The RAJAR results for the third quarter of 2026, released on 29 October, confirm a trend that internet radio publishers are watching closely: radio has never been more popular in the United Kingdom, and more and more of that listening happens online. With 51 million people tuning in every week, the medium has set a new record, up 2% year on year.
Online listening pulls well ahead of AM/FM
The most telling figure for the streaming sector is the split between listening platforms. Online listening now accounts for 30.8% of all radio listening hours, compared with 29.7% in Q3 2025. It is comfortably ahead of AM/FM reception, which now represents just 23.6% of the total.
Smart speakers play a central role in this shift: on their own, they account for 18.7% of all radio listening in the country. In other words, almost one minute of listening in five goes through a voice-controlled device.
The trend is also visible at group level. At News Broadcasting, whose stations include talkSPORT, Times Radio and Virgin Radio UK, 87% of listening already takes place on digital platforms.
Digital-only themed stations are thriving
Another lesson from the quarter: themed spin-offs broadcast only on digital platforms keep gaining ground. Several of them posted their best results ever:
- Classic FM Calm: 465,000 weekly listeners, up 30% on the quarter;
- Radio X Chilled: up 46% to 162,000 listeners, with total listening hours more than quadrupling (from 98,000 to 408,000);
- Smooth Soul: up 40% to 278,000 listeners, although average listening time fell from 4.7 to 3.2 hours;
- Radio 1 Anthems (BBC): 700,000 listeners, up from 620,000 the previous quarter;
- Greatest Hits Radio 80s: a record 644,000 listeners, up 12.6% year on year.
At Bauer, Hits Radio 90s and Hits Radio 00s also reached their highest audiences to date, up 31% and 33% year on year respectively. Global, for its part, says seven of its digital stations recorded their best audiences ever.
Loyalty matters as much as reach
This quarter also shows that listening time can grow even when reach declines. BBC Local Radio in England lost 5.7% of its weekly reach (from 4.690 million to 4.425 million listeners), yet total listening hours edged up from 32.5 million to 32.6 million. GB News Radio lost 99,000 listeners but recorded 5.5 million weekly listening hours, the highest in its history, with a record average of 8.7 hours per listener.
Among the big brands, Heart remains the country's largest radio brand with more than 13 million weekly listeners, while BBC Radio 2 is still the most listened-to individual station with 12.7 million. The BBC's combined market share, however, slipped from 42.6% to 41.9%.
What it means for internet radio stations
These British figures, closely watched across Europe, send several signals to online radio publishers:
- The internet stream is no longer a secondary channel: when almost a third of listening happens online, stream quality, stability and availability on every platform become editorial priorities as much as technical ones.
- Smart speakers are essential: being easy to find by voice command, with a station name that is simple to pronounce, is a real audience driver.
- Niche formats work: the success of decade, mood and genre spin-offs shows that a well-targeted format can build a loyal audience without an FM transmitter.
- Listening time is a key metric: keeping listeners can matter as much as winning new ones, especially when talking to advertisers.
For independent internet radio stations, the message is encouraging: audiences are moving towards the platforms where they are present by design.
Source: RadioToday