Rajar Q4 2022: total online listening share surges 43% in 2022

Total online listening share increased by 43% year-over-year to encompass nearly a quarter of all digital listening, as radio audiences’ working patterns change and smart speakers grow in usage.

The annual growth of total online listening partially came at the loss of digital audio broadcasting (DAB), which fell 3.7 percentage points year-over-year to 38.8% of listening share.

Quarter-over-quarter, however, total digital listening hours decreased slightly from 674 million hours in Q3 2022 to 672 million hours in Q4 2022. A similar decrease was seen across total radio listening from 1.02 billion listening hours to 1.01 billion listening hours.

Meanwhile, smart speakers’ share of overall radio listening grew slightly to 13.6% as it continues to account for more than half of all online listening (24.1%). Weekly smart speaker reach also ticked up from by 0.9 percentage points to 22.5% in Q4 2022.

Alongside online, DAB and digital TV audio (DTV) remained practically flat quarter-over-quarter at 38.8% and 3.7% of digital market share, respectively.

Altogether, total digital audio (including DAB, DTV, and total online) now accounts for 67% of listening share compared to 33% AM/FM radio.

Addressing recent trends in digital audio, the7stars’ head of display and audio activation Michele Sarpong said she expects sales houses to continue to push digital platforms to offset growing pressure on linear airtime in 2023.

Sarpong added that the expansion of audio in the digital landscape has led to an increase in programmatic audio buys, and that as digital technology continues to innovate in the sector, “the audio landscape will continue to grow with the likes of smart devices becoming more prominent across all adults.”