Some strange results in London. Generally very good news for Bauer. Absolute with its biggest ever audience share in London. Global going backwards on all brands (whoops). And 'digital' listening ahead of analogue for the first time.
In terms of share, Capital Scotland is very close to Heart Scotland (5.8% and 5.9% respectively). Has the 106 license ever been ahead of 100-101 (maybe in ScotFM days?)? Looks like that could happen at some point.
XFM Scotland still struggling along, but I don't suppose anyone minds. And I guess any listeners on DAB in the East get picked up in the XFM UK figures?
Clyde 2 somehow managed to gain reach, no mean feat as an AM station. Especially impressive given that Smooth Glasgow is doing fantastically well, hitting 20% reach for the first time and what look like historic highs of reach and share.
The Facebook Group Give us Back Magic Radio 1152 are in regular contact with Bauer Medias CEO Graham Bryce We sent an email asking if the date we had for the figures was correct and he blatantly Lied saying it was a totally different date I WONDER WHY The group fighting for the old Format to be returned or at least to have what we were promised when they kept telling the Listeneers of the Magic network that this was just a Name change to KEY 2 and nothing more Infact they claimed the station would be bigger and better This was a blatant lie as on 5/1/ 2015 the North of England were horrified when we tuned in as normal there was alien sounds coming from our radios presenters that didn't have a clue technical problems that still occur 5 months later and a Scottish twist the North resent our fav local presenters had vanished fav presenters had hrs cut The iconic music had vanished and replaced with music every other station was playing sport on a weekends and a chat show on at lunch time on a Sunday The whole setup has devastated young and old the elderly who needed continuity and loved The Magic Network and had been listening right back when it was GNR and before were left devastated music invokes memories Did Bauer care No Do they care No will they change to accommodate listeners No it's all about advertising and money The loyal Listeners mean nothing to Bauer Media It's a German company with a Scottish CEO who is catering for the scots stuff the North of England The group are fighting hard but it's one lie after another so we know he will lie through his teeth over these figures !!
Radio today reporting its lost 70% of its listeners ,
but Key 2 back in 2000 as Piccadilly had over 360,000 listeners, then fell to 60,000 as Magic AM in 2013 and is now 51, 000, Maybe partly dues to AM mono transmission and also the AM transmitter sites are getting expensive to maintain? Perhaps more cost cutting, going digital only and off peak automation might keep it and other "greatest hits/gold" stations on air as the target audience is sadly not what ad agencies want and revenue may decrease further?
Other wise City 2 and Gold stations could go like the County Sound/Eagle extra greatest hit AM 1566 station near me and audiences dropped from over 30,000 to under 3,000, so UKRD closed it.
had over 360,000 listeners, then fell to 60,000 as Magic AM in 2013 and is now 51, 000, Maybe partly dues to AM mono transmission and also the AM transmitter sites are getting expensive to maintain? Perhaps more cost cutting, going digital only and off peak automation might keep it and other "greatest hits/gold" stations on air as the target audience is sadly not what ad agencies want and revenue may decrease further?
Other wise City 2 and Gold stations could go like the County Sound/Eagle extra greatest hit AM 1566 station near me and audiences dropped from over 30,000 to under 3,000, so UKRD closed it.
Perhaps listeners still think they are listening to Magic and the '2' names have yet to trigger.
Some of the presenters actually call it the 'Greatest hits Network' which although is a better name. probably creates even more confusion.
It seems Chris Evans is pulling in more listeners on Radio 2 than the entire BBC Local Radio stations combined at breakfast. Food for thought Mr Whittingdale...
If I'm reading the numbers correctly, it looks like Magic is getting about 1.7m listeners on national DAB. Pretty impressive!
Does seem like a logical explanation for Magic's high national numbers and the English '2' network being down so much. Especially when the Scottish stations have grown, admittedly without a rebrand. And, of course, there's no RDS for AM listeners!
The whole '2' thing seems increasingly daft, but as long as they're all going in a Bauer column I don't suppose they care too much...
but Key 2 back in 2000 as Piccadilly had over 360,000 listeners, then fell to 60,000 as Magic AM in 2013 and is now 51, 000, Maybe partly dues to AM mono transmission and also the AM transmitter sites are getting expensive to maintain? Perhaps more cost cutting, going digital only and off peak automation might keep it and other "greatest hits/gold" stations on air as the target audience is sadly not what ad agencies want and revenue may decrease further?
