Latest figures show a year on year rise in radio listening figures

Official figures released today show a rise in the number of people listening to the radio compared to this time last year.

RAJAR, the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences, has released its first lot of data for 2017.

The figures, which cover the period from January 2nd to April 2nd this year, show 48.2 million adults, or 89% of the population, tuned into their selected stations each week in the first quarter of 2017.

This a rise of around 400,000 compared to the same period in 2016.

However, numbers have dropped slightly compared to the previous quarter at the end of 2016, when there were 48.7 million tuning in.

The total average number of weekly hours listened to during the data period was 1.023 billion.

Almost six in 10 adults (aged 15 plus) are listening to radio via a digital platform, a figure which has stayed the same as the previous quarter.

There are now 32 million people tuning in to a radio via a digitally enabled receiver each week, a rise of a million people from the last lot of research.

In an average week, digital listening accounts for 483 million hours – DAB has a 71% share of this; online 17% and DTV 12%. This is a rise of 9 million hours from the previous quarter and means 59% of the population are tuning into digital radio every week.

The figures, released on Thursday, May 18th, show radio is vital to millions of people and for those who are visually impaired, even more so.

It can be their only way to access news, information and entertainment and these latest figures reinforce the importance of the work we do.