Global soars!

02 February 2023 - Press release

 

Global, the Media & Entertainment Group, reported its best ever set of RAJAR figures in Quarter 4 (19 September to 18 December, 2022), with an all-time high record reach of 26.3 million people tuning in each week. It also recorded an all-time high share of the radio market, at 25.4%.

 

Here are some key headlines:

GLOBAL:

• Global's weekly reach climbs to a record 26.3m. 
• Global's market share climbs to a record 25.4%, with a record 258 million hours. 
• Global again has the top three commercial radio brands in the UK, Heart, Capital and Smooth.
• Global is number one, two and three in London for reach, with Heart, Capital and LBC. 
• Global is number one and two in London for share, with Heart and LBC.
• The Official Big Top 40 Chart from Global also increased its lead over rival charts, scoring 1.5 million weekly listeners.
• Commercial radio reaches 4.8 million more listeners than BBC radio.

 

HEART: 

• Heart celebrates record-breaking audience figures and retains its title as the #1 commercial radio brand. 
• At a huge 10.9 million listeners, Heart's weekly reach has increased 750,000 over the last quarter.
• The Heart brand also enjoys an all-time record in hours.
• Overall, the Heart brand has experienced massive growth for both reach and hours. 
• The Heart brand has 3 million more listeners than Radio 1.
• Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial radio show in the UK.
• Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK, with 3.9 million weekly listeners. 
• The Heart Breakfast show's reach, hours and share are also up quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

• Listeners continue to turn up the nostalgia with Heart 00s fronted by Ashley Roberts and Mike Panteli, up 54% quarter-on-quarter, smashing its previous record to reach 326,000 listeners, gaining 114,000.

 

CAPITAL:

• The Capital brand has grown in both hours and share, both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. 
• The UK's no.1 hit music brand increases its audience to a huge 7.7 million weekly listeners, adding 314,000 new listeners in just three months. 
• In London, Capital is the no.1 hit music brand, reaching 1.6 million listeners.
• Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp grows in reach, hours and share, with a massive 2.7 million listeners tuning in every week. 
• Capital XTRA, home to the biggest hip-hop and RnB, grows its audience to 1.7 million people across the UK every week. It has more than double the audience of BBC Radio 1Xtra. 
• Capital XTRA also celebrates London growth, adding 184,000 new listeners year-on-year.
• Capital Dance continues its phenomenal rise and smashes yet another record, with 912,000 listeners every week, its highest ever audience since launch. Hours have more than doubled in the last 12 months alone.

 

SMOOTH RADIO:

• Smooth Radio – the UK's third largest commercial radio brand – grows in reach, hours and share in the past quarter, with 5.8 million people listening every week, adding 255,000 new listeners.
• Kate Garraway hosts the biggest show on Smooth Radio, adding 114,000 listeners in the past three months alone, with 2.3 million tuning in each week.

 

LBC:

• The LBC brand again grows its position as Britain's biggest commercial news talk station, with more than 3.1 million weekly listeners.
• LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast now reaches over 1.3 million weekly listeners across the UK.
• In London, Nick Ferrari at Breakfast is the number one commercial breakfast show for all three measures - reach, hours and share.
• Across LBC's stellar line-up, every weekday programme – Steve Allen, Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, James O'Brien, Shelagh Fogarty, Tom Swarbrick, Tonight with Andrew Marr, and Iain Dale - has increased in reach.
• James O'Brien now has over 1.3 million weekly listeners, growing in reach, hours and share both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
• In London, LBC is the number one commercial station for hours and share.
• LBC News, the UK's 24-hour national rolling news radio station, grows its audience year-on-year, reaching 872,000 people each week.

 

CLASSIC FM: 

• Classic FM is the UK's most popular classical music station with 5 million weekly listeners, adding 325,000 in the past quarter.
• Alexander Armstrong's flagship morning programme grows in reach, hours and share in the past quarter, with 2.4 million weekly listeners, adding 186,000 new listeners.

 

RADIO X:

• Radio X reaches 2 million weekly listeners across the UK.
• At breakfast on Radio X, Chris Moyles has over 1 million listeners tuning in each week.

 

MORE FROM GLOBAL:

• Gold now reaches 1.7 million weekly listeners – an increase of 336,000 in the past year. 
• The More Music Breakfast Show with James Bassam on Gold has 700,000 listeners every week. 
• The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 also grows its audience in reach, hours and share, now reaching 1.5 million listeners every week across Capital and Heart.

 

James Rea, Global's Director of Broadcasting & Content, said: "These are magnificent results for Global. Across every single brand, audiences have increased to deliver this record-breaking set of numbers in commercial radio's 50^th year. I'm so thrilled for our teams who work so hard to deliver such brilliant live radio every day."

Ashley Tabor-King OBE, Global's Founder & Executive President, said: "As Global delivers the biggest set of audience numbers in its history, reaching over 26m listeners for the first time ever, I'm so proud that Global is at the forefront of this growth for commercial radio, continually innovating to deliver record-breaking hours, reach and share. This is truly remarkable and is solely down to the hard work of every Globaller in our growing family who continually strive to make everyone's day brighter!  Thank you to all our listeners who spend time with our brands, you are at the heart of everything we do."