Latest RAJARs

[french frank]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all of the Sound of Cinema season had finished before the end of September, so the Q3 RAJAR figures do include it.

Fieldwork for this third quarter is given as 24th June - 15th September (Wks 26-37). Didn't the Film Season start on the 16th? I'm also wondering whether the 'ratings hit' referred to on Feedback, meant that the whole of Radio 3's reach increased or whether it referred to specific BBC programmes, including the BBC Four series.

Next quarter will be 13 weeks (this one was twelve), so that will reduce the impact any temporary increase there might have been over the 3-week season.

Can confirm that Breakfast reach was down 20% year on year - by 132,000. At 533,000 that was the lowest reach since the shorter Breakfast programme began in 2011. Previous lowest, if my records do not lie, was the second quarter of 2012 at 576,000.

Weather: well, it was a hot summer, but by and large that's why measurements are taken year-on-year as well as quarter-on quarter. I don't think weather would have affected the Breakfast figures enormously, since it's over by 9am. And on the whole people still have to go to work ...

[DracoM]

No, I was rather meaning progs later in the day, not Breakfast..........

[french frank]

No, I was rather meaning progs later in the day, not Breakfast..........

That we shall never know since the BBC will not disclose other programme figures - I'm surprised it releases the Breakfast ones, other than because every other broadcaster does ...

Station reach down 6% y-o-y, , listening hours down 9%. These could have been affected by the weather but one needs to compare with other stations. No particular reason why Radio 3 figures should be down if no one else's are (only about 5% of the R3 audience listens to no other radio station and thy would hardly make a difference even if the R3 audience was 'different')).

Add: Radio 2 reach UP by 1 million y-o-y. Listening hours slightly down.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well my reach and hours are certainly down, and it is reassuring to see that many agree with me ....

[Russ]

ff - thanks for clarifying the actual weeks of Q3 coverage. If I remember correctly, the cinema season 'ratings hit' Feedback response from R3 was in respect of R3, so we'll expect a magisterial jump in the Q4 figures

Weather? Yes, I do think that plays a part. R3's strongest quarters tend to be Q4 and Q1, although the pattern is not absolute over the past years - scroll back a page or so to see johnb's graphs. The counteracting 'weather-independent' trend is the growth of mobile consumption, i.e. less dependent on a fixed indoor device. RAJAR doesn't reveal how many R3 listeners have their lawn mowers equipped with streaming devices.

Russ

[french frank]

If I remember correctly, the cinema season 'ratings hit' Feedback response from R3 was in respect of R3, so we'll expect a magisterial jump in the Q4 figures

Yes, on, um, rereading the transcript, I see that was the comment of Radio 3 and was followed by their explanation - which illustrated perfectly the way BBC managers can 'spin' more or less anything. [I learned a new phrase from that recent CMS committee webcast - 'subject to management capture': I shall use it a great deal to explain how the Trust, the press, the public, can be hoodwinked by spin].

The 'magisterial leap' may well occur if:

a) the film music season did attract extra listeners who listened for extended periods during the three weeks and

b) they didn't instantly depart once the film music was over.

[french frank]

Looking in a bit more detail, most of the BBC breakfast shows seem to have dropped a bit year-on-year - except Radio 2. But Radio 3 does outstrip even Radio 1's big slump (17%). Classic FM fell by 5%, Radio 4 by 2% and Radio 5 Live fell by 12% (not sure if the Ashes coverage on Sports Extra affected that - I'm a bit hazy about where they were held and at what time of day they would have been going out ... .

One also has to set the Radio 3 breakfast figure against the vigorous attempts to attract new listeners to the programme over the past couple of years.

[DracoM]

So are you suggesting that Breakfast is slowly but inexorably failing to attract enough listeners to compensate for those opting out of it?

[teamsaint]

Looking in a bit more detail, most of the BBC breakfast shows seem to have dropped a bit year-on-year - except Radio 2. But Radio 3 does outstrip even Radio 1's big slump (17%). Classic FM fell by 5%, Radio 4 by 2% and Radio 5 Live fell by 12% (not sure if the Ashes coverage on Sports Extra affected that - I'm a bit hazy about where they were held and at what time of day they would have been going out ... .

One also has to set the Radio 3 breakfast figure against the vigorous attempts to attract new listeners to the programme over the past couple of years.

I wonder where all those people are going for their morning fix?

[french frank]

So are you suggesting that Breakfast is slowly but inexorably failing to attract enough listeners to compensate for those opting out of it?

I suggest nothing - next quarter the figure may top 1 million .... The trend is what matters and Breakfast tends to fluctuate because the numbers in the sample are so small (arguably none of them are very accurate - and I say that even though I consider the RAJAR methodology to be sound. But sounder for services with large audiences than those with small ones). Another problem is that if the time slots are altered slightly, and the length of the programme, we don't have enough data to indicate a 'trend'.

But, such as it is, it does seem to be down HTH.

[Frances_iom]

I wonder where all those people are going for their morning fix?

if like me - silence - broken on Island by the noise of the d*mn gulls - in UK regular police sirens - leave the adverts, tweets and usuall inanities to others and remember how R3 was before RW got his hands on it.

[french frank]

I wonder where all those people are going for their morning fix?

Chris Evans on Radio 2 seems a bigger draw, slightly, for 'the broader audience', than Petroc and Sara.

[teamsaint]

Chris Evans on Radio 2 seems a bigger draw, slightly, for 'the broader audience', than Petroc and Sara.

well at least he (presumably) doesn't do BC's of AOR !! Though why anybody would actually choose to listen to Evans is one of the mysteries of the universe.

My point was really that the total morning audience looks to be shrinking.
Are they all going to the endless "local" commercial stations? or R2? or a combination?
I wonder if Tablet use is hitting morning audience..catch up TV, that sort of thing?

[french frank]

My point was really that the total morning audience looks to be shrinking.
Are they all going to the endless "local" commercial stations? or R2? or a combination?

I draw your attention to the reply of Frances_iom above. Why does one need to go anywhere? I don't listen to breakfast radio now - I just go about my chores humming softly Radio is not an essential of life. You listen if it's providing what you want to hear. I 'graduated' from the Today programme some years ago, so after R3 there is nowhere to go.

[Thropplenoggin]

I draw your attention to the reply of Frances_iom above. Why does one need to go anywhere? I don't listen to breakfast radio now - I just go about my chores humming softly Radio is not an essential of life. You listen if it's providing what you want to hear. I 'graduated' from the Today programme some years ago, so after R3 there is nowhere to go.

Bien dit! So did I, FF - who needs to be depressed first thing in the morning, or the sound of John Humphrey's barking up the wrong tree. Like you, R3 is no longer an option. I tend to go for podcasts via my Wifi radio: either a lunchtime concert or TTN.