The Arrow - Ofcom Licensing

OUR FINDINGS
Desk Research
In order to decide upon our application for this licence, the research team at Chrysalis
undertook a detailed examination of the existing radio marketplace in the Manchester
region, using Q2 2006 RAJAR and trended data available.
Commercial analogue radio in Manchester better serves the younger end of the
market. Current figures show that 73.3% of 15-34s listen to commercial analogue radio
compared with only 62.1% of all adults and 56.6% of 35+ year olds. When looking
specifically at local commercial FM radio, the difference is far greater with 68.8% of 15-
34s, 34% higher compared with all adults. For 35+ year olds % reach is only 40.4% -
18.7% below the all adult audience.
The market share for 35+ year olds in Manchester on local commercial radio is currently
30.2%. Historically 35+ share has fallen (16.8% down on Q2 1999). Share for 15-34s,
however, has remained high with 57.9%, only 0.5% lower than recorded in Q2 1999.
Looking at The Arrow’s target demographic of 40-59 males the market share is low at
36.8% and is 14.4% down on Q2 1999. It is clear that there is a need for a commercial
station to suit the tastes of the older end of the market and The Arrow would serve this
underrepresented audience.
This chart shows the demographic and sex distribution of the individual radio station
audiences in the Key 103 TSA based on reach. Along the horizontal axis is displayed the
average age of each audience and vertically, the proportion of males. The graph
shows the large quantity of local commercial stations with a higher proportion of under-
40 year olds than the average – further emphasising the need for a local commercial
FM alternative for the older age groups, currently dominated by the BBC and national
commercial stations.
% sex profile
90
Male
80
70
60
50
40
Female
30
20
10
Manchester Marketplace
Radio 1
Galaxy Manchester
105.4 Century FM
talkSPORT
The Arrow
Key 103 Magic 1152
Radio 5
Radio 2
Radio 4
Classic FM
Radio 3
Radio Manchester
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Average age
Source: Rajar Q2 2006 – Key 103 TSA
The Arrow figures taken from Manchester quant study 2006
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