Other wise City 2 and Gold stations could go like the County Sound/Eagle extra greatest hit AM 1566 station near me and audiences dropped from over 30,000 to under 3,000, so UKRD closed it.[/QU
I would not be surprised to see stations closing down on AM & going DAB only to save cost ?.
There seems to be a bit of confusion from some about who cares and why the diary system is still in use.
Firstly radio stations have to be in rajar to carry national ads. The amount of revenue received is defined by the audience figures. Without rajar, no national ads!
Alternative electronic audience measurements have been used in other countries and have actually shown lower figures than compared to the old diary system. It could actually make life a lot more difficult for broadcasters.
Now you can see why in 2015 we still have this "antiquated" system.
There seems to be a bit of confusion from some about who cares and why the diary system is still in use.
Firstly radio stations have to be in rajar to carry national ads. The amount of revenue received is defined by the audience figures. Without rajar, no national ads!
Alternative electronic audience measurements have been used in other countries and have actually shown lower figures than compared to the old diary system. It could actually make life a lot more difficult for broadcasters.
Now you can see why in 2015 we still have this "antiquated" system.
I download the Radio Stuff Podcast sometimes which is mainly focused on the US scene (although does cover non-US) and they've talked about a couple of times about the pitfalls of electronic measurements - I would recommend people finding them.
Does seem like a logical explanation for Magic's high national numbers and the English '2' network being down so much. Especially when the Scottish stations have grown, admittedly without a rebrand. And, of course, there's no RDS for AM listeners!
The whole '2' thing seems increasingly daft, but as long as they're all going in a Bauer column I don't suppose they care too much...
If that really is the case then it suggests that RAJAR isn't worth the paper it is written on and that quite a lot of people don't know what the hell they are listening to.
The Bauer AM thing is really easy to explain. Rebrands take ages to sink in with listeners, and as a result many of them are ticking the "Magic" box in their Rajar diaries. The result? Bauer AM goes down, and Magic Digital goes up. This is further aided by Magic DAB having a recent billboard campaign in some Northern cities, which is a bit like kicking sand in the faces of their local colleagues who are desperately trying to work a rebrand with no above-the-line marketing.
Here's another observation: All former Real Radio stations have gone down, quarter on quarter. They've all lost total hours (Heart NW by 16%, Scotland by 13%) and they've all gone down on reach except for Heart NE who were static. Maybe the marketing was too short, or maybe Heart doesn't work as well in these markets. Either way, combined with the London figures, not a great day for Global.
All these defenders of such an utter tripe method have yet to actually prove how conclusive it is to accurate figures.
At least a real method is actual connections, texts to a show etc. Ok people walk away, bit you know they were listening. This method you dont have a clue just relying on some Muppet to fill in a book ticking away.
Utter crap.
The problem with measuring actual connections is that you don't know if people are actually listening and how long they listened for.
At work I fire up Radio Player and often leave it going even when I've gone off for meetings, lunch etc - sometimes for up to half of the day - so selling me on the fact I am listening for 8 hours would be incorrect.
I agree the diary system isn't perfect but taking figures from connections isn't either.
As usual, Matt Deegan has an interesting analysis:
Radio stations seem to fall into three groups now. Firstly there’s the stations that are doing nothing. They remain on AM and FM with little investment into anything digital (The Breeze, Touch FM). There’s then the stations that are replicating their existing brand on some digital platforms (XFM, Key 2). And then there’s those who are taking what they’re doing and pushing it out to more places and on more platforms (Kiss, Magic, LBC).
The third group are on the offence and they’re using the changes in listener behaviour to eat away at the audience the other two groups have. Doing nothing means that you have to work harder and be more successful in a shrinking analogue pond and doing just a bit? Well, I’m not sure it’s going to be enough either.
If that really is the case then it suggests that RAJAR isn't worth the paper it is written on and that quite a lot of people don't know what the hell they are listening to.
No, it suggests that people are generally clueless.
The Facebook Group Give us Back Magic Radio 1152 are in regular contact with Bauer Medias CEO Graham Bryce We sent an email asking if the date we had for the figures was correct and he blatantly Lied saying it was a totally different date I WONDER WHY The group fighting for the old Format to be returned or at least to have what we were promised when they kept telling the Listeneers of the Magic network that this was just a Name change to KEY 2 and nothing more Infact they claimed the station would be bigger and better This was a blatant lie as on 5/1/ 2015 the North of England were horrified when we tuned in as normal there was alien sounds coming from our radios presenters that didn't have a clue technical problems that still occur 5 months later and a Scottish twist the North resent our fav local presenters had vanished fav presenters had hrs cut The iconic music had vanished and replaced with music every other station was playing sport on a weekends and a chat show on at lunch time on a Sunday The whole setup has devastated young and old the elderly who needed continuity and loved The Magic Network and had been listening right back when it was GNR and before were left devastated music invokes memories Did Bauer care No Do they care No will they change to accommodate listeners No it's all about advertising and money The loyal Listeners mean nothing to Bauer Media It's a German company with a Scottish CEO who is catering for the scots stuff the North of England The group are fighting hard but it's one lie after another so we know he will lie through his teeth over these figures !!
Either AM radio is enjoying an unlikely resurgence in the area, or people are actually listening to Smooth on 100.4 FM (which has also got record figures) and ticking the wrong station.
Comments
Also The Pulse has lost 5% weekly reach and Radio Aire had dropped as well.
BBC radio Derby has gone up a lot.
Not surprising. There's only so many times you can enjoy Do You Really Want To Hurt Me!
Perhaps now we can have our old music back, less repetition. Perhaps programmed by Ray... who clearly knows his stuff?
Let Scotland have their station and England our's. Clearly their's hasn't worked here, if the ratings have "fallen off a cliff".
And all those Scottish voices , and John Leslie , , its the next Rajars that matter.
And 5 min ad breaks to the top of the hour does not help.
Radio today reporting its lost 70% of its listeners ,
https://mobile.twitter.com/bauermedia/status/601268767105150977
Well done BBC for letting him go.
XFM Scotland still struggling along, but I don't suppose anyone minds. And I guess any listeners on DAB in the East get picked up in the XFM UK figures?
Clyde 2 somehow managed to gain reach, no mean feat as an AM station. Especially impressive given that Smooth Glasgow is doing fantastically well, hitting 20% reach for the first time and what look like historic highs of reach and share.
Other wise City 2 and Gold stations could go like the County Sound/Eagle extra greatest hit AM 1566 station near me and audiences dropped from over 30,000 to under 3,000, so UKRD closed it.
Some of the presenters actually call it the 'Greatest hits Network' which although is a better name. probably creates even more confusion.
Does seem like a logical explanation for Magic's high national numbers and the English '2' network being down so much. Especially when the Scottish stations have grown, admittedly without a rebrand. And, of course, there's no RDS for AM listeners!
The whole '2' thing seems increasingly daft, but as long as they're all going in a Bauer column I don't suppose they care too much...
Firstly radio stations have to be in rajar to carry national ads. The amount of revenue received is defined by the audience figures. Without rajar, no national ads!
Alternative electronic audience measurements have been used in other countries and have actually shown lower figures than compared to the old diary system. It could actually make life a lot more difficult for broadcasters.
Now you can see why in 2015 we still have this "antiquated" system.
I wouldn't be surprised if it is the case that some are listening to '2' but are choosing Magic.
I imagine some people would find it confusing to hear "Key 2" or whatever one minute and then "the Greatest Hits Network" the other.
I download the Radio Stuff Podcast sometimes which is mainly focused on the US scene (although does cover non-US) and they've talked about a couple of times about the pitfalls of electronic measurements - I would recommend people finding them.
If that really is the case then it suggests that RAJAR isn't worth the paper it is written on and that quite a lot of people don't know what the hell they are listening to.
Here's another observation: All former Real Radio stations have gone down, quarter on quarter. They've all lost total hours (Heart NW by 16%, Scotland by 13%) and they've all gone down on reach except for Heart NE who were static. Maybe the marketing was too short, or maybe Heart doesn't work as well in these markets. Either way, combined with the London figures, not a great day for Global.
The problem with measuring actual connections is that you don't know if people are actually listening and how long they listened for.
At work I fire up Radio Player and often leave it going even when I've gone off for meetings, lunch etc - sometimes for up to half of the day - so selling me on the fact I am listening for 8 hours would be incorrect.
I agree the diary system isn't perfect but taking figures from connections isn't either.
I recommend reading the whole article at:
http://www.mattdeegan.com/2015/05/21/rajar-q12015/
No, it suggests that people are generally clueless.
I rest my case.
I'm guessing you used a crude method of taking away the figures for London from Network?
Either AM radio is enjoying an unlikely resurgence in the area, or people are actually listening to Smooth on 100.4 FM (which has also got record figures) and ticking the wrong station.