The share of digital radio listening has increased by 11% to a new record of 58.5%, according to the latest Rajar results.
The boost – covering Q4 2019 – is up from 52.6% in Q4 2018 and is largely thanks to the launch of new national commercial digital stations and the growth of listening online via smart speakers and DAB listening in car.
Overall, digital listening grew by 43.4 million hours or 8% year-on-year, while listening via online and apps grew by 28.5 million hours (or by 30%) to now account for 12.5% of all listening and 21.5% of digital listening.
New digital-only stations include Heart 90s, which reached 627,000 listeners in Q4 2019; Heart Dance with 380,000; Capital Xtra Reloaded at 330,000; and Heart 70s recording 248,000 listeners.
However, the most popular digital-only station is BBC 6 Music which grew by 8.4% to reach 2.487 million listeners, followed by BBC Radio 4 Extra which grew by 6.6% to reach 2.271 million listeners.
The most popular commercial digital-only station is KISSTORY with a reach of 2.204 million listeners, followed by Virgin Radio with a reach of 1.53 million.
Meanwhile, talkRADIO grew by 43.4% to reach a record 433,000 listeners; LBC, which is nationally distributed on DAB, grew by 23.3% year on year to reach a record 2.7 million listeners; and BBC Radio 5 live which has the majority (69%) of its listening on a digital platform, grew by 9% to 5.4 million listeners.
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