The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which advocates for digital radio transmission and tracks its progress, has released Market Insights: Digital Radio 2016. The report summarizes policy, technology, highlight content offerings, and the roll-out progress across 21 regions.
To help organize a pan-European view of digital radio readiness, the EBU sorted regions into four buckets: Leaders, Embracers, Newbies, and Wait-And-See. There are seven Leaders/Embracers, and nine Wait-and-see’ers.
In each of the 21 countries profiled, the EBU presents a snapshot that includes number of digital-enabled stations, the technical standard in use (e.g. DAB, DAB+), extent of population coverage and receiver penetration, and a descriptive round-up of pertinent facts.
Norway is the leader overall, and within the Leaders group. Norwegian digital radio launched in 2005, it is embraced by 62 stations, reaches 99% of the population, six in 10 of whom have a digital receiver, and has schedule switch-off of analog transmission in 2017. Norway is the only country in the EBU filter which has scheduled a switch-over.
Among newcomers, Belgium launched its DAB/DAB+ effort just last year, and covers 25% of the population with eight stations.
The free report is available via an ungated download HERE.