Radio in the UK - staying strong
The latest set of radio listening figures are out, covering the end of last year. Do they show UK radio starting 2017 in a good place?
Well, radio’s popularity is still strong and growing. 90% of us tune in to a live radio station at some point during the week. That’s up from 89% in in third quarter of 2016.
48.7 million adults are listening to the radio every week and the average listener spends 21 and a half hours of their week listening to live radio. That’s over one billion hours of radio being heard in the UK every single week.
What are they listening to? Radio 2 remains the nation's favourite radio station with the Heart network taking the top spot amongst commercial channels.
Commercial radio continues to attract more younger listeners than the BBC getting 72% of 15-44 year olds compared to the BBC's 56%. The BBC still has more listeners over 45. How are they listening?
Digital Radio's share of listening time has risen 8% across 2016 to 45.2%. That’s listening spread across DAB sets, phones, laptops and TVs. It’s not just a digital-elite either, with over half of all radio listeners using a digital device at some point.
In 2010 only a quarter of radio listening was done digitally.
31 million of us now own at least one DAB radio set, smartphone use is growing so radio is in a good place to go with new technologies.
Summary
Radio is the medium you can use whilst doing other things. Driving, working, browsing online, domestic duties and more. It's no surprise it is used by nine out of ten adults in the UK every single week, or that they spend a large amount of time listening. As we move into an ever-more connected world radio is already there and already thriving.
SOURCE: RAJAR/Ipsos MORI/RSMB













