News Broadcasting remains the most digital broadcasting group in the UK, reporting highest-ever listening hours - up 16% year-on-year to 44.1m, while weekly reach was up 9.1% year-on-year at 6.4m listeners

Thursday 03 August 2023: The latest round of RAJAR results - for the survey period ending 25 June 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 highest-ever listening hours - up 16% year-on-year to 44.1m, while weekly reach was up 9.1% year-on-year at 6.4m listeners.

News UK EVP, President of Broadcasting, Scott Taunton, said: “Another record for News Broadcasting - with the highest-ever listening hours in our history. Our world-class broadcasting talent is delivering across our national roster of stations, including talkSPORT, Virgin Radio, TalkRadio and Times Radio, as well as U105 in Northern Ireland.

“News Broadcasting remains the UK’s most digital broadcasting group, with 84% of listening hours from digital and 35% from streaming, positioning us brilliantly for continued digital audience and revenue growth.”

The talkSPORT network - including talkSPORT 2 - reached 3.4m listeners, an increase of 15.8% year-on-year, listening for 21.8m hours - up 30% year-on-year. The season climax and Man City's treble powered the network to highest-ever listening hours. These figures are a Q2 record for talkSPORT network’s reach, and the best-ever reach and hours for this quarter outside of men’s tournament summers. 

talkSPORT Breakfast has recorded its best reach figures in this quarter since 2019 (1.3m), while White and Jordan have hit a record at 1.1m weekly reach while Kick Off (Mon-Fri, 1900-2200) delivers its best audience since 2013.

talkSPORT remains the destination for live football fans, covering almost 500 live football matches this upcoming season. The network 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 pundits including Stuart Pearce, Lianne Sanderson and Gabby Agbonlahor.

This quarter saw the network cover incredible sporting highlights including Man City winning a historic treble in the Champions League Final and West Ham delivering European glory in the Conference League. They also delivered exclusive interviews with celebrities such as Russell Brand and Noel Gallagher, who didn’t fail to bring their explosive passion to the conversations.

Coming up, the team will provide must listen coverage of the upcoming Premier League season which kicks off next Friday (11th Aug) with exclusive commentary of Burnley against Manchester City exclusively on talkSPORT; the end of the Women’s World Cup; the close of the transfer window plus the highly-anticipated heavyweight clash as Anthony Joshua takes on Dillian Whyte.

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 2.0m listeners, up 2% year-on-year, with 11.6m weekly listening hours, up 6% 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 Dolly Parton, Louise Redknapp, Rob Brydon, Hayley Atwell, Rod Stewart, Catherine Tate, Christian Horner and Minnie Driver, as well as musical guests playing live including McFly and Tom Grennan. And fresh from a sweep of nominations and wins at the New York Awards and the Audio and Radio Industry Awards, Virgin Radio Pride also returned to the airwaves for its third season on 1st June.

Virgin Radio Anthems has refocused to feature 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 is up 18% in reach and 5% for weekly listening hours year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Virgin Radio Chilled is up 39% in reach and 119% in listening hours year-on-year; the most hours for the station in its history. It has delivered listenersa relaxing contemporary mix to kick back to, featuring new music from Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and George Ezra.

Finally, Virgin Radio 80s Plus is up 152% in listening hours year-on-year, the station’s highest hours. It has been sharing the best pop from the 1980s, plus a sprinkle of late 70s and early 90s. Guest presenters on the station have included Andrew Ridgeley from Wham!, Samantha Fox and Carol Decker from T’Pau. Guests on the feature My 80s Playlist have included Nathan Moore from Brother Beyond and Donny Osmond.

News and opinion station TalkRadio delivers another strong performance, with weekly reach of 727k up 6% year-on-year, while weekly listening hours stood at 4.6m. Year-on-year TalkRadio continues to grow its audience alongside audience growth across TalkTV’s platforms.

The weekday lineup includes Julia Hartley-Brewer, Mike Graham, Ian Collins, Vanessa Feltz, Jeremy Kyle, Piers Morgan Uncensored, panel show The Talk and First Edition.

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, driving over 1.9m YouTube subscribers.

The continued growth in radio listeners comes as the Talk schedule finds news audiences, simulcasting on Sky Channel 522, 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. January also saw Talk become the exclusive provider of national programming across Local TV’s network of channels.

Times Radio posts a reach of 523k with weekly listening hours up 12.9% quarter-on-quarter and 25.1% 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 7.5 hours a week.

It's clear 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 Coronation of King Charles III, the local elections in England and Northern Ireland, Boris Johnson's resignation as an MP and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Times Radio's YouTube channel continues to grow, with subscribers passing 460k. In the coming months Times Radio welcomes Kate McCann as its new Political Editor, who will hit the ground running in time for the Party Conference season and the prospect of a General Election next year.

U105 recorded its highest-ever reach at 261,000, up 21% on the same period last year. The Belfast-based station also saw hours increase to over the magic two million hours figure, at 2.2m per week.

The period reported includes U105's coverage of the historic 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement plus the visit of US President Joe Biden. It also includes the station's most recent Concert of a Lifetime promotion when they sent a listener to New York to see Ed Sheeran.

* All data is based on six monthly weightings.