News Broadcasting reports 5.7m listeners tuning in for 38.5m hours weekly -  up 2.8% in reach and 2.4% in hours year-on-year*

The latest round of RAJAR results - for the survey period ending 18th September 2022 - sees News UK’s portfolio of radio stations, including national brands talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, TalkRadio and Times Radio, as well as U105 in Northern Ireland, report 5.7m listeners tuning in for 38.5m hours weekly. 

News UK EVP, President of Broadcasting, Scott Taunton said: “News Broadcasting continues to drive year-on-year growth across its roster of radio brands, reporting 5.7m listeners, up 2.8% on the year; while listening hours are up 2.4% at 38.5m hours. 

“talkSPORT remains the destination for fans, with wall-to-wall coverage of the beautiful game and an exceptional winter season of live coverage ahead, including the FIFA World Cup. The talkSPORT network will broadcast over 450 live games this season, more live football than anywhere else on radio. And on Virgin Radio UK, Chris Evans at Breakfast and Graham Norton at the Weekend continue to serve up the best guests, while the Virgin Radio network continues to deliver the best playlist of non-stop great music - including new station launch Virgin Radio 80s Plus.

“TalkRadio remains the home of breaking news and straight-talking opinion, delivering year-on-year growth in reach and hours. Bolstered by new primetime programming including Vanessa Feltz, Jeremy Kyle, Piers Morgan Uncensored, The Talk featuring Sharon Osbourne, and First Edition with Tom Newton Dunn, TalkRadio has more ways to reach its audience across radio, TV, social and streaming platforms than ever before. Meanwhile, Times Radio, with only its fifth RAJAR report, continues to attract the highest proportion of ABC1 listeners of any speech network, tuning in to authoritative news and analysis from The Times brand.”

The talkSPORT network - including talkSPORT2 - reached 2.9m listeners, listening for 18.4m hours a week - up 10% quarter-on-quarter. The reporting period saw the network cover some unforgettable sporting moments: from the England Women’s team bringing it home during the UEFA Women’s Euros in July to exclusive commentary rights to the iconic Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk fight. 

Legendary former player and manager Graeme Souness joined the talkSPORT line-up in August, sharing fantastic insight into key season moments including transfer deadline day. And the network’s new Premier League rights package sees an additional Monday GameNight fixture in a schedule with more matches, fights and shows than ever before. 

The long awaited third fight between Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora takes place this December, and talkSPORT will broadcast the fight exclusively live and free to air. Plus the station crosses to Qatar in November for live commentary on every game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup including England and Wales matches.

The Virgin Radio UK network, which includes Virgin Radio UK, Virgin Radio Anthems UK, Virgin Radio Chilled UK and Virgin Radio 80s Plus UK, has 1.9m listeners tuning in for 10.5m listening hours across the quarter. Virgin Radio 80s Plus launched on 1st September as the perfect accompaniment to the Virgin Radio network. 

Chris Evans and Graham Norton have both returned from their respective summer holidays, and are back on the radio entertaining our audiences. The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky and The Graham Norton Show with Waitrose continue to attract incredible guests from the entertainment world including J.K. Rowling, Nish Kumar, Jamie Redknapp, Brian Cox, Mo Gilligan, AJ Odudu, James Acaster, Simon Pegg, Mel C, Alessio Russo, Denise Van Outen, Alan Carr, Jennifer Saunders, Asim Chaudhry, The Duchess of York and David Harbour. 

Looking ahead, presenter Jayne Middlemiss joins the Virgin Radio family this month, starting her new lunchtime show 1-4pm on Virgin Radio UK, and is set to be popular with audiences after stints in a raft of guest slots in recent months. This November will also see a brilliant new TV ad launch with Chris and Graham, highlighting the station's iconic entertainment factor.

News and opinion station TalkRadio delivers another superlative reach result, up 42% year-on-year to 637k listeners, listening for 4.4m hours each week, up 26% year-on-year. The continued growth in radio listeners comes as the schedule finds news audiences, simulcasting with TalkTV, available on Sky Channel 526, Sky Glass Channel 508, Virgin Media Channel 606, Freeview Channel 237 and Freesat Channel 217 as well as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV Plus, YouTube, the Talk.TV website and TalkTV iOS and Android apps.

The weekday lineup includes Julia Hartley-Brewer, Mike Graham, Ian Collins, Vanessa Feltz, Jeremy Kyle, Piers Morgan Uncensored, The Talk featuring Sharon Osbourne and First Edition with Tom Newton Dunn. TalkRadio continues to deliver breaking news, straight talking opinions and the best guests, nationally and internationally. Piers Morgan’s recent world-exclusive interview with Kanye West made headlines around the globe. 

Times Radio, delivering its fifth RAJAR result, reported a reach of 542k and weekly listening hours of 3.2m. The ABC1 profile is 77% and the AB profile is 44% - cementing the station as the destination for hard-to-reach quality news audiences.

Internal data shows that, amidst one of the most dramatic periods in recent history, more listeners than ever are tuning to Times Radio for live news coverage and quality analysis. Last week, the station had a record week, posting its highest-ever reach and hours, as measured through connected listening. 

Times Radio’s roster of broadcasters includes the award-winning Aasmah Mir, Stig Abell, Matt Chorley, Mariella Frostrup, John Pienaar, Kait Borsay, Carole Walker, Ayesha Hazarika, Ruth Davidson and Cathy Newman. Latest high profile signings Jane Garvey and Fi Glover began broadcasting on weekday afternoons from 10th October. 

Local radio station U105 increased its total hours, average hours and market share quarter on quarter, both in the core Greater Belfast area and right across Northern Ireland. The station now has 210k listeners each week across Northern Ireland, tuning in for more than 2m hours. The station's average hours of 10.3 per week in greater Belfast is once again the highest of any local station.

These figures reflect the period around the Stormont election in May, the historic involvement of Northern Ireland's women in Euro 22 plus a host of partnerships U105 was involved in, including Mela, Northern Ireland's largest multi-cultural celebration of music, dance, arts and culture.

 ENDS

* Last quarter saw Times Radio and Virgin Radio UK move to half yearly weighting, comparisons with previous data use the same weighting. Year-on-Year compares against Q3 2021 reweighted to half yearly weighting