Rajar Q1 2018: Digital

Digital radio is in rude health and now represents the majority of all radio listening with a narrow 50.9% share, according to the latest Rajar results for the first quarter of 2018.

More than 3 in 5 adults (classed as aged 15+) currently listen to radio via a digital platform, and in total 34 million people now tune in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver – DAB, digital TV or online – each week.

In an average week, digital listening accounts for 521 million hours; DAB has a 72% share of digital listening hours, digital TV 9% and online 18%.

As DAB has become more widely available more digital stations have launched, providing listeners with much greater station choice. Most of the UK now has access to over fifty DAB stations and some major cities over seventy.

The top digital-only stations include BBC 6 Music and Kisstory, and the recently launched Heart 80s, all of which achieved record-breaking audiences this quarter.

Meanwhile, stations historically available only in certain areas of the UK on FM, such as LBC, Radio X, Kiss and Magic, have now launched nationally on DAB.

Long-standing MW stations such as BBC Radio 5 live, Absolute Radio and talkSPORT now have the majority of their listening via digital platforms, as do FM speech-based stations BBC Radio 4 and LBC.

Overall, digital listening hours grew by 7.8% compared to Q1 2017.