Bauer celebrating biggest-ever radio audiences

Bauer Media Audio UK is reaching its biggest-ever audience, with a record 24m weekly listeners tuning into its portfolio of owned and partner stations (+6.9% YoY).

Bauer’s growth is fuelling both the commercial radio market which has a record of 39.7m people listening every week, and the total radio market which now reaches a record 50m people each week.

Ken Bruce:

“‘Well they say time flies when you’re having fun and that must be true because I can’t believe it’s been a year at Greatest Hits Radio already! And what a twelve months it has been – from launching my own radio station, Secret Sixties, to compering Greatest Hits Radio Live at the London Palladium, as well as seeing PopMaster become a TV series and heading to the Palace to pick up my MBE.

“It’s truly been incredible, but nothing beats the day job and the three hours I get to spend every morning with my listeners. So thank you all of you – old and new – who’ve spent time with me over the past year, it’s great to know all of you are enjoying the very best music from the 70s, 80s and 90s and the dulcet tones of my fellow broadcasters, including Simon Mayo and Jackie Brambles, as much as I am.”

Greatest Hits Radio – Ken Bruce

Harriet Scott and Ronan Keating – Magic Radio

Greatest Hits Radio continues its unstoppable rise as it climbs close to 8m listeners. And it’s a brilliant result from the Absolute Radio Network which celebrates record reach this quarter, while the Magic Radio Network has added nearly 400k listeners in the last year.

Standout performances this quarter, include Greatest Hits Radio celebrating new highs, with 7.7m weekly listeners (+50.3% YoY). Simon Mayo has the biggest commercial drivetime show and Rossie at Breakfast has a record 2.9m listeners (+39% YoY).

Ken Bruce’s show on Greatest Hits Radio as seen RAJAR figures for Q1 2024 of 3.8million – that’s up 73% YOY (from 2.2million).

The Hits Radio Network reaches 6.7m a week, with the national Hits Radio brand reaching 4.5m listeners. The Hits Radio Portfolio, which offers advertisers access to the combined Hits Radio and GHR audiences, has a record 13.2m listeners (+20.1% YoY), and 15m (+14% YoY) when partner stations are included.

Ben Cooper, Chief Content & Music Officer, Bauer Media Audio UK:

‘A year of Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio has changed the landscape of our industry, with huge gains in audiences for the station and Bauer as a whole. Listeners are loving our range of talented broadcasters across the portfolio with record results for Absolute Radio and Magic Radio Networks.’

Tyler West – Kiss

Sam Thompson – Hits Radio

The Absolute Radio Network reaches a record 5.5M listeners (+2.7% YoY) and the main station Absolute Radio is the UK’s biggest commercial digital station.

The Magic Radio Network has grown its audience to a record 4.4m listeners (+9.6% YoY), with main station Magic Radio reporting 3.1m listeners (+7.7% YoY), and it’s another record for Magic Soul with 512k listeners (+18.5% YoY)

The KISS Network reaches 4.1m listeners a week, while Kerrang! Radio’s listenership has grown by a third in the last year to 456k.

Once again Bauer celebrates 81% of listening via digital devices and is home to three of the top five digital commercial stations, #1 Absolute Radio, #2 KISSTORY, and #4 Absolute 80s. It’s also ahead of the market in terms of listening via connected devices, with Bauer reporting 30.8% of listening via smart speaker, web and app.

Simon Myciunka, CEO for Bauer Media Audio UK:

‘It’s great to see another record performance for Bauer Media Audio UK, reflecting the ambition and confidence of the business as it continues to evolve. We are committed to driving even further growth as evidenced by significant recent investment in Hits Radio; delivering even more value for our advertising partners.’

Fleur East – Hits Radio

Dave Berry – Absolute Radio