'Strong debut'

STV Radio first audience figures beat expectations

Amy Macdonald: guest

STV Radio, Scotland’s newest and only national commercial radio station, has recorded a strong debut in its first official audience figures since its launch in January.

The station is attracting 139,000 weekly listeners, making it one of the top ten most-listened-to commercial radio stations in Scotland.

According to the latest RAJAR results for the station’s first six months on air, listeners are spending over 9.3 hours with the station each week. The target age group – over 35s – accounts for a significant proportion of listeners (84%).

The figures represent 1.7% of the total radio listing audience, compared with 5.7% for BBC Scotland.

STV Radio said it has welcomed guests such as musicians KT Tunstall, Amy Macdonald, Marti Pellow, Susan Boyle and Hue and Cry, as well as actors Richard Gadd and Peter Capaldi.

Saturday afternoon programme, The STV Radio Football Show, featuring Ewen Cameron and STV sport presenter Ronnie Charters, has launched of a spin-off podcast, a new peak-time show on STV, STV Player and YouTube, as well as a live sell-out show from Glasgow’s Òran Mór.

The station has attracted a range of advertisers, many of whom already advertise with broadcaster and streamer STV, and others that are new to the company.

Graham Bryce: building loyalty

Social media channels are attracting a growing audience of engaged users, with STV Radio channels (Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube) delivering almost 20m video views and 1.5m engagements since launch; and The STV Radio Football Podcast amassing 21m video views across socials (X, Instagram and TikTok).

Graham Bryce, managing of STV Radio said: “As a new entrant, STV Radio has quickly established itself in the market and these first official figures are well ahead of our expectations.

“In just six months, we’ve built a meaningful audience by offering something genuinely different for Scottish listeners – a strong mix of great music, personality-led programming, entertainment, sport and a distinctly Scottish perspective.

“Audiences aren’t just sampling STV Radio – they’re spending time with us and making us part of their daily routine, spending over 9 hours per week. That tells us we’re not only attracting audiences; we’re building loyalty.”

Times Radio said it has grown its audience to a record level, boosted by the addition of breakfast presenters Kate McCann and Rosie Wright.

The station, which is owned by News UK, the publisher of The Times, reached 660,000 weekly listeners in the second quarter of the year, up 7% from the 616,000 listeners who tuned in for the same period last year.

The breakfast show has grown its audience by almost a third compared with last year.

BBC Radio 4’s Today reached 5.8 million weekly listeners in the three months to the end of June, while average listening hours at the station increased to more than 12 hours a week. Radio 2’s breakfast show stayed stable, despite the departure of Scott Mills, with 6.4 million weekly listeners.

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