London, Thursday 26 October 2023: The latest round of RAJAR results - for the survey period ending 17 September 2023 - sees News Broadcasting’s portfolio of radio stations, including national brands talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, TalkRadio and Times Radio, as well as U105 in Northern Ireland, deliver best-ever listening hours - up 17.3% year-on-year to 45.2m, while weekly reach was up 9.3% year-on-year to 6.2m listeners.

News UK EVP, President of Broadcasting, Scott Taunton, said: “News Broadcasting has delivered its best-ever listening hours in the latest set of Rajar results.

“And with records broken across our brands, these latest results are a testament to the amazing talent - on and off air - who are creating compelling radio for millions of loyal listeners week in, week out. talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, TalkRadio and Times Radio, as well as U105 in Northern Ireland, are thriving - as the year-on-year analysis underlines.”

The talkSPORT network delivered a reach of 3.2m listeners, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year, listening for 21.3m hours - up 15.3% year-on-year. Coverage of the start of the Premier League, as well as the Women’s World Cup and key boxing fixtures, ensured a great result. This quarter has also delivered a record result for White and Jordan and is the first time all weekday daytime shows have achieved over one million listeners since 2018.

Following the Premier League kick off, talkSPORT continues to be the destination for live football fans. The station is home to the very best in sports broadcasters, including Alan Brazil, Ally McCoist, Jim White, Simon Jordan, Darren Bent, Hawksbee & Jacobs, Adrian Durham, Andy Goldstein, Hugh Woozencroft and Natalie Sawyer, alongside the very best pundits, including Stuart Pearce, Lianne Sanderson and Gabby Agbonlahor.

The period saw the network cover a raft of unmissable sporting highlights, including the opening Premier League games (including Burnley vs Man City and Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest FC). Live coverage also included the Women’s World Cup Final. In addition, talkSPORT covered key boxing fixtures, including Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois and Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr. The station also delivered exclusive interviews with key industry players, including White and Jordan’s interviews with Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou and boxing promoter Eddie Hearn. talkSPORT continues to be the home of live boxing, recently showcasing the KSI vs Tommy Fury and Joe Joyce vs Zhilei Zhang fights. 

Coming up, the team will cover the Manchester City vs Liverpool match in November, which is exclusive to national radio with talkSPORT, as well as other key Premier League games. Throughout the months of October, November and December, there will also be more than 100 live football commentaries across the talkSPORT network, as well as all 10 Boxing Day Premier League fixtures – exclusive to national radio with talkSPORT. Plus, there will be coverage of live EFL, Champions League, Europa League, WSL, Euro 2024 Qualifiers, Women’s Nations League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup games, and the PDC World Darts Championships and Euro 2024 draw.

The Virgin Radio UK network, which includes Virgin Radio UK, Virgin Radio Anthems UK, Virgin Radio Chilled UK and Virgin Radio 80s Plus UK, reached 1.98m listeners, up 4% year-on-year, with a record  12.4m weekly listening hours, up 17.9% year-on-year. This quarter, The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch and The Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose have hosted incredible guests including Steven Bartlett, David Walliams, Matt Smith, Brian May and Jason Donovan, as well as musical guests playing live including Texas, Scouting For Girls and Busted. 

Virgin Radio Pride came back for its third successive year, with 56 documentaries and over 100 guests furthering the LGBTQ+ conversation. 

Virgin Radio Anthems continues to play the biggest classic tracks from the 60s and 70s, with massive hits from the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Queen and David Bowie. The station reaches 282k listeners, listening for 1.1m hours weekly.

Meanwhile, Virgin Radio Chilled is up 27.2% in reach to 345k listeners, tuning in for 1.1m hours weekly, up 63.3% year-on-year, the most listening hours in the station’s history. It has delivered listeners a relaxing contemporary mix to kick back to, featuring new music from Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and George Ezra.

Finally, Virgin Radio 80s Plus now reaches 148k listeners, listening for 394k hours weekly. It continues to share the best pop from the 1980s, plus a sprinkle of late 70s and early 90s. Guest presenters on the station have included Matt Goss from Bros!, Shirley Kemp and Hue & Cry. Guests on the feature My 80s Playlist have included Martin Fry from ABC and Fairground Attractions' Eddi Reader.

News and opinion station TalkRadio delivers another strong performance, with weekly reach of 690k up 8.3% year-on-year, while weekly listening hours stand at 5.1m, up 17.6% year-on-year. 

The weekday lineup includes Mike Graham, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Vanessa Feltz, Rosanna Lockwood and the award-winning Piers Morgan Uncensored. A major new breakfast show, Talk Today, launched on October 2nd, hosted by Jeremy Kyle and Nicola Thorp.

TalkRadio continues to deliver breaking news, straight-talking opinions and the best guests, nationally and internationally, while Piers Morgan continues to deliver the world’s best high-profile interviews, on radio, on TV and across social channels. Last week was a record-breaking one for Piers Morgan Uncensored on YouTube. The show is now the biggest current affairs show globally on the social platform, and delivered  50m+ views, 250k+ new subscribers and 7m+ hours of watch-time last week alone. 

The Talk schedule continues to find news audiences, simulcasting on Sky Channel 522, Virgin Media Channel 606, Freeview Channel 237 and Freesat Channel 217, as well as a roster of local stations: TalkBirmingham, TalkBristol, TalkCardiff, TalkLeeds, TalkLiverpool, TalkNorthWales, TalkTeesside and TalkTyne&Wear through a partnership with Local TV. TalkTV is also available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV Plus, YouTube, the Talk.TV website and TalkTV iOS and Android apps. 

Times Radio posts a reach of 498k with weekly listening hours up 21.9% year-on-year to 3.9m weekly. Times Radio has one of the highest ABC1 profiles in commercial radio. The station set a new record for the length of time that people tune in, with listeners staying with Times Radio for an average 7.8 hours a week.

Times Radio is now well established as a trusted station for news and politics both nationally and internationally. In the period, our daytime line-up, including Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell at Breakfast, Matt Chorley, Mariella Frostrup, Jane Garvey and Fi Glover, John Pienaar and Rosie Wright, guided listeners through the party conference season, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the emerging crisis in the Middle East.

Times Radio's YouTube channel continues to grow, with subscribers passing 575k. In the coming months Times Radio will continue to provide news, analysis and expert opinion on the Israel/Hamas conflict and will be the go-to destination for those who want to be in the know as the country moves towards a General Election next year. 

Just ahead of its 18th birthday, U105 across Northern Ireland marked the occasion by recording the station's highest-ever reach at 282k, up 34.3% year-on-year. Weekly hours were also up, by 24.0% year-on-year to 2.5m. In its core greater Belfast area, the station also recorded the highest average listening hours of any Northern Irish station, at  9.6 hours a week.

The survey period saw coverage of the visit of US President Joe Biden,  commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and the station’s biggest ever promotion, sending listeners to New York to see Ed Sheeran and Las Vegas to see U2 at the amazing new Sphere venue.

ENDS

* All data is based on six monthly weightings.