Digital radio continues to grow for UK in RAJAR Q1

The UK audience continues to put a growing share of its radio listening time into digital formats. That’s one of the takeaways from the first quarter RAJAR results.

The share of adults listening to the radio in the UK each week has hovered around 90% for some time. Q1 2019 kicked off below the usual threshhold at 89.4%, the second-lowest rate for a first quarter since 2012. The period generated 1.023 billion weekly hours of radio listening on average. The average listener consumers 20.9 hours of live radio a week.

Digital radio’s share of all radio listening has steadily risen over the years. It was responsible for more than half (56.4%) of UK listening in Q1 2019. Digital has seen its weekly reach hit 66% of the UK population, or about 36 million adults. All digital formats generated 577 million hours of listening in an average week. DAB was responsible for the majority of digital listening with 413 million hours, or about a three-quarters share, followed distantly by online at 18%.

The survey also explored live radio on mobile devices. Overall, 27.7% of UK adults said they tuned in to live radio on a smartphone or tablet at least once a month. The rate was higher with younger listeners, as the 15-24 age bracket reported 32.6% compared with 26.9% for ages 25 and up.

Anna Washenko