Nostalgic hits help Absolute Radio to top 4m listeners for the first time

Absolute 80s, featuring bands such as Duran Duran and Human League, is most popular commercial digital-only UK radio service



Duran Duran, Phil Collins and the Human League helped Absolute Radio top 4 million listeners across its seven-strong network for the first time, powered by a strong performance by nostalgia station Absolute 80s.

The five-year-old station is now the most popular commercial digital-only radio service in the UK, with 1.43 million listeners each week on average between 23 June and 14 September, a year on year increase of 18%, according to the latest official Rajar figures published on Thursday.

Absolute 80s appears on course to eclipse the main Absolute Radio station, which broadcasts on FM in London and AM nationwide, as well as digital, which has been in long-term decline and now has a total of 1.87 million listeners.

The station’s most played tracks over the last 30 days, according to comparemyradio.com, included Billy Ocean’s When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going, Live It Up by Mental As Anything and Calling All the Heroes by It Bites.

Absolute Radio was bought by Kiss and Magic owner Bauer Media last year after its ill-fated ownership by the Times of India Group.

It now spans seven stations, including services dedicated to each of the last five decades, with a total weekly reach of just over 4 million, up 18% on the same period in 2013.

Absolute 80s is the most successful, with Absolute Radio 70s managing a weekly reach of just 167,000 listeners, and Absolute Radio 60s not much further ahead with 208,000.

Absolute Radio 90s is its second best performer, with 665,000 listeners a week. Its (almost) contemporary spin-off, Absolute Radio 00s, had 165,000 listeners.

Absolute’s breakfast host Christian O’Connell now appears on all seven of the broadcaster’s stations, with different music played in between as part of an initiative dubbed “Project Banana” launched earlier this year.

Absolute 80s breakfast show had 462,000 listeners, almost as many as the main Absolute station had in the competitive London market (580,000).

Capital stays ahead

In the battle for London listeners Global Radio’s Capital held on to the number one spot among commercial stations, but only just. Capital had an average weekly audience of just under 2 million despite losing nearly 8% of its audience year on year.

Capital was ahead of Bauer’s Magic, breathing down its neck on 1.96 million, and Magic’s sister station Kiss, with 1.8 million.

Global’s Heart is some way further back on 1.45 million, down nearly 17% year on year.
Global Radio’s LBC, the former London talk station that has gone nationwide and is home to phone-in shows with Nick Clegg, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Harriet Harman, had 1.28 million listeners, marginally up on the previous quarter but down 3.8% year on year.

Among the other national commercial networks, Global’s Classic FM had 5.2 million listeners, down 2.3% year on year, and UTV’s TalkSport 3.1 million, up 5.3% on the same period in 2013.

Digital’s total share of radio listening grew to 37.8%, with the lion’s share (24.5%) via digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio.