Rajar Q3 2013: Digital

The latest Rajar results for the third quarter of 2013 show that the share of all radio listening via a digital platform was up 14% year on year (YoY), now standing at 35.6%.

90% of the UK adult population (15+) tune in to radio every week – up by approximately 1 million on the same quarter last year – and listen to an average of 21.5 hours of radio.

51% of adults tune into digital radio every week, up 13% YoY, though down slightly on the last quarter. This equates to 27 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver each week – up almost 3 million YoY.

Digital listening hours for Q3 2013 increased 14% to 366 million hours, up from 320 million hours on the same period last year.

DAB radio still remains the most popular device when it comes to listening digitally, accounting for 65% of all digital hours. Listening via a digital TV represents 4% and listening online represents 16%. Online saw the biggest year on year increase, up 37% to almost 60 million.

Listening to the radio via a mobile phone was up YoY, with 24% of all adults listening to radio via their device. This increases to 41% in the 15-24 age group.

“This quarter shows excellent digital station performance, with outstanding growth from Kiss and debut figures for Kisstory, strong growth from decade stations and BBC Radio 5 Live over the summer,” said Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK.

“Digital radio offers listeners a wide and increasing range of station choice and the popularity of these stations has bought about a fundamental shift in listening with listening to analogue stations in home now being less than 50%.”