HD Radio Barely a Ratings Blip

By James Cridland, Radio Futurist

HD Radio launched in the US in 2002. Alongside some benefits in terms of metadata, the system offers a number of additional stations for listeners to enjoy.

The HD Radio website tells me that in Beverly Hills in California (thanks to 1990s TV it’s the only US zip code I know), with an HD Radio I can enjoy many more stations: KCRW’s Eclectic 24 on 89.9-2, K-SURF on 105.1-2, Pride Radio on 104.3-2, and an 80s version of KROQ on 106.7-2.

Now that HD Radio is more than 21 years old, it might be interesting to know how much listening there is to these HD2/HD3 stations. And it turns out… not much.

In PPM markets, HD2/3 stations achieve a total 1.2% listening share of all radio listening.

This 1.2% figure is from Nielsen, sent to me by a trusted source. PPM numbers are not reliant on recall or people knowing they were listening to an HD2 or HD3 station. This 1.2% figure also includes FM translators who pick up an HD2/HD3 station and rebroadcast the audio on analog FM: so the actual number could be rather lower.

Why?

It might be two factors. First: the user interface. DAB presents a listener with an alphabetical list of stations. For HD Radio, the way you tune into 106.7-2 is to tune your radio to 106.7, wait until the HD Radio indicator lights, and then gingerly press the “up” button to get 106.7-2. That’s not a great experience.

I’d also suggest that “106.7-2” is hellishly confusing as a way to tell listeners how to tune in.

Second: I would doubt these stations are marketed well, if at all. In most cases, a listener to 106.7-2 won’t count as a listener to 106.7, so there’s a direct incentive for the radio programmer NOT to promote what’s on 106.7-2 - or, indeed, to spend any time on the programming.

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