According to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), the growing popularity of digital stations is set to have a significant upward impact on total radio listening hours over the next few years.
Speaking at the ‘The 21st Century Radio Listener’ seminar earlier today, RAB’s Client Services Director, Michael O’Brien, predicted total listening hours could grow by as much as 10% within the next five years. He said: ” Radio has been growing over the last ten years, television has been flat and newspapers have been in decline for a while. We are confident that we will see an extra 10% growth in listening hours driven by digital radio.”
RAB’s predictions follow similar findings by the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB), earlier this year. In a study of digital radio equipped households the DRDB revealed that listeners tune in to programming for 11.9 hours per week more than analogue listeners(see UK Digital Radio Listeners Tune In For Longer).
Last week, GWR saw its digital radio revenue grow by 24.1% to £8.1 million (see GWR Outperforms Industry As Profits Double). Acceleration in the development of digital radio saw the number of digital receivers reaching 500,000 and the Digital Radio Development Bureau forecasts sales to reach 1 million by 2004.
Also last week, Capital Radio reported its launch of a £5 million joint venture to design, manufacture and market a new breed of digital radios for younger listeners, as part of an initiative to drive the market forward(see Capital To Boost Digital Radio With X-fm Branded Sets).
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