Almost 14% of the UK adult population has a DAB digital radio in the home and 23% of owners have more than one, according to the Digital Radio Development Bureau’s (DRDB) fourth annual business report on the DAB digital radio market.
In April of this year DAB digital radio set sales in the UK topped 3.1 million cumulative units (see
Digital Radio Sales Top Three Million) and over 16% of all radio listening is now done via a digital platform.
The report reveals that 1.5 million DAB radios worth £145 million were sold in the year ending March 06, with annual volume sales for 2006 forecast at two million, while the market value is forecast at £169 million.
It also shows that by volume, year-on-year to January 2006, the DAB portable kitchen market grew by 38%, while the analogue market fell by 23%. In addition, the volume of the DAB portable kitchen market is forecast to reach more than one million products annually by 2007.
DAB car audio saw an increase as well, of 20% by volume in the year ending April 2006. The car audio after-fit market represents 12% of the overall market (all radios) by volume and 22% or £166 million by volume.
The DRDB says that in the past few years the boombox (a portable radio with CD and/or cassette recorder) market has slowed drastically and MP3 docking stations are starting to steal its share, leading to a potential new market combining MP3 and DAB in a speaker driven product.
The DRDB is set to publish a forecast in September which will show DAB continuing to increase its market share over analogue, with clock radios and MP3 expected to grow significantly.
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