Brits Radio Listening Hits 20-year High

The UK’s communications regulator Ofcom has published its annual ‘Media Nations’ report, with plenty of stats around music and audio habits.

Musically reports some run counter to the narrative that streaming is killing traditional radio, too. In fact, Ofcom pointed out that the number of weekly radio listeners in the UK reached a 20-year high in the first quarter of this year: just under 50 million people.

In 2019, 75% of of the adult population were listening to live radio on a radio set. That fell sharply over the next couple of years, but has since rallied back to 69%. Streaming music, meanwhile, has grown from 38% of the population in 2019 to 50% now.

When it comes to time spent listening to audio, radio’s share has fallen from 72% in 2019 to 61% now, while music streaming’s has grown from 13% to 22%. For 15-34 year-olds, however, streaming is now 45% of their listening time and radio 34%.

As for individual streaming services, 61% of weekly audio listeners use Spotify and 48% use YouTube, with Amazon Music (29%), BBC Sounds (18%) and Apple Music (15%) also in the mix.