Digital Radio Gets a Third Of All Listening

The digital expression for a third is a zero, a dot a three and a dot over the three, which in mathematical terminology means, ‘recurring’ or 0.33333333333333333333333333 etc&;… And If you are a Numerology Nutter, you might think that the figure has mystical meaning. For one, I am well known for revealing the CRF*, and it’s now a part of UK bass culture. I have heard of Brits referring to it, to Americans who were mystified as it isn’t in their folklore the same way. Howard Stern beat us to it on that one.
And just a few days ago, we brought you news that the car industry is picking up steam on digital radio and that a third, or 33% of all cars are now sold with a digital radio set or an option to have one. And while I did a double-take and even asked the PR chap if it was the same story (I do feel a fool for doing so!) and the headline looks so similar, it is because the magical third is At work again! For now, a full third of all the time that is spent doing listening to the radio, be it at home or in car, is now happening via digital radio sets.

Following is a release as factual and dry as Muesli with no milk but is interesting for the demographical geeks amongst you. I for one, am just delighted that D-LOVE’s message is getting through and that one day, I am promised to get a video interview with him&;
DIGITAL RADIO UK PRESS RELEASE:  DIGITAL RADIO DELIVERS ONE THIRD OF LISTENING

Digital radio listening is now one third (33%) of radio listening, up 14% year on year.

Over 25 million people (25.2 million) now listen to digital radio, up 2.1 million year on year.

DAB listening now accounts for 21.1% of all listening, up 9% year on year.

Online listening now represents 4.9% of all listening, up 43% year on year.

BBC 6 Music reach has now increased to 1.9 million making it the leading digital-only station.

Digital radio has reached an important milestone and now represents one third (33%) of digital listening in Q4 2012, up 14% from 29.1% last year, according to the latest RAJAR data issued today.
This coincides with the latest data from CAP/SMMT which shows that one third of all new cars (33.3%) now has digital radio fitted as standard.
In total 25.2 million people now listen to radio via a digital platform each week, up 9% year on year from 23.1 million in Q4 2011. Weekly digital reach is now 48.2% of UK adults, or 53.6% of radio listeners.
DAB maintains its strong growth as the dominant digital platform representing 21.1% of all radio listening hours, up from 19.4% in Q4 2011. On a weekly basis, DAB now reaches 15.3 million UK adults, up 10% from 13.9 million in Q3 2011. DAB listening hours have reached a record 219 million, up 9% year on year, representing 65.2% of all digital listening hours.
42% of the population now has a DAB digital radio set, up from 40.3% in Q4 2011. This equates to 22 million adults now having a DAB digital radio, up 6% year on year.
Radio listening online and via apps on mobile devices grew by 43% to 4.9% of listening hours in a quarter which saw the successful launch of industry radio apps including Radioplayer and the BBC Radio iPlayer. Listening to radio on a mobile phone was up 28% year on year.
Digital-only stations continued to show strong listening growth. BBC 6 Music grew 31% in reach and overtook Radio 4 Extra to be the number 1 digital-only station with almost 1.9 million listeners. BBC digital stations Radio 4 Extra (+ 7.8%), 1 Xtra (+2.7%) and Radio 5 Live (+ 37.5%) all grew, as did leading commercial digital stations Absolute 80s (+7.2%), Planet Rock (+8.0%), Jazz FM (+18.8%) and Absolute Radio 90s (+25.2%). The largest commercial digital station was Smash Hits with almost 1 million listeners, while Smooth 70s delivered another strong performance with over 700,000 listeners.
Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, says: ‘I am delighted with these results. Digital radio continues to transform the way people listen to the radio and one third of all listening to digital platforms represents an important milestone. With a third of all new cars now having digital radio as standard, improvements to national and local DAB coverage and the positive impact of the D Love industry campaign, we are making good progress in the lead-up to a Government decision later this year.’
D-LOVE, in case you never saw him&;.
http://youtu.be/BOVEnFcKZWk
* Clitoral Resonance Frequency, 33Hz, as proved by Todd Ramsey’s mate’s girlfriend in a walled 2×15 system car on 3kW in 1995.