News

In order to support radio during the transition from FM to DAB+, the Federal Council adopted at its meeting of 25 October 2017, regulatory amendments to the Radio and Television Ordinance and the provisions of the Radio Regulations. Among other things, it has decided that all radio broadcasting licenses that expire at the end of 2019 must be extended until 2024.

The Polish company BCAST has created a unique solution for creating, managing and broadcasting digital signals to even smaller radio broadcasters. DABCAST is an important step that can spread the digital signal not only in Poland but also in Europe.

In the UK, digital listening edged closer to 50% by reaching a new record share of 48.8%, up from 45.5% a year ago, driven by strong DAB growth and performance from stations including BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 4 Extra, Kisstory, Radio X, Mellow Magic and Virgin Radio, according to RAJAR Q3 2017 data released today.

The next WorldDAB General Assembly takes place in Paris on 7 and 8 November, and is the place to hear about the latest on DAB radio in France and around the world.

Germany is now second highest ranking in terms of sales of DAB+ radio equipment, according to figures recently released by WorldDAB. However, the percentage of households with digital radios in Germany is just 15%, significantly behind Norway (78%) and the UK (60%).

Digital listening continues to grow with a 48.8% share coming via mobile, internet or DAB. This figure is yet another record and although growth is only by 0.1% percentage points quarter on quarter, since 2014 this has been by nearly 30% as online and DAB listening continues to rise and the industry gets ever closer to the holy land of 50% digital share.

The last report from WorldDAB illustrates that in the second quarter of 2017, almost 60 million household and automotive digital DAB/DAB+ receivers were sold in Europe and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. A year earlier, the sales volume of such devices amounted to 48 million, and by April of this year reached 53 million. Over the past 12 months, digital radio has demonstrated excellent results in all world markets.

Digital radio continues to drive listening figures up, according to the latest RAJAR figures. Nationally, 90% of the population tune into the radio each week, up almost a million year-on-year. Digital now accounts for almost half of all radio listening, with the majority of this via DAB (35.9%).

More than 6 in 10 adults currently listen to radio via a digital platform, according to the latest Rajar results for the third quarter of 2017. In an average week, digital listening accounts for 511 million hours; DAB has a 74% share of digital listening hours, digital TV 10% and online 16%.

Digital radio triumphs nationally this quarter, with record audiences for, among many others, BBC 6 Music, Kisstory, Heart 80s, Mellow Magic, talkSPORT 2 and Virgin Radio.