RAJAR: Sunrise Radio loses over 100k listeners

Sunrise Radio witnessed the biggest loss in listenership in latest official radio audience figures from RAJAR for the quarter ending December 2015.

The London based station, which has done well since it moved to 963/972AM, suffered a loss of more than 100,000 listeners over the past three months. However, it seems, with the loss, the station has shed away some of its older listeners to skew the station towards a younger demographic. As a result of the decline, the gap between Sunrise Radio and its commercial rival, Lyca Radio narrowed with just 56,000 listeners separating the two stations.

Looking at numbers, Sunrise Radio maintained its position as the No.1 Asian commercial radio station in Greater London with a weekly reach of 215,000 listeners, compared to Lyca Radio’s 159,000 listeners. Sunrise Radio was down by 32% quarter-on-quarter and also down by 20.1% year-on-year. It has lost listening share from 0.9 this time last year to just 0.4% this year. The see-saw effect continued with Lyca Radio upping its audience by 8.9% over the past six months and up by 27.2% year-on-year.

Lyca Dilse also increased its audience to a reach of 89,000. Its audience was also up 25.7% year-on-year and up slightly by 11.4% quarter-quarter-on-quarter.

During Q4/15, Sunrise Radio tightened its playlist with a stricter emphasis on particular music styles to reflect dayparts. Similarly, Lyca Media also revamped both Lyca Radio and Dilse with clearer identities and call-signs. Most of its senior presenters were shifted to Dilse, with an increase of speech element, while Lyca Radio labelled itself as a “more music, less chat” station.

A spokesperson for Lyca Media told BizAsiaLive.com, “For us at Lyca Radio and Dilse , we will continue to focus on quality, more music, more information and fewer commercial interruptions. We want the Asian community in Greater London to be proud of their local radio stations. With listeners listening for an average 9.6 hours per week (up from 4.6 last RAJAR) this brings the Total Hours listened to 1,526,400 per week which endorses the changes we have made over the past few months reflects the direction we are taking.”

In further discouraging news for Sunrise Radio, its average listening hours fell from 4.7 hours to just to 3.5 hours per person. In comparison, Lyca Radio’s listening hours shot up from 4.6 hours to a record high of 9.6 hours per person. This clearly indicates that Lyca Radio’s policy of “more music” with fewer ad and speech disruptions, is connecting well with listeners.

Tony Lit, Sunrise Radio MD, said, ���The release of Rajar Q4 2015 this morning once again confirms Sunrise Radio as London�۪s leading Asian radio station, now in its 27th year of broadcasting to London�۪s Asians. Our audience is young and upmarket with 76% under the age of 44 and 61.5% being ABC1. This year is going to be another great year for Sunrise, in the New Year we launched our new Breakfast Show hosted by Raj Ghai & Sonia Dutta and Drive-Time hosted By Bob-Bee as we gear-up for our national launch on the 29th of February.�۝

The upcoming set of RAJAR listening figures will prove interesting to see whether Sunrise Radio’s national plans have worked to plan. The RAJAR for new national stations including Sunrise Radio will be available from Q2/16 (published in August). However, the next data will also include listening figures for Sunrise Radio’s new Breakfast show, which kicked off last month with PR guru, Raj Ghai and Sonia Dutta. The old Breakfast show with Andy Gill registered a loss of 50,000 listeners during Q4/15. Its Breakfast show delivered 71,000 listeners, compared to Lyca Radio’s 119,000 listeners. However, both shows finish at different times – Sunrise Radio’s Breakfast ends at 09:00, while Lyca Radio ends at 09:30.

Quick Glance
Sunrise Radio
As it stands now: 215,000
Last quarter: 316,000
This time last year: 269,000

Lyca Radio
As it stands now: 159,000
Last quarter: 146,000
This time last year: 125,000

Dilse
As it stands now: 88,000
Last quarter: 79,000
This time last year: 70,000

The BBC Asian Network was also down slightly after losing 26,000 listeners in Q4/15 – down by 4.4% quarter-on-quarter. Its weekly reach stands at 563,000 (down from 589,000). Over the past twelve months, the station lost 56,000 listeners – down by 9%. Its listening share remained at 0.3%. Its listening hours were down from 5.8 hours to 5.7 hours. These numbers reflect the last batch of weekend programme changes.

Bob Shennan, Controller Radio 2, 6 Music, Asian Network, and Director, BBC Music, “With 563 000 listeners, Asian Network�۪s audience remains solid following our schedule refresh last November when we welcomed four new presenters to the station, complementing our already strong line-up. This further strengthened the station�۪s distinctiveness and range of output, which includes investigative journalism, religion, language, documentaries and music, with particular support for British Asian music.”

Quick Glance
BBC Asian Network
As it stands now: 563,000
Last quarter: 589,000
This time last year: 610,000

The longest serving digital-only, commercial Asian radio station, Panjab Radio upped its audience from 55,000 listeners in Q3/15 to 77,000 listeners in Q4/15. Its listening hours fell from 6.4 hours to 5.2 hours. The station’s figures do not include data from its 1584AM North London frequency.

Surjit Singh Ghuman MBE, Managing Director, Panjab Radio, told BizAsiaLive.com, ���We are all delighted with our latest audience figures released today, considering these figures are for digital platforms only. This signifies Panjab Radio’s loyal audience, which continues to grow. We’re all very excited about taking the station to a new level by going national on DAB digital radio later this month.”

Quick Glance
Panjab Radio
As it stands now: 77,000
Last quarter: 55,000
This time last year: –

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