RAJAR: Sunrise Radio adds new listeners in London & nationally in Q1/20

Sunrise Radio is rejoicing today after it added new listeners in London and nationally, according to official RAJAR data published for Q1/20 (period ending 29th March 2020).

The data, which also partially covers the initial UK lockdown period, saw Sunrise Radio’s audience jump up by 54,000 listeners nationally. Its audience climbed from 318,000 listeners in Q4/19 to 372,000 listeners in Q1/20. Its listening hours also increased from 4.2 hours to 4.5 hours. When compared to data for this time last year, Sunrise Radio nationally was also up from 338,000 listeners.

Sunrise Radio in London was also up from 146,000 listeners to 192,000 listeners – an increase of 46,000 listeners. Its listening hours slipped slightly from 4.2 hours to 4.0 hours in Q1/20. Year-on-year, Sunrise Radio in London was up by 19,000 listeners.

Tony Lit MBE, MD Sunrise Radio comments, “I’m pleased to announce that during these unusual times Sunrise Radio’s audience both in London and Nationally continue to grow, and whilst our listeners are in lockdown, Sunrise continues to keep them connected by bringing them useful information and entertainment to help keep their spirits high. Sunrise remains the leading commercial Asian radio station in London with more than double the weekly audience of any other of London’s commercial Asian radio stations. Nationally, Sunrise delivers 120k more weekly listeners than the combined weekly listeners of all other commercial Asian radio stations measured by RAJAR. I would like to thank our loyal listeners, our commercial partners and our front line services. It’s important at a time like this that we all support one another however we can.”

BBC Asian Network has clawed back some losses from the previous quarter by adding 24,000 listeners – up by 4.6% quarter-on-quarter. Its weekly reach was up from 519,000 listeners in Q4/19 to 543,000 listeners in Q1/20. It also upped its listening hours from 4.4 hours to 4.5 hours. The stations’ weekly reach was also up year-on-year by 1.3%. Its reach this time last year stood at 536,000 listeners.

A BBC spokesperson told BizAsiaLive.com, “It’s fantastic to see an increase in radio listeners for Asian Network as we continue to inform and entertain young people around the country. With over half a million radio listeners and a further 1.6 million engaging with our content across social media and YouTube, we are proud to be able to provide such an important platform for celebrating British Asian culture, particularly in these challenging times.”

Meanwhile, in Greater London territory, Lyca Radio also added new listeners with a weekly reach of 92,000 listeners in Q1/20 – up from 74,000 listeners in Q4/19. The station’s listening hours were up also from 3.3 hours to 4.2 hours in this quarter.

Sister station, Dilse Radio saw a drastic drop in its listening numbers. Its audience dwindled by 42,000 listeners. The station’s reach went down from 84,000 listeners to 42,000 listeners. Dilse Radio also witnessed a drop in listening hours from 6.3 hours to 5.2 hours.

Panjab Radio saw a slight increase of 2,000 new listeners – its audience increased from 73,000 listeners in Q4/19 to 75,000 listeners in Q1/20. The station boasted of the biggest listening hours amongst all Asian stations in the UK, with figures standing at 5.8 hours – slightly down from 5.9 hours in the previous quarter.

Newly re-launched youth station, Asian FX was down slightly from 40,000 listeners in Q4/19 to 36,000 listeners in Q1/20. The station figures which only account for listening on DAB+ radio sets, increased its listening hours from 1.8 hours to 2.0 hours. Asian FX re-launched its service in January 2020 with some new shows, so the changes will reflect more clearly in the next quarter.

Surjit Ghuman MBE, MD Panjab Radio & Asian FX said, “Panjab Radio has an extremely loyal listener base, our average listening hours are just under 6.0 hours weekly – the highest in Asian London’s commercial radio arena.”

“It’s early days for Asian FX, the station is still in launch phase but I am delighted that we amongst our core of 15-34 adults, have seen growth of 10%, filling me with confidence that our strategy is working.”

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.