Digital platforms boost radio listening

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Latest data released by official radio ratings agency Rajar reveals record listening to digital-only stations, while listening via the internet is up by 13% and listening via digital TV is up by 10%.

Overall radio listening dipped in the third quarter of 2006 by 155,000 to 89% of the UK population aged over 15, with 44.4m listeners tuning in each week. Listening to digital-only stations grew by 4% quarter-on-quarter and by 16.7% year-on-year to 4.8m listeners.

Listening to the radio via the internet rose by 13% year-on-year (22.3% in Q3 versus 19.7% in Q2, 2006). Radio listening via DTV was up by 10% year-on-year (38.7% in Q3 versus 35.1% in Q3, 2005).

According to Rajar 7.1% of the UK adult population listened to the radio via mobile phones in Q3. That compares with 7% in Q2 and 6.1% in Q3, 2005. Two million adults had listened to a radio programme on an MP3 player by downloading it as a podcast, up from 1.9m in Q2.

Ian Dickens, CEO at the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) said: "This is great news and proves that digital radio continues to grow in popularity with listeners. Rajar's research bears out our own findings which show that people who buy a DAB digital radio enjoy the new stations it offers and value the added choice that comes with digital listening."
 
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