Top header Banner
Top header Banner
Middle top Banner

RAJAR: All stations lose listernship in Q1/18 data

All stations including BBC Asian Network, Sunrise Radio, Lyca Radio, Dilse Radio and Panjab Radio lost listeners but continued to lead in their respective slots, according to official RAJAR data for Q1/18.

Nationally, BBC Asian Network ruled with a weekly reach of 628,000 listeners – down from 661,000 listeners in Q4/17. It was down 0.5% quarter-on-quarter but up by 0.8% year-on-year. The station has lost its share from 0.4% in Q1/17 to 0.3% in Q1/18. BBC Asian Network’s listening hours stood at 5.0.

Sunrise Radio National led the Asian commercial radio category with a reach of 360,000 listeners – down by 43,000 listeners. Its listening hours were down from 5.7 hours in Q4/17 to 5.4 hours in Q1/18. In comparison year-on-year data, Sunrise Radio National was down by just 2,000 listeners. This time last year, Sunrise Radio National clocked up a reach of 362,000 viewers.

Tony Lit, Sunrise Radio MD said, “With the release of Rajar Q1 2018 I’m pleased to report that Sunrise Radio remains the undisputed Number 1 commercial Asian Radio Station both in London and Nationally, leading in terms of weekly reach and total weekly listening hours. In fact Sunrise London alone has nearly four times more total weekly listening hours than its nearest commercial Asian Radio competitor. All our main shows, 06:00-19:00 are consistently doing well which is testament to the hard work of our amazing Presenters and Programing Team. We have a number of new initiatives due to take shape in quarter 2 of this year. Watch this space.”

Greater London

Sunrise Radio remained the preferred choice in the Greater London region. It delivered a weekly reach of 210,000 listeners – down from 219,000 listeners in Q4/17. The station recorded 6.4 hour listening hours – up from 5.1 hours, which means Sunrise Radio is being listened to longer. It also was also the most listened to Asian radio station in the London region, in terms of reach and listening hours.

Lyca Radio stayed steady with a reach of 107,000 listeners – down from 112,000 listeners in Q4/17. Its audience was up year-on-year by 15,000 listeners. Lyca Radio’s listening hours were at 3.4 hours – down from 5.2 hours in the previous quarter.

Lyca Dilse registered a reach of 37,000 listeners – down from 93,000 listeners – making it the biggest loser in this quarter. It lost 56,000 listeners quarter-on-quarter. It was also down year-on-year by 24,000 listeners. The station’s listening hours were locked at 3.0 – down from 5,2 hours.

Panjab Radio maintained its consistency pattern with a reach of 88,000 listeners in Q1/18 – down slightly from 91,000 listeners. Year-on-year, Panjab Radio grew with an increase of 31,000 additional listeners. The station’s listening hours stood at 5.9 hours – up from 5.3 hours in the previous quarter.

Surjit Singh MBE, Panjab Radio MD said, “I am particularly delighted with the latest RAJAR results. Panjab Radio transmits across both analogue and DAB but unlike our main competitors, we only measure our digital audience. Our reach is up substantially year-on-year, just over 50%, hours may have dropped across the same period but have been constant for the last nine months. We’ve been on air nationally since February 2016 and from Q3/18, we’ll have national numbers. I feel confident that based on our London numbers, our national numbers will be as successful.”

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.