Global’s Capital has reclaimed the title of number one commercial radio station in London, as its breakfast show saw its audience rise by almost a third in the second quarter.
Capital attracted 2.2 million listeners on average a week in London in the second quarter, a 22.7% rise compared with the first three months, enough to see the station leapfrog from third to first place in the capital.
Bauer-owned Magic, which had held top spot, grew by 4.6% to just shy of 2 million listeners a week.
This was only good enough to hold on to third place in the London market, as many rivals experienced significant double-digit audience increases in the second quarter, accorsing to official Rajar listening figures published on Thursday.
Stablemate Kiss grew 12.6% period-on-period, enough to hold onto second place in London with 2.12 million listeners, despite taking a hammering in the breakfast battle in the capital.
Kiss had held the honours for the most popular breakfast show among commercial stations in London.
However, a 13% audience slump saw the show fall from first to fourth place with an average of 766,000 listeners on average a week in the second quarter.
Capital moved into top slot – it had been ranked second – with a 31% increase in listeners to 1.15 million.
Bauer’s Magic moved from third to second with a 23% increase to 922,000 listeners.
Global-owned Heart slid into the third spot with a 41% rise in London breakfast audience to 887,000.
Across its total London output, Heart was ranked fourth with 1.99 million listeners a week on average, a 29% period-on-period rise.
Among other commercial stations talk radio station LBC recorded its best ever figures, fuelled by a surge in interest due to the UK general election, with audience up 9.1% to 1.48 million.
Kiss’s digital sister station Kisstory continued its run as one of the biggest risers among national commercial networks.
Its audience rose 29% in the second quarter to 1.46 million.
