RAJAR: BBC Asian Network remains strong at No.1

The BBC Asian Network has increased its weekly reach in latest RAJAR audience figures released for the period ending 17th September 2017.

Official data for Q3/17 put BBC Asian Network in a stronger position than previously at No.1. It was up from 646,000 listeners in Q2/17 to 662,000 listeners in Q3/17. The station’s audience remained static compared to this time last year, with 662,000 listeners reported for Q3/16.

Commercial rival, Sunrise Radio lost listeners with a weekly reach of 380,000 listeners – down this quarter to 354,000 listeners. However, it was up year-on-year with a difference of 8.6%. This time last year, Sunrise Radio National reported 326,000 listeners.

On the local front, Sunrise Radio Greater London reported a weekly reach of 215,000 listeners – up slightly from 200,000 listeners in Q2/17. The station’s listening hours fell though from 6.2 hours to 4.2 hours. However, the station remained by far the most listened to commercial Asian radio station in Greater London. Its listenership was also the combined audience of its rivals, Lyca Radio and Dilse.

Tony Lit, MD Sunrise Radio commented, “Following the release of Rajar Q3 2017 this morning I’m happy to report that Sunrise Radio now in its 28th year of broadcasting remains the nation’s favourite commercial Asian radio station. Our audience reach and hours are up year on year for both Sunrise National and Sunrise London with our core programming seeing very strong audience growth. Just to put things in perspective, Sunrise Radio London’s weekly reach is larger than the combined weekly reach of its two nearest commercial Asian radio competitors. There are lots of developments on the horizon so watch this space.”

Lyca Radio passed the 100k mark with a reach of 107,00 listeners -up from 93,000 listeners. Its listening hours also stayed steady with 6.9 hours up from 6.5 hours.

Sister station, Lyca Dilse surged from 55,000 listeners to 93,000 listeners. However, its listening hours dwindled from a record 14.1 hours down to 6.8 hours.

Panjab Radio continued to impress with a weekly reach of 81,000 listeners – up from 70,000 listeners in the previous quarter. Its listening hours crashed down from 10.3 hours to 5.6 hours.

Other UK based Asian radio stations such as Radio XL in Birmingham, Sabras Radio in Leicester, Asian Sound in Manchester, Sunrise Radio in Yorkshire and other digital and community Asian radio stations do not subscribe to RAJAR.