Smart speaker listening now accounts for one-sixth of total radio listening, according to new figures.
The latest Rajar data showed smart speaker listening to all radio had increased 19% year-on-year, with 170m hours listened on these devices in an average week.
The proportion of listening on smart speakers was higher for commercial radio sitting at 21%. This overtook commercial analogue listening for the first time, which registered 19% share in the quarter.
More than half of smart speaker users (63%) use it for listening to the radio, with more than a fifth (22%) saying they do this on a daily basis.
More than three-quarters of the UK population (77%) or 44 million adults aged 15+ tuned in to “digitally enabled radio” every week which included DAB, DTV, website/app, and smart speaker.
Listening via DAB made up 435m hours of listening in an average week, followed by 170m on smart speakers, 114 on website/apps, and 27m on DTV.
73% of all radio weekly listening hours were consumed digitally, compared to 28% online.
| AM/FM | All Digital | – DAB | – DTV | – Total Online | – Website / Apps | – Smart Speaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Shares (%) | |||||||
| Q1 2023 | 26.7 | 73.3 | 41.7 | 3.3 | 28.3 | 11.1 | 17.2 |
| Q4 2023 | 21.1 | 78.9 | 46.0 | 3.9 | 28.9 | 11.3 | 17.7 |
| Q1 2024 | 19.3 | 80.7 | 46.4 | 2.2 | 32.1 | 11.4 | 20.7 |
| Digital Listening Weekly Reach (%) | |||||||
| Q1 2023 | n/a | 73.9 | 58.2 | 8.8 | 40.4 | 24.2 | 22.9 |
| Q4 2023 | n/a | 76.0 | 61.3 | 9.4 | 40.9 | 24.3 | 23.8 |
| Q1 2024 | n/a | 77.3 | 61.8 | 6.8 | 43.0 | 24.0 | 26.3 |
| Digital Listening Total Hours (m) | |||||||
| Q1 2023 | n/a | 682.0 | 402.0 | 34.0 | 246.0 | 105.0 | 141.0 |
| Q4 2023 | n/a | 729.0 | 433.0 | 37.0 | 259.0 | 110.0 | 149.0 |
| Q1 2024 | n/a | 746.0 | 435.0 | 27.0 | 284.0 | 114.0 | 170.0 |
Source: Rajar
