Figures released by RAJAR today reveal that a record 38.7m people are now tuning in to commercial radio every week, 1.5m more than the same period last year. Commercial radio’s share of listening has also grown to a new record of 51.4%, up from 48.4% in Q1 2022.

The official audience data for the first quarter of 2023 also reports that the share of commercial radio listening time taking place on online platforms is now 28%, which for the first time ever is higher than commercial radio’s analogue listening (AM/FM) at 27%.

For radio as a whole, total combined digital listening is 68%, of which 39.8% is DAB and 24.4% online. The majority of this online listening now takes place on smart speakers, accounting for 14% of listening time (up from 10% in Q1 2022).

Additionally, commercial radio now has 6 million listeners more than the BBC, up from 3.4m in Q1 2022, while the combined weekly audience for all BBC and commercial radio in the UK remains extremely strong at 49.4 million people, which is 88% of the adult population.

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