ON average, 91 per cent of the UK population (or 48.3 million people) tuned into radio each week during the second quarter of this year, up approximately 1.5 million adults on 12 months previously – according to the radio listening auditing body, RAJAR.
That’s 1.03 billion hours listened to.
On average, a listener tunes into 21.3 hours of radio per week and that more than half of the population has tuned in via any digital platform.
Twenty-four million adults have access to a DAB receiver – up 11 per cent, year-on-year.
Listening online reaches 62 million hours per week – up 31 per cent, year-on-year, and 23 per cent of adults listen to radio via their mobile phone – up 34 per cent, year-on-year.
Listening to radio via a digital platform in terms of weekly reach (number of people, aged 15+, in the UK who have listened to a radio station for at least five minutes during an average week) has increased by 15 per cent, year-on-year, with 27.9 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver (DAB, DTV, Online) each week (up from 24.2 million in Q2 2012).
Digital listening hours for Q2 2013 increased 16 per cent ,from 326 million hours in Q2 2012 to 378 million hours in this quarter.
DAB radio is still the most popular device when it comes to listening to digital radio, accounting for 65 per cent of all digital hours. Listening via DTV (digital television) represents 15 per cent and listening online 16 per cent of all digital listening hours. DAB hours are 246 million (208 million in Q2 2012 – up 18 per cent). DTV hours are 55 million (49 million in Q2 2012 – up 13 per cent) and online hours are 62 million (47 million in Q2 2012 – up 31 per cent).
The share of all radio listening via a digital platform now stands at 36.8 per cent compared to 31.5 per cent for the corresponding period last year and 26.9 per cent for Q2 2011. The share of listening to DAB has increased by 18 per cent year on year to 23.9 per cent of all listening (20.1 per cent in Q2 2012).
The share of all radio listening via DTV has seen a steady increase from 4.7 per cent in Q2 2012 to 5.3 per cent this quarter. Online share of all radio listening has increased to 6.0 per cent, up from 4.6 per cent in Q2 2012 and up from five per cent in Q1 2013.
Access to a DAB receiver is up 11 per cent on Q2 2012 and currently 46 per cent of the population, or 24.3 million adults (aged 15+), claim to live in a household with access to a DAB set.
Twenty-four per cent of adults aged 15+ claimed to ever have listened to the radio via a mobile phone, up 34 per cent year on year (c.f. 18 per cent in Q2 2012). In the over-25’s demographic 19.9 per cent say they have listened to the radio via their mobile phone, it continues to be up from the same period the previous year (c.f 14.6 per cent Q2 2012). In the 15-24 demographic, 42.9 per cent of those surveyed now claim to have listened to the radio in this way with 12 per cent stating they listen at least once a week and two per cent doing so every day.
Source: RAJAR, August 1 2013.
