Following my recent
discussion on online radio, Rajar, the UK's radio research body, has confirmed just how minor a role online plays in the overall radio industry. Their platform share
data indicates that only 1.5% of all radio listening is online, and that's after nearly 10 years of availability.
The digital share overall continues to grow impressively, but although DAB - Digital Audio Broadcasting - accounts for most of this, it is still only at 7% of total listening. Digital TV accounts for another 2.6%. Analogue (AM/FM) is still at 66%, although a mysterious 21% is unaccounted for. We also know 8.9% of mobile phone users have listened to radio on their phones, although most of that is likely to be FM, not data streaming.
These figures show how tough it's been to get listeners to change their habits with a ninety-year old technology, and indicate the scale of the challenge facing those who would like to switch off analogue radio broadcasting. That is looking like an extremely remote prospect at this point in time.