Smart speaker listening now nearly a fifth of all radio listening

Rajar: Q1 2024 analysis

Smart speaker listening now accounts for one-sixth of total radio listening, according to new figures.

The latest Rajar data showed smart speaker listening to all radio had increased 19% year-on-year, with 170m hours listened on these devices in an average week.

The proportion of listening on smart speakers was higher for commercial radio sitting at 21%. This overtook commercial analogue listening for the first time, which registered 19% share in the quarter.

More than half of smart speaker users (63%) use it for listening to the radio, with more than a fifth (22%) saying they do this on a daily basis.

More than three-quarters of the UK population (77%) or 44 million adults aged 15+ tuned in to “digitally enabled radio” every week which included DAB, DTV, website/app, and smart speaker.

Listening via DAB made up 435m hours of listening in an average week, followed by 170m on smart speakers, 114 on website/apps, and 27m on DTV.

73% of all radio weekly listening hours were consumed digitally, compared to 28% online.