UK DAB+ receiver sales exceed 50m

Ella Sagar

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September 18, 2023

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1 minute

Cumulative DAB+ digital radio receiver sales reached 52,436,000 in the UK, the highest in Europe, latest figures show.

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Ella Sagar Ella Sagar is a reporter for The Media Leader and leads our audio and out-of-home coverage. She joined in September 2021 and has a gold standard NCTJ. She previously wrote for the South West Londoner, Ealing Times, and The Hillingdon Times. At the University of Leeds, she received a First Class Honours Degree in French and Spanish with distinction in speaking and during her time there regularly presented radio shows on Leeds Student Radio, wrote for the student paper The Gryphon and was editor of Her Campus Leeds.

Cumulative DAB+ digital radio receiver sales reached 52.4 million in the UK, the highest in Europe, latest figures show.

This included car sales and meant total DAB and upgraded DAB+ digital radio coverage reached 97.3% of the UK population in 2023, compared to 94% in 2013, according to new figures from WorldDAB, a global industry association for DAB digital radio.

WorldDAB found 98% of new cars had DAB or DAB+ fitted in the UK and two-thirds (66%) of UK households had DAB or DAB+ receivers.

A total of 56 UK national stations broadcast on DAB or DAB+ compared to eight on FM.

Digital radio reached 74% of the UK population in Q2 2023 and DAB has 40% share in the UK of total listening hours by platform, followed by IP with 31%, FM/AM at 25% and DTV/other digital with 4%.

The association also found there have been 125 million DAB+ devices sold to date and almost all cars in Europe come with DAB+ as standard.

Outside of established markets, there are DAB+ rollouts in 24 emerging markets in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

WorldDAB project director Bernie O’Neill commented: “In just the last two months we’ve seen DAB+ successfully on-air in Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and a renewed commitment to digital radio development from Thailand. This builds on the ongoing DAB+ rollout across Europe — with significant market expansion well underway in France and Germany, alongside our already established core markets.”