RAJAR Q1 2013: P... P... P... Problems?

It's been a busy day for me, finding time in amongst appointments, shopping and other day to day activities to look over the RAJARs.  But this was one of the things that I was most interested in.  What would I make of the latest results.

BBC Radio Cornwall saw an increase in listenership, on both quarter by quarter and year to year.  Up 6,000 on the year, and up 23,000 on the previous quarter to 175,000.  Share also rose on the quarter, up from 16.1% to 17.5%, and even though in terms of total hours, there's over 100,000 more hours recorded this year than last, somehow, that 17.5% share this year is down from last year's 18.7%.  Can't figure that one out.

BBC Radio Devon also saw an increase in listenership, up 16,000 on the year and up 20,000 on the quarter to 245,000.  On share, we have a strange quirk, being up from 10.0% share on the last quarter, and down from 13.6% last year, to right between the two, 11.8%.  Rarely do stats come out that well.

Heart South West, in the first quarter where we can make a legitimate quarter to quarter comparison, is up from 394,000 to 408,000, an increase of 14,000.  Share however was unchanged at 9.8%.  This is in stark contrast though to the network figures, which are down.  Heart have lost 255,000 listeners in the last year, and 132,000 listeners in the last quarter.  Their share has dropped from 5.0% to 4.8%, and total hours in the last year has gone down by over 2 million, and in the last quarter by over a million.  It seems that Heart South West is gaining listeners seemingly because it is not local radio, but a quirky hybrid of local and national that is relatively new to some parts of the region, and is piqueing the interest of listeners.  But Heart as a network is not doing so well.

This is also the first quarter where we can make a legitimate quarter to quarter comparison for Radio Plymouth.  On reach, they have gained an extra 1,000 listeners, going from 37,000 to 38,000.  However, the change of breakfast presenter seems to have hurt the station quite significantly.  Total hours dropped from 271,000 to 219,000.  Share was also down, from 4.9% to 3.9%.  How did that drop occur.  Average hours per listener went down, quite sharply, from 7.3 hours per week, to 5.8 hours.  It seems that work is needed to get people listening longer, because that kind of drop in just 3 months, really hurts a station like Radio Plymouth.

Radio Exe by contrast has had a more positive quarter.  Like Radio Plymouth, their reach went up by 1,000.  But they also saw an increase in Total Hours, from 176,000 to 196,000; and an increase in share, from 4.0% to 4.6%.  They too made changes early in the year, and these changes seem to be paying off, at the moment.

Palm FM can't seem to win at the moment.  They've lost 2,000 listeners in the last quarter, down to 35,000; and their share is down from 4.7% to 4.4%.  They've been in flux for most of the past two quarters though, and it's only recently that things have settled down again, with a new breakfast show host.  Hopefully, by Q3, we will see whether these changes are paying off for Palm.

Gold Devon saw a positive quarter, going up from 36,000 listeners to 42,000, and increasing their share from 1.3& to 1.6%.  However, they have been stuck in a small range, and need to break out of it.

Pirate FM had a dire quarter in Q4 2012, and Q1 2013 doesn't look any better.  They've lost 1,000 listeners, down to 152,000.  Total Hours down from 1,418,000 to 1,371,000 and share down from 11.8% to 11.2%.  The problem is quite easily indentifiable.  Outside of breakfast, content has been cut right back to the bare bones, and they are doing mostly music and imaging.  In other words, they are trying to out-Heart Heart South West.  You don't win a battle by trying to sound exactly like your competition.  You win a battle by being different from yoour competition, different enough to highlight their weakness and portray them as your strengths. 

Overall, it seems that the three Ps, Pirate, Palm and Plymouth, need to do a lot of work to recover lost ground.  The BBC and Heart are gaining at their expense.