Phenomenal Digital Radio Sales in Norway
06.02.2014
Phonomenal Digital Radio Sales in Norway
Norwegian consumer electronics trade association, Stiftelsen Elektronikkbransjen, has announced that sales of DAB radios increased by almost 140 percent from 2012 to 2013. This means that in 2013 approximately 511,000 DAB radios were sold, up from 214,000 in 2011. Portable radio sales went up from 80,000 units sold in 2012 to 220,000 in 2013, an increase of 175 percent. Overall, 270,000 portable radios were sold, which means that over 80 percent of the total number of table top radios sold in 2013 support DAB. “NRK's new DAB channels have been driving sales of the classic DAB table radio”, says Marte Ottemo, Communications Manager of Electronics Trade Foundation.
The biggest increase is with DAB radios in car, sales of which have increased from 40,000 units in 2012 to 120,000 units in 2013, an increase of 200 percent. Overall, 220,000 car radios were sold in 2013, which means that nearly 55 percent of car radios support DAB. The industry is also increasing the availability of digital radio adaptors for cars that do not have line fitted digital radio, such as devices that connect to the auxiliary input of the car audio system, or that divert the digital signal to an FM frequency.
Sales of music systems sold with DAB are increasing also. 2013 saw an increase from 17,000 to 40,000 units sold that support DAB, a growth of over 135 percent.
Requirements for FM shutdown in 2017
The increased sales increase the likelihood that rollout of DAB will go ahead as planned, according to the government's requirement that at least half of radio listeners listen to a digital platform by 2015, in order for FM shutdown in 2017. Another condition is that there must be "adequate and affordable solutions for the car." If these conditions are not met, FM shutdown will be deferred until 2019.
Source:
http://www.elektronikkbransjen.no/Fagbladet/Utgaver/2014-01/FENOMENAL-DAB-VEKST
About Stiftelsen Elektronikkbransjen
Stiftelsen Elektronikkbransjen is the Norwegian Consumer Electronics trade organization. Their members are all the large Norwegian retailers and Norwegian subsidiaries of manufacturers such as Sony, Philips, Nokia etc who supply Stiftelsen Elektronikkbransjen with monthly sales numbers (sell-in). Every year Stiftelsen Elektronikkbransjen cross checks these statistics with Statistics Norway to get a definite statistic of the Norwegian consumer electronics market, before presenting these to the press.