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DAB+ digital radio stations get 15% audience bump to 2.35m in 2020

Listening on Australian DAB+ digital radio-only stations grew to 2.35 million average weekly listeners in 2020, a 15% rise on the 2.04 million the prior year.

According to GfK data released by peak industry body Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), weekly audience for all DAB+ digital radio (including AM and FM frequencies) hit 4 million, with the top 11 commercial DAB+ stations ending the year with a weekly audience of over 100,000 listeners.

Commercial Radio Australia CEO, Joan Warner, said growth can be attributed to a combination of broadcasters enhancing their digital formats, as well as car manufacturers continuing to add DAB+ radios to their vehicle ranges.

According to figures from Glass’s Information Services, 77% of new vehicles sold across 2020 were quipped with DAB+.

“Car sales recovered strongly in the last two months of last year as a result of consumers buying new vehicles for domestic road trips. This contributed to a total of 700,000 new vehicles with DAB+ on the road during 2020,” Warner said.

GfK figures also showed that customers purchased 129,000 DAB+ receivers in 2020, with 2.8 million now sold since the technology launched.

DAB+ is now on air across the five major metro markets, plus Hobart, Darwin, Canberra and Mandurah, and CRA expects the communications authority to roll out the technology on the Gold Coast later in 2021.

The latest findings come off the back of CRA’s recent listening report for the December quarter which found Aussies are listening to commercial radio on their phones and via smart speakers at a higher rate than ever before.

GfK and CRA will release the first metro commercial radio survey results of 2021 next week.

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