U.K. Radio: 40 Percent Of Radio Listening Digital

Nearly 40% of radio listening is now on digital with record audiences for digital-only commercial stations including Absolute 80s and Planet Rock, according to The Guardian.

Absolute 80s pulled in an average of 1.45 million listeners a week with another 1.25 million tuning into Planet Rock, both owned by Bauer Media, in the first three months of this year, according to Rajar listening figures published on Thursday.

Kiss spin-off station Kisstory, another Bauer station, also hit a new high, up 21% to with 1.13 million listeners.

Digital listening was also given a boost by record audiences for the BBC’s Radio 4 Extra, which leapfrogged Radio 6 Music as the UK’s biggest digital-only station with 2.17 million listeners.

Digital platforms made up 39.6% of all radio listening, up from 36.6% in the same period in 2014, including digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio and online and via apps.

In the London area, digital listening has now overtaken analogue, with a 46.8% share ahead of FM and AM’s 46.2%.

But nationwide, analogue listening on FM or AM continued to take the lion’s share, with 54.3% of all listening, down from 57.8% a year ago.