Cridland: "Broadcast radio continues to offer the majority of radio listening in the UK, whatever the headlines say"
James Cridland writes: "The latest RAJAR figures came out in the UK. For the first time, online radio listening has overtaken FM and AM radio listening. This is undoubtedly an important milestone in UK radio; but let’s put it into context. Broadcast radio is still much larger than online. The predominant way that people listen to the radio in the UK is to DAB Digital Radio, which is broadcast radio just like you know it - free to receive, using nothing more than a (DAB) radio receiver with an antenna and a speaker. DAB is much larger than online streaming. (I gather that the same is the case in Australia, incidentally.) The UK has been turning off AM services for a long time. Not just that, but radio receivers generally don’t include AM, even if they still include FM alongside DAB. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when you turn off AM transmissions, digital (DAB or online) will increase in share. The future of radio is multi-platform, not just online. Broadcast radio continues to offer the majority of radio listening in the UK, whatever the headlines say."
(James Cridland) Read more