Rajar Data Release - Quarter 1, 2010

Rajar Data Release - Quarter 1, 2010

LONDON, May 13, 2010/PRNewswire/ --

- Radio Listening Reaches All Time High as 46.5 Million Adults Tune in to
Radio Each Week

- Radio Digital Listening Hours Up 18% and Digital Share Up 19% Year on
Year

- DAB Ownership Up 9% Year on Year to Over 1/3 of the Population

Radio listening in the UK has reached an all time high as 46.5
million adults, or 90.6% of the UK population (15+), tuned in to their
favourite radio station each week* in the first quarter of 2010, it was
revealed today, May 13, 2010, when UK radio audience data for Quarter 1, 2010
was released by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd). This figure is up
year on year by almost three quarters of a million listeners (cf. 45.8
million in Q1, 2009) and also up over 500,000 listeners quarter on quarter
(cf. 46 million in Q4, 2009): it is the highest weekly reach ever recorded
since new research methodology was introduced in January 1999.

Radio listening via digital platforms: Share of radio
listening via a digital platform has increased by 19% year on year to 24%
(cf. 20.1% in Q1, 2009). DAB radio continues to be the most popular device
when it comes to listening to digital radio, however listening via DTV
(digital television) and Internet have both increased substantially year on
year.

- DAB listening share is 15.1% (12.7% in Q1, 2009 - up 20%)

- DTV listening share is 4% (3.4% in Q1, 2009 - up 19%)

- Internet listening share is 2.9% (2.2% in Q1, 2009 - up 29%)

Digital listening: Listening to radio via a digital platform
in terms of weekly reach has also increased year on year by 15%, with 19.7
million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled set each week
(up from 17.2 million in Q1, 2009). This is also reflected in the digital
listening hours for Q1, 2010 which now total 243 million hours per week, up
18% from 206 million hours in Q1, 2009.

DAB ownership: RAJAR's latest research shows that DAB set
ownership has increased by 9% year on year, with over one third of the
population or 17.7 million adults (aged 15+) in Q1, 2010 now claiming to live
in a household which has a DAB receiver. (cf. 16.3 million in Q1, 2009).

Radio listening via mobile phone: Radio listening via mobile
phone remains steady with 12.6% of adults aged 15+ in Q1, 2010 claiming to
have listened to radio via their mobile phone. In the 15-24-year demographic
30.4% claim they have listened to the radio in this way; and 14% say they
listen at least once a week, while 2.6% say they listen every day. In the 25+
demographic 9.2% of adults now claim to listen to the radio via their mobile
phone. (Please note: In Q1, 2010 RAJAR introduced a number of changes to the
self-completion questionnaire which impacted on questions regarding mobile
phone listening: therefore caution should be used when comparing Q1, 2010
with similar data from previous quarters.)

Detailed data and individual radio station data, for both BBC
and Commercial Radio stations, is available on the RAJAR web site at
http://www.rajar.co.uk from 00.01hours, Thursday May 13 2010.

* This weekly reach figure is the number of people (adults
15+) in the UK who listened to a radio station for at least five minutes in
the course of an average week during the quarter.

Source: RAJAR

For further information please contact: Penelope James, Penelope James Public Relations, Tel: +44(0)1303-844555, Mobile: +44(0)7860-162-231, E-mail: penelope@penelopejamespr.com

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