Every month, we showcase a respected editorial brand that’s making a difference for advertisers. From impactful collaborations to innovative platforms, we chat to Editorial Director, Tom Loxley to find out how Radio Times remains relevant, delivers results, and continues to captivate its audiences.

How does Radio Times continue to stay front-of-mind with advertisers and media agencies today?

You could say we’re old hands at keeping up because Radio Times has been staying relevant for more than a century. We began by explaining new-fangled radio to a bemused world in the 1920s. Then we became the indispensable guide to the television age in the 1960s. Half a century later here we are steering our audience through a non-stop blizzard of new TV shows (courtesy of the streaming services plus traditional broadcasters) on multiple platforms. You can consume RT on Tik Tok and YouTube, in print, online, and on your phone (thanks to our app). We’re everywhere where anyone is asking the question: what’s worth watching?

We are all suffering from too much choice. You can spend as long looking for a show to watch as you do actually watching it. We’re a shortcut to great television.

But staying relevant is also about changing perceptions. Some advertisers still think of Radio Times as “traditional” – yet our platforms prove otherwise. On RadioTimes.com, 30–34yr olds are one of our biggest digital cohorts, demonstrating the breadth of our reach across generations. We regularly engage younger audiences who come to us for trusted recommendations and entertainment coverage.

Can you share any standout examples of recent advertising or brand partnerships that really delivered?

Too often the tsunami of choice drowns out shows that are worthy of our readers’ and users’ valuable time. So we regularly partner with the major streaming services to bring their shows centre stage in the world of entertainment, and their stars face-to-face with an RT audience.

In the last month we have partnered with Amazon Prime and Brian Cox (for 007: Road To A Million) and Netflix with Suranne Jones (for Hostage) to host exclusive preview screenings at the Ham Yard hotel, where viewers see the show before it drops, meet the stars for a Q&A, and enjoy a drinks reception afterwards. Not only does this bring RT to life on stage, but it also provides us with content for our digital channels and deepens our relationships with some of our most important partners.

Next week we will do the same thing at the BFI with Apple TV for series 5 of their hit show Slow Horses. Then it’s Sky at the Barbican for an exclusive preview of their biggest show of the autumn, The Iris Affair, which is part of a bigger deal across online and print.

What’s been the biggest surprise when speaking with clients lately?

Just how much holding live events means in our new world. The arrival of AI has heightened the importance we all attach to authenticity. Showcasing the living, breathing human beings who create the stories we tell and the journalism we produce has never mattered more. We could hold a live event every week at the moment (sadly, we don’t have time).

How have you approached membership in 2025, and what opportunities does that loyal following offer advertising partners?

We don’t currently offer a membership model, but with nearly 200,000 print subscribers we have a unique opportunity to build on that brand loyalty. Our app, launched last Christmas, already has 36,000 paid subscribers. Next year we will encourage the 20-odd million a month who use us online to register for special access to content that they currently don’t have so that we can get to know them better. Audiences will be able to choose what level of relationship they want to have with RT – and what tier of content they want to access – and accordingly, we will offer them a chance to use us for free, as a registered user, or as a paid subscriber.

How important is it to deliver trusted content across platforms that really work for your audience? How has Radio Times done this well?

Our journalism doesn’t just mean words on a page. Not anymore. The magazine is still the gold standard when it comes to what we do for our traditional audience, but it is just part of what we do. Take our video format ‘Two’s Company’. It’s a short sharp Q&A between two people who regularly appear on screen. We record it for our YouTube Channel but host it on our website too. We can take clips for social to drive new audiences towards it but also run an edited version in print up front in the magazine, where it appears as Ten Questions With… Check out our Ian Hislop and Paul Merton chat, if you want to see how it works. You can be one of the 101,000 people to have watched it.

Talent want to be part of what we do, too – our heritage gives us unrivalled access, and our features often lead the entertainment agenda. Combined with our reputation as a trusted editorial voice in TV, we offer advertisers a unique way to cut through the noise, connect with engaged audiences, and align with a brand that has proven it can evolve, lead, and deliver impact across every platform.

What’s next for Radio Times and its advertising partners? Any innovations, formats or commercial priorities to watch out for?

Viewing habits are evolving, with audiences increasingly choosing what to watch based on their mood rather than a fixed schedule. We have undertaken some in-depth research with psychologists at the University of Sussex Radio Times to discover just how viewers are using television to regulate their mood and the results – to be published next year in our updated Screen Test Report – make fascinating reading. In this way we are building on our role as the nation’s most trusted guide to the best TV by creating formats that curate viewing around moods and moments, whether that’s comfort, escapism, laughter, or high drama.

For advertisers, this opens the door to new ways to connect with audiences. For instance, a food partner might want to own the “comfort watch” space, while a travel brand might align with “escapist TV”. These mood-led journeys offer brands a natural, relevant presence within the viewing experience.

Looking ahead, our ambition is to evolve beyond listings into personalised schedules and curated recommendations across print, digital, and social. By combining the authority of Radio Times with smarter curation, we’ll give audiences what they need — and advertisers new, creative ways to reach them.

For more info contact: sinead.williams@immediate.co.uk