Classic FM audience lowest in over 22 years... AGAIN

Classic FM has seen another fall in listeners, dropping to their lowest audience figures in over 20 years for the second quarter in a row, according to new figures released by RAJAR (Radio Join Audience Research). 

Released today, the figures cover the fourth quarter of 2021. Classic FM saw a decrease of 17,000 listeners from September 2021 dropping to 5.06 million. Launched in 1992, the RAJAR website lists quarterly listening figures on their website from 1999. This Classic FM’s smallest audience in those 22 years, hitting a new low for the second quarter in a row. 

The previous lowest audience during this period came in September 2021 when Classic FM dropped to 5.08 million, after losing 407,000 listeners from March 2020 (RAJAR did not report quarterly figures between these dates due to the pandemic). These third and fourth quarter figures of 2021 are the only times that Classic FM has reached fewer 5.1 million in the 22 year history of RAJAR figures.

For the UK’s two other classical music radio stations BBC Radio 3 fell from 2.17 million to 1.99 million, and Scala Radio had a slight increase from 399,000 to 400,000.