The Q4 RAJAR data showed another period where overall radio listening held static, but digital radio grew. In the final quarter of 2016, 48.7 million adults, or 90.1% of the adult population, listened to radio stations each week. That share has hovered around or just above 90% since at least 2011. The figure was similar in the third quarter results as well. An average listener hears about 21.5 hours of live radio a week.
In contrast, the share of digital listening has been slowly but steadily growing. For Q4 2016, the portion was 45.2%, up from 41.7% in the same period of 2015 and 37.9% in 2014. More than half the adult population (58%) is listening to digital radio each week. DAB sets continue to be the source of the majority of digital listening hours, and reported ownership of the sets is up 6% to 31 million.
