RAJAR

What is RAJAR?• RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research. • It is the official body in charge of measuring radio

audiences in the UK.• It is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre

on behalf of the commercial sector.

• There are currently approximately 310 individual stations on the survey with the results being published every quarter.

About RAJAR• RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research. It is the official body

in charge of measuring radio audiences in the United Kingdom.• RAJAR was set up by the BBC and the RadioCentre in 1992 to

measure their audiences using the same system. It replaced the BBC’s Daily Survey and Commercial Radio’s JICRAR survey.

• RAJAR is a non profit making organisation.• RAJAR data is the industry wide currency for planning, buying and

selling advertising on Commercial Radio.• RAJAR is owned and controlled by the industry it serves.• RAJAR has a continuous programme of innovation and development

to meet its market’s needs.• The current annual sample is approximately 110,000 respondents

aged 15+. Participants are asked to keep a diary recording their radio listening for a week.

History of RAJAR: 1st Contract 1992-98• The first RAJAR contract commenced with the measurement of radio

audiences for Quarter 4 of 1992 and was in operation up to and including Quarter 4 of 1998. From Quarter 1 of 1999, the origins of the current survey were put in place.

• The research carried out between 1992-1998 was based on a seven day self-completion diary, personally placed and collected by Interviewers. The respondents completed their diaries using a list of relevant stations which were pre-printed across each diary page. Diary's were given to members of selected households.

• The sampling and fieldwork plan for 1992-1998, allowed the publication of results for BBC and Commercial Radio national and regional services (with adult populations of 4 million or more on a quarterly basis.. Results for most local radio services, both Commercial and BBC, were published for each quarter 2 and quarter 4. Audiences for the smallest stations (with an adult population of under 300,000) were measured once a year in quarter 2.

History Of RAJAR: Review of methods. 1996-1997

• In 1996 and 1997, RAJAR had a review of methods, followed by an extensive experimental programme of new diary and sample designs. After this review had taken place, three new features were added to the RAJAR contract specification.

1. A personalised diary, customised to include the stations required by each individual respondent.

2. Only one adult per household is to be interviewed, instead of all the household members.

3. Measurement of audiences on a rolling basis, with listening data built up over three, six or twelve months, according to the size of this station, with publication of all stations results every quarter.

History of RAJAR: 2nd RAJAR Contract 1999-2006

• When planning the second RAJAR Contract from 1998 onwards, there was a need to adjust the current system to an increasing complex radio market, in particular the growth in the number of stations. A new diary was required.

• Other objectives for the new specification were to provide improvements in the same quality and reporting systems.

History Of RAJAR: The 3rd Contract 2007 onwards

• A new contract was awarded starting in quarter 2 of 2007. Ipsos retained the fieldwork while sample design and weighting is handled by RSMB.

• Changes to the main contract include:1. A new diary featuring platform columns as well as

location, allowing reporting on each platform separately.

2. The move from postcode sectors to districts as building blocks to define TSAs, which led to a reduction in the number of segments, therefore bringing less volatility to the reported data.

Online Diary: 2011

• From Quarter 3 of 2011, RAJAR introduced an online version of a radio listening diary as an additional collection methodology across all TSAs. It is recognised that respondent engagement is critical to the continued quality of the survey and that by offering a choice as to how people record and return their listening data will help maintain the current high levels of participation and completion into the future.

• Additional benefits also include higher accuracy in attribution of listening to the different platforms (Digital/non digital) as well as higher in home completion that in turn enhances overall data quality.

RAJAR’s Mission

RAJAR is responsible for setting the research specification, the awarding of the research contracts

to third party suppliers and the overall quality control, management and delivery of the service. The day to day operations are overseen by the Chief Executive

and Research Director.

Why is RAJAR important to the industry?

• RAJAR estimates listenership of over 300 radio stations – who listens, where, when and how.

• It is the trading currency for radio broadcasters.• It is used by media agencies to plan and buy

advertising in radio airtime.• It is used by radio owners to pitch for business,

sell advertising airtime and monitor programmes performance.

Listening figures for Capital South CoastHere are the quarterly figures for Capital South Coast:

Only 21% of the 1,161,000 people that can listen to the station do listen. Despite Capital being a popular station in the South, there are also other stations such as Wave 105 and BBC Radio Solent that are popular meaning that Capital would be sharing the audience with other stations. Also, the target audience for Capital seems to be for teenagers and young adults which could also indicate why the percentage is low as adults are less likely to listen to this sort of station.

Listening figures for Isle Of Wight Radio

Here are the Quarterly Listening figures for Isle Of Wight Radio.

Out of the 120,000 people living on the Isle Of Wight, 34% listen to Isle Of Wight Radio. This is quite surprising as you would think as Isle Of Wight Radio is specifically for the island, more island residents would want to listen to it. But with the advance of technology, it is possible for islanders to choose to listen to other south coast stations suitable for their own target audience.

Audience figure glossaryAverage Hours per Head: The average length of time a person spends listening to a station. This is calculated by dividing the Weekly Hours by the Population.

Average Hours per Listener: The average length of time that listeners to a station spend with that station. This is calculated by dividing the Weekly Hours by the Weekly Reach.

Population: The number of people aged 15+ who live within the TSA of a given station.

Reach Index: The Weekly Reach % of a station against a Target Market indexed against the All Adult Weekly Reach % for that station. This indicates whether a Target Market is more or less likely to listen to a given station, with 100 being the norm.

Share in TSA: The percentage of total listening time accounted for by a station in its Total Survey Area in an average week. This is obtained by dividing the station’s total hours by the All Radio total hours in the station’s TSA.

Survey Period: Depending on the size of their Total Survey Area, stations report on a sample based on 3, 6 or 12 months. This is the survey period and is denoted by the letters Q (Quarter), H (half yearly), and Y (yearly).

Total Survey Area: The area within which a station’s audience is measured. This is defined by the station using postcode districts as building blocks.

Total Weekly Hours: The total number of hours that a station is listened to over the course of a week. This is the sum of all quarter-hours for all listeners.