CRA: Digital radio has already overtaken the internet (if you don’t count most of the internet)
Commercial Radio Australia has today issued a new report suggesting that digital radio has already overtaken the internet as a listening platform despite launching just months ago. However, it has admitted that the survey does not ask listeners about internet stations they listen to that are not based locally.
In its report, CRA says: “Radio listening on the internet attracted a slightly higher cumulative audience (504,000) than digital radio but the time spent listening on the DAB+ digital platform is higher at 8 hours and 16 minutes each week, compared to the internet listening at 5 hours and 31 minutes.”
Digital radio was launched in Australia’s metro areas last year.
CRA boss Joan Warner claimed: “We have to remember digital radio is a new technology, the internet has been available as an alternative way to listen to broadcast radio for many years and already digital radio time spent listening is greater than time spent listening via the internet platform.”
However, CRA conceded to Mumbrella that listeners surveyed were only asked about their online listening habits to local radio stations, rather than all internet listening.
The report includes a pie chart showing that although digital radio is still dwarfed by analogue it appears to already be more than internet listening. it states: “The new platform has made a strong start and has already overtaken the internet as a preferred platform for radio listening.”
The report also reveals that new digital stations have not so far been much of a drawcard, with only 20% of listening on digital sets being to the 16 or so new digital stations.
The full report can be viewed on the CRA’s digital radio website.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Nice irrelevant comparison. Internet radio is not the only thing that is replacing commercial radio. Other substitute goods include things like podcasts, easily accessible MP3 downloads, applications and devices, other non-traditional audio streaming services, and so on.
But this would not sound as cool.
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Look into my eyes, not around the eyes, into my eyes…
… and you’re under. Digital radio is the next best thing to sliced bread. You will not delve deeper into our numbers, it is already a huge success. You hear that, a huge success.
.. and you’re back in the room.
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Funny.
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Oh but it has a Pie Chart so it must all be true!
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Anthony – correct me if I am wrong, but commercial radio numbers were up year on yesr … so not sure anything is “replacing” it.
Rermember this, the Internet isn’t killing everything. It’s co-existing quite nicely with a lot of media that used to exist and will continue to.
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Larry, have you tried to listen to a podcast or last.fm and the radio at the same time?
These radio numbers, are they the ones that you get via a diary based survey that requires borderline disinterested members of the public to fill out a weekly diary in 15 minute increments?
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Hi Anthony
Re your comment: “Internet radio is not the only thing that is replacing commercial radio”
the above article and report do not talk about “internet radio”.
The report provides data on radio listening via platform – so all those listening to radio via digital radio, online (internet) or am/fm analogue – it’s still ALL radio listening.
It also only reports radio listening to local radio stations via the internet (both commercial and non-commercial).
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it’s not surprising—internet radio has’been no raging success, since it’s advent years ago, largely due to a lack of obvious standards to access these streams.
given the overwhelming majority of computer users wouldn’t know how, or be bothered to look further than Windows Media Player for streaming internet-based music; and given there is very little on offer there—a single radio station is listed for Australia, ‘eye 97’, which is actually US-based!
most online streams are available only via their parent station’s own website, often using proprietary software to listen, or download as a compressed (podcast) file. further, many of these have fallen out of use, due to poor maintenance/unreliable servers.
AFAIK the only real ‘internet radio’ is simply a simulcast of some of the DAB broadcast signal, (see: http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au) but often even these don’t work. how could anyone draw reliable data from this disorganised mess.
as for digital radio, clearly there’s an incentive for CRA to dolly up the figures to make it more marketable, but audiences will switch anyway, as soon as more affordable, better featured hardware is available, and as ancient analogue garbage is replaced from department store shelves with shiny DAB+ units.
where are the in-dash DAB+ units, the iPod/USB/Toslink DAB+ addons?!?
personally, I’d be happy to fork out $100-200 for a modern-looking unit with recording/time-shift from a dependable manufacturer, but thus far very little is available outside the UK.
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