Digital radio ownership on the up

The latest RAJAR figures have been released today – showing more people than ever own a digital radio.

Figures released today show 31 million adults now own a DAB radio – a rise of a million individuals since the previous quarter.

RAJAR, the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences, has released its data covering the period from June 27th to September 18th.

There are 48.2 million adults tuning in to their selected radio stations each week, which is a slight drop from the 48.7 million in the second quarter, but is still a rise year on year and equates to 89% of the population.

These figures reinforce the importance of having access to a radio and therefore how relevant the work of British Wireless continues to be.

The total number of weekly hours listened to is 1.038 billion and the average listener tunes into 21 hours and 30 minutes of live radio each week.

Almost six in 10 adults are listening to the radio via a digital platform which is a 45.5% share of all radio listening, made up of 32.3% DAB, 8& online or through an app and 5.2% DTV.

There are 27% of adults who claim to listen to the radio through a mobile phone or tablet once a month and 10% more than that (37%) of 15 to 24-year-olds.

When it comes to social media, 43% of 15 to 24-year-olds receive updates about their favourite radio station or presenter and 31% of adults do.

This data shows how vital the medium of radio is to people of all ages across the UK, and for those who are visually impaired it becomes even more of a lifeline – often their only source of news, information and entertainment.