BBC Radio 6 Music breaks record reach as digital listening soars

BBC Radio 6 Music has achieved its highest ever audience figures as digital listening continues to grow across the UK, new data has revealed.

Published: 18 May 2017
BBC Radio 6 Music goes from strength to strength, building a loyal audience that recognises a station run by music-lovers for music-lovers
— Bob Shennan, Director of BBC Radio and Music

According to the latest Rajar figures (Q1 2017 2nd Jan-2nd April 2017), the station draws a record 2.35m listeners every week (from 2.33m last quarter and 2.24m last year). The Shaun Keaveny Breakfast Show, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has a weekly reach of 1.12m, making it the most listened to programme on the network. Steve Lamacq’s weekday afternoon show remains over the 1m mark, with 1.115m listeners. Other shows enjoying record figures include Mary Anne Hobbs, Cerys Matthews, Huey Morgan, Chris Hawkins, Iggy Pop, Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service, Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour and 6 Music Classic Concerts.

The share of all radio listening (BBC and commercial radio) via a digital platform now stands at a new record share of 47.2% (44.1% last year), with 32m people tuning into radio via a digital platform (DAB, Online and DTV) every week. DAB remains the lead digital platform by some margin, and now delivers over 1/3 of all radio hours in the UK.

Bob Shennan, Director of BBC Radio and Music, says: “Despite huge changes in the sector, it’s heartening to see a massive 89% of the UK population committing to listen to radio each week across a variety of devices. It has been a strong year for digital innovation right across BBC Radio with all our services seeing digital growth of one sort or another, especially BBC Radio 6 Music which goes from strength to strength, building a loyal audience that recognises a station run by music-lovers for music-lovers.”

The listening of live radio across the UK, including commercial stations and BBC Radio, reached 48.23m, which is 89% of the UK population (48.68m last quarter and 47.82m last year).

All BBC Radio’s weekly reach over the period was 34.2m (35.2m last quarter and 34.9m last year) and a share of 52.8% (53.5% last quarter and 54.1% last year).

The average time spent with BBC Radio was 15.8 hours (15.9h last quarter)

  • BBC Radio 1 posted a reach of 9.1m listeners (from 9.56m last quarter and 9.91m last year) - which rises to 10m when listeners aged 10 and over are included (from 10.54m last quarter and 10.7m last year) - while the network’s share of listening was 5.6% (from 5.8% last quarter and 5.6% last year). The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw now attracts 5.14m listeners per week (from 5.37m last quarter and 5.44m last year). Including all listeners aged 10+, the show has a weekly audience of 5.64m, compared to 5.82m last quarter and 5.86m last year.
  • BBC Radio 2’s weekly audience was 15.02m (from 15.05m last quarter and 15.51m last year) while the station’s share of listening was 18.1% (17.3% last quarter and 18.6% last year). The Chris Evans Breakfast Show attracted 9.38m listeners per week, compared to 9.21m last quarter and 9.73m last year.
  • BBC Radio 3’s audience was 1.88m (from 2.12m last quarter and 2.12m last year) and its share was 1.1% (1.4% last quarter and 1.3% last year).
  • BBC Radio 4 posted a weekly reach of 11.11m during the quarter (11.33m last quarter and 10.57m last year) and a share of 12.5% (12.7% last quarter and 12% last year). The Today programme has 7.13m listeners each week, from 7.45m last quarter and 6.76m last year.
  • BBC Radio 5 live posted a reach of 5.34m listeners (5.71m last quarter and 5.77m last year) and a share of 3.6% (3.6% last quarter and 3.9% last year).
  • Amongst digital-only stations, BBC Radio 1Xtra had a reach of 939,000 weekly listeners across the period (from 909,000 last quarter and 1.04m last year), BBC Radio 4 Extra attracted 2.02m listeners per week (from 2.18m last quarter and 1.85m last year), and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra posted 830,000 listeners (from 1.17m last quarter and 1.33m last year).
  • BBC Asian Network drew 623,000 listeners, compared to 632,000 listeners last quarter, and 562,000 last year.
  • The BBC World Service posted a weekly UK audience of 1.33m (from 1.53m last quarter and 1.47m last year).
  • BBC Local Radio (across the UK) reached 8.26m listeners per week, from 8.89m last quarter and 8.79m last year.

For further Information, please contact:
Radio 1, 1Xtra, Asian Network - PC
Radio 2 - LDS
Radio 3 - AH
Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra - SW
Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra and BBC Local Radio - DH2
Radio 6 Music - KA
World Service - CM7

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