listeners.
Digital Listening and Digital Only Stations
The consistent growth of digital listening continues, with all radio online listening reaching a record high of 28.5% in Q1 2025. Leading the way in this shift in radio consumption is Commercial Radio with online now accounting for almost a third of all Commercial Radio listening, rising to 32.3% from 32.1% in Q1 2024. Listening via smart speakers also continues to climb, reaching a share of 21.4%, which is up year-on-year from 20.7% in Q1 2024.
Stations with clearly defined formats and focused identities are helping to drive this listening revolution. For instance, Heart Musicals has just had an amazing second RAJAR. Compared to Q4 2024, reach is up 61% to 216,000 weekly listeners. Average hours per listener are up 157% from 1.9 to 4.9 and there’s also been a staggering increase of 800,000 total hours – that’s 318% growth!
Heart 90’s has added an impressive 847,000 hours in total this quarter, up 26% – 100,000 new people are tapping into 90’s tunes, a growth of 10% in listeners overall to 1,180,000,
Boom Radio continues to boom with total hours up by 27% quarter on quarter, with average weekly hours per listener at 13.7 and weekly reach now at 697,000.
Radio X Chilled was very relaxed, growing its initial reach by 21.7% to 157,000 and its total hours by 29.9%.
KISS landed a smacker this quarter, with weekly reach up by an impressive 38%, rising from 1,085,000 in Q4 to 1,492,000. Total hours also increased by 13%, from 4,401,000 to 4,949,000.
Smooth Soul had only its second RAJAR survey in Q1 2025 and has increased its reach by 35% from 206,000 to 278,000 weekly listeners.
It’s a Yee haw for Absolute Radio Country as it just keeps adding listeners each quarter. Weekly reach has increased by a further 10% from last quarter to 670,000, it is now more popular than the 60s, 70s, 00s and Classic Rock Absolute stations.
The final mention goes to Greatest Hits Radio 60’s. Last quarter the station debuted with a very solid reach of 386,000, but it has grown by 9.8% to reach 424,000.
London
In London, Global leads the way. Heart London remains the only station with over 2 million listeners, which is 380,000 more than the second placed Capital London.
Overall, there was a decent growth in reach, quarter on quarter for all stations with over a million listeners.
LBC News (London) was one of the standout performers this quarter, with total hours soaring by 87%, from 1,044,000 in Q4 to 1,953,000. This growth was driven by a rise in average hours per listener, which increased from 2.8 to 4.8. Weekly reach also went up by 10%, from 373,000 to 410,000.
Meanwhile, over at Bauer, Magic London has increased by 9% to 1.3 million weekly listeners and Greatest Hits Radio London is up 2% with 1 million people listening every week.
The top 5 London stations are as follows:
Weekly Reach (000’s)
| Heart London | 2,015 |
| Capital London | 1,638 |
| LBC London | 1,434 |
| Magic London | 1,260 |
| GHR (London) | 1,057 |
Total Listening Hours (000’s)
| LBC London | 17,315 |
| Heart London | 9,843 |
| Capital London | 6,690 |
| GHR London | 6,415 |
| Magic London | 5,282 |
Locally
In the regions, there have been some solid performances this quarter.
The standout station is Gold London. It delivered a whopping 39.5% increase in reach to 364,000 and 32.6% increase in hours. The station is up 12% year on year in reach and 59.11% in total hours, demonstrating an upward trend.
Greatest Hits Radio (East Midlands) grew by 8.9% since last quarter to a reach of 270,000, Greatest Hits Radio (Black Country & Shropshire) has added 12.4% more listeners to a new reach of 200,000, and Greatest Hits Radio (Essex) added 9.2% to a reach of 71,000.
Across the border, Heart Scotland has seen a huge growth in total hours for a second consecutive quarter. 500,000 listening hours have been added in total, there was a 9% growth in reach, up 37,000 to 469,000, however the growth was driven by a 23% increase in average hours per listener.
Meanwhile, in the valleys, Heart South Wales saw good progress too. Total hours are up by 31% overall to 4.1 million, this it is a result of a 12% reach growth to 540,000 and a whole hour extra per person per week.
At Hits Radio, they’re hitting the regions hard with Hits Radio (Oxfordshire) up 32% in reach to 41,000, Hits Radio (Northern Ireland) is up 12% in reach to 28,000, and Hits Radio (Teesside) showing a 65% increase in total listening hours, quarter on quarter.
There are also signs of a successful rebrand of Hits Radio (Cambridgeshire), once Star Radio, with growth of 82.7% in total listening hours and an increase of 41% in reach quarter on quarter to 41,000.
Summary
There’s no doubt, Q1 2025 was another strong set of results for Commercial Radio.
There are now more choices for listeners than ever before with clearly defined formats and focused identities which are helping to drive increases in listenership and loyalty. This mean that agencies and their advertisers have access to over 40 million people each week to help them communicate both brand and direct response messages.
For a quick overview, take a look at our infographic and if you’d like to know more about the Q1 2025 RAJAR or any other aspects of radio and digital audio advertising, please get in touch.
