Commercial radio’s popularity continues to soar as the latest RAJAR figures for the second quarter of 2023 reveal its biggest ever audience of 39.2 million listeners, a record-breaking 8% increase on the same period last year.

Commercial radio’s share of listening has also shot up to an all-time high, from 49% to 54.5%.

These new figures show listening for all radio on smart speakers remains strong, accounting for 14.4%, up from 10.8% in Q2 2022. For commercial radio listening the share is even higher at 17.4% (up from 12.7% in Q2 2022).

For all radio combined, digital listening is 69%. Of this, DAB is 40.3% (down from 40.8% in Q2 2022), while overall online listening is 24.9% (up from 22.3% in Q2 2022).

Commercial radio now has 7.5 million listeners more than the BBC, up from 3.3m in Q2 2022, while the combined weekly audience for all BBC and commercial radio in the UK remains extremely strong at 49.5 million people, which is 88% of the adult population.

Radiocentre’s Client Director Lucy Barrett said: “These numbers show that commercial radio is giving audiences exactly what they want to hear. The surge in commercial radio listening is also really good news for advertisers. The growth in online listening once again reminds us just how important the support for radio in the Media Bill is for the future of our sector”.

More information about the power and influence of commercial radio can be found on the Radio Centre website.