A Rajar report for 18 months found that commerce radio ratings went up half a million since the pandemic-influenced lockdown.
The report found that commercial radio’s audience has grown by 500,000 listeners over the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, commercial radio now attracts 36.8 million listeners each week – around 2.2 million listeners ahead of the BBC’s radio audience.
LBC London is the most listened to station across the UK capital, which has the highest number of listening hours – 10.6 average hours listened per week – along with a reach of 1.6 million. But, Heart London now has the broadest reach at 1.9 million, followed by Capital London at 1.8 million.
Based on the report, the average listening time was 13 hours a week. In contrast, the average listening time was 12.9 hours in the previous survey published in March 2020. Radiocentre’s chief operating officer Matt Payton said, “We are still seeing the vast majority of advertisers investing spot ads on linear radio, but the fastest-growing commercial line is for digital.”
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