Rajar — the United Kingdom’s official radio measurement body — has released its Q1 2026 listening figures, prompting broadcasters across the U.K. radio sector to highlight audience gains, market leadership claims and growth in specific demographics or dayparts. Beneath those competing narratives, the topline data points to a market that remains broadly stable in reach while continuing its long-term shift toward digital listening.
Among the major claims emerging from the release, Global said it remained the U.K.’s largest commercial radio group by share and hours. At the same time, Bauer Media Audio highlighted performance across several of its national brands and digital stations. The BBC, meanwhile, pointed to growth in listening share across its radio portfolio. Rajar’s published figures show BBC radio reaching 31.3 million listeners with a 43.4% share of listening, while commercial radio retained the larger overall audience reach at 39.2 million listeners and a 54.3% share. The figures suggest the BBC strengthened its share position in Q1, although commercial radio continued to dominate in total audience scale.
According to Rajar, 50.6 million adults — 87% of the U.K. population aged 15 and over — tuned into radio each week during the first quarter of 2026. The figures suggest radio’s overall reach remains resilient despite continued competition from streaming, podcasts and on-demand audio. Rajar’s own trendline shows weekly reach remaining within a relatively narrow range over the past three years, fluctuating between 85.8% and 88.6% of the population.
The more strategically significant movement continues to be digital consumption. Rajar says 45 million adults now listen to radio each week via digitally enabled platforms, including DAB, smart speakers, websites/apps and DTV. Digital listening accounted for 76% of all listening hours in Q1 2026, while 77% of the population tuned into digital radio each week.
The importance of the connected car
DAB remained the dominant digital platform, accounting for 43% of all radio listening, while smart speakers continued to represent a substantial share at 19%. Websites and apps accounted for 12%, while AM/FM represented 24% of listening.
Rajar’s digital listening hours breakdown also highlights how listening habits are fragmenting across connected platforms. Of the 765 million weekly digital listening hours reported, 434 million came via DAB, 190 million via smart speakers, and 116 million via websites and apps.
The data may also reinforce the growing strategic importance of the connected car. Rajar reported that 58% of adults listen to radio weekly in vehicles, while 26% of all listening share takes place in-car. That comes amid increasing industry focus on dashboard prominence and radio discoverability in software-driven vehicle environments.
Smart speaker listening also remained significant, with 65% of smart speaker owners using their devices for radio listening, and 21% listening to radio every day.
While individual broadcasters have emphasized different aspects of the data in their own releases, the broader Rajar figures point less toward dramatic market shifts and more toward continued platform evolution, particularly the steady migration toward digitally enabled listening and connected audio environments.
You can view or download the full breakdown of Rajar’s Q1 2026 listener figures here.
If you want to compare the figures with Q4 2025, you can find those figures here.
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