Rajar has released Q1 listening numbers for the United Kingdom, which show that the digital push continues.
According to the results, in London, analog radio listening has fallen below 50 percent for the first time, and digital in-home listening in the same city is at 50.9 percent.
Digital Radio UK CEO Ford Ennals described the numbers as a “dramatic and sustained transformation in radio listening,”
In London, 6.4 million people (55 percent) listen to radio on digital radio platforms each week. The city’s digital share is now 44.1 percent of radio listening hours, up 9 percent from Q2 2013.
Nationally, analog radio listening share is at its lowest — 57.8 percent. Across the U.K., digital listening via digital is up 7 percent year on year, and 27 million people now tune in weekly.
About 25 million U.K. adults have access to a DAB digital radio. DAB’s share of listening is 23.7 percent and online/apps is 6.4 percent.
The most popular digital-only station is BBC 6 Music with more than 1.9 million weekly listeners, and the most-listened to commercial digital-only station is Absolute 80s with 1.1 million weekly. Planet Rock grew by 21 percent.
Among major national networks, the survey found that almost 50 percent of all listening to Bauer stations is on a digital platform, and 78 percent of listening to Absolute Network is to digital platforms.
