The Heart network added audience reach and total hours between July and September, according to the first RAJARs to fully reflect the rollout.
Global Radio completed the nationwide changeover by rebranding nine local radio stations as Heart on 22 June. The rebrand of stations such as 2CR, Coast 96.3 and Buzz 97.1 brought the number of Heart-branded radio stations in the UK to 33.
According to the 3Q Rajars, most of the newly rebranded Heart stations increased their reach and listening hours. Of the 33 stations in the Heart network, 25 increased their reach and 26 increased the total number of hours listeners tuned in for.
In the period, the Heart network reached an average of 7.4 million people a week - up 7.3% year on year.
Heart 106.2 FM London retained its position as the largest Heart station, with a weekly reach of 1.9 million listeners, up 6.3% year on year. But those listeners tuned in for fewer hours - 10.2 million, which is down 12.1% year on year.
Richard Park, group executive director and director of broadcasting at Global, said the RAJAR figures showed the Heart brand had been "warmly welcomed". He added: "We have provided something that wasn't there before - a mix of local and
networked programming."
Media agencies support the Heart brand. Matthew Landeman, board director at Carat, said the stations accounted for a "good chunk of listening". He added: "The stations have been rebranded because they were not performing, so it's good to see they are going in the right direction."
Richard Jacobs, head of radio at MediaCom, said Heart's results made sense because Global had added to, rather than destroyed the existing stations. Responses to the new Heart stations had been "relatively positive and good for the local area", he said.
Matt Rouse, radio specialist at UM, said: "It will be interesting to see whether the Heart stations can hold on to their audience".
Best of the rest...
• Absolute Radio was the first radio group to hit 50% of national digital listening penetration. In other words, 51.5% of the station's national listening was on a digital platform, compared with the industry average of just 21.1%.
• Absolute's reach was down year on year and period on period at 1.59 million listeners a week and its total hours of listening were down period on period and year on year to 11 million. Chief executive Donnach O'Driscoll said the group's priority over the next 18 months was to increase its share of voice through above-the-line marketing.
• Bauer Media's Kiss network weekly reach rose 10.6% year on year to 3.5 million, although it was down 1.3% period on period. The Kiss network's share was 1.9%, up from 1.8% in Q3 last year, and its total hours were 19.5 million, up 5.9%
year on year.
• Steve Parkinson, managing director, London Radio, Bauer Media, said: "The current Rajar mode doesn't take into account listen again. For a station such as Kiss, that's a real problem because it has very high numbers. RAJAR has to catch up with the listeners and that's something we'll work on with them."
42.4%
Commercial radio's audience share dipped in Q3, down from 43.1% in Q3 2008
6.9m
Number of adults listening to radio via mobile phones in Q3, up from 6.4 million in Q3 2008
21.1%
Radio listening via all digital platforms increased 14% year on year to 21.1% of all listening hours
